With the fire cladding crisis making headline news, industry experts are looking at the role of technology to improve fire safety standards today, and in the future. In response to evidence heard at the Grenfell Inquiry, the Government’s White Paper¹ on social housing and the draft Building Safety Bill, there has never been more intense focus on improving fire prevention and response infrastructure for social housing. The Government’s White Paper on social housing sets out how it will deliver fundamental change, to ensure people feel safe and secure in their homes. Two key steps are to legislate to strengthen the objective of the Regulator of Social Housing so that it will explicitly include fire safety, and to require social landlords to be regulated and remain transparent. Furthermore, the Government will launch a consultation on requiring smoke alarms in social housing. Also, the Government has set out that it will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health and Safety Executive, to ensure effective sharing of information with the Building Safety Regulator. It’s becoming increasingly clear that success will require new approaches to how social housing providers monitor and manage fire risk in their buildings. James King, Connected Homes Director of fire safety technology experts FireAngel, says: “We welcome the Government’s White Paper on social housing and its new Charter for social housing residents, which aims to ensure greater landlord accountability and transparent communication with tenants. This and the draft Building Safety Bill point to a lot of work around fire prevention. ‘We’re at a stage where technology can shoulder some of the responsibility of fire safety, and housing providers, fire services and regulators can use it to protect tenants and homes more effectively. ‘Since the Grenfell tragedy, the relationship between the Fire Rescue Service and social landlords has strengthened and there is huge interest on both sides in how connected technology can provide real-time information, assess risk and engage with tenants to ensure they are and feel safe. With the right technologies, fire prevention and response can become easier, more effective and more proactive. ‘By introducing connected technologies such as IoT and AI, social landlords can create serious efficiencies and relieve some of the burden of fire prevention, and can also make life safer and easier for their tenants. Post-Grenfell, more than 400 ‘waking watches’ were established around the country to monitor buildings. However, they’re expensive and only designed to work as an interim measure; relying on humans for fire prevention shouldn’t be the only intervention and it certainly isn’t sustainable long term”, adds James King. “With remote monitoring and cloud connectivity of smoke detectors, social landlords can streamline fire prevention, as it creates an opportunity for centralised, off-site monitoring so that multiple sites can be managed from a single place. ‘Connected technology can be installed within the parameters of an existing budget, and potentially provide more protection. ‘This combination of IOT and AI technologies provides 24/7 oversight of buildings and their changing fire risks, collecting data that can be analysed for trends and patterns. AI can even offer predictive analysis based on these trends, which gets more accurate the more data it processes. With the right technologies, today we can automate these processes, highlighting who needs more support to help housing providers engage directly with at-risk tenants, encouraging independent living and proactive intervention. ‘From the fire services’ perspective, connected technology and remote monitoring enable them to assess data relating to, not only the condition of the building materials, but also vulnerable tenants, managing and preventing risks. From a tenant’s perspective, digitisation means they can be informed on the state of the safety system within their own homes and they can report concerns and engage with social landlords easily.  For the fire service, connected technology can enable them not only to monitor but to prevent risk, before it becomes a 999 call,” adds James King. ¹ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-charter-for-social-housing-residents-social-housing-white-paper

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered how we live, work, and do business. With health protocols requiring work-from-home schemes and social distancing requirements for office environments, conducting training can be quite tricky as you need to ensure competencies are met without compromising the health of the participants.  Safety training becomes even more challenging since it sits right in the intersection between necessary and potentially delayed due to the pandemic. But fires are still dangerous, and regulations in place to preserve safety must continue, so the need for fire evacuation drills can’t be put on hold.  The use of immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), serves to address this imperative and poses many advantages in line with existing measures against the virus. Virtual Reality in Fire Safety Training  Fire evacuation drills often entail convening people to a designated venue so that social distancing can be problematic if not impossible. Aside from this, additional training regarding fire safety can be hampered considering the implementation of work-from-home arrangements and restricted hours in the office. The conduct of routine fire safety training may even become a burden to a small skeletal building workforce or completely inaccessible to those who are working in other regions. Virtual reality training, like SafetyNet VR offered by AK Preparedness, can address these concerns. Its technology allows for practice to continue despite everyone not being in the same location. VR fire safety drills can act as a tool in continuing fire safety for establishments as it only requires, at minimum, smartphone and internet capabilities to simulate fire scenarios. The above-mentioned benefits of immersive technologies can be readily transplanted into fire safety education to produce the same outcomes.   VR fire drills allow businesses to conduct fire safety education by ensuring that employees are given first-hand education not just in where to go but become well-versed in using fire alarms and fire extinguishers. In the simulation, users can click on life safety equipment as well as hear instructions for evacuation while navigating the building.  The safety drill can be accessed anytime and anywhere that time and location are not hindrances to continuing fire safety education. SafetyNetVR also serves as a cost-effective tool that not only provides means for employees to gain essential information in the event of a fire, but also to heighten their response in case of an emergency.  The use of VR fire safety drills is not only beneficial to employees and office personnel—this can also be used to educate residential building occupants without requiring them to step out of their units or calling them to gather at a specific location. Given the changes that will continue in construction and high-rise living spaces that call for more people living in ‘denser environments,’ technologies such as VR fire safety training can provide due rewards for both tenants and building owners. Advantages in VR Fire Safety Training Virtual reality allows participants to gain first-hand experience in real-life situations. It is multi-sensory and accurate, making it a remarkable experience. Studies on this immersive technology have also shown its benefits for the corporate world, most notably in delivering fire safety training because of the following advantages: Creates an engaging learning environment: fire safety drills that use immersive technologies employ real-life situations and engage actual emotions and responses. It serves to inform employees and occupants of the fire evacuation plan as well as allow them to navigate their way and use fire prevention tools for safety. Accounts for all possible scenarios: simulations not only portray ordinary fire circumstances, but they also allow for ‘impossible’ situations to prepare participants in the occurrence of such disaster. Practical hands-on training: VR fire safety training operate with the hands-on principle by teaching personnel how things are actually done. Allows mistakes without suffering consequences: mistakes can be costly in real-life fire situations as it can cost lives and severe property damage. Virtual reality settings allow trainees to commit errors and encourage them to learn from them without causing injury. Improve employee performance: fire safety training operates on a series of levels that can be unlocked whenever a task is accomplished. It also has built-in metrics to measure the depth of learning and response of every participant. Reduce training costs: virtual reality training do away with expensive locations and equipment, resulting in more significant savings. Remote implementation: training can be accessed with minimal smartphone and internet capabilities and can be accessed at the user’s convenience.  Safety: perhaps the greatest advantage of VR is that of long-term safety—not only in preventing risks that may come from actual demonstrations, but also to the health of its learners. VR as an Emerging Trend in Fire Safety Education  Virtual reality is an innovative way of offering continuing education at this crucial time. It has found relevance in training employees despite restrictions on health and movement—those engaged in ensuring office safety would do well to include virtual reality training as part of their occupational safety plan. Virtual reality fire safety drills are not only applicable to workers. It can also be integrated into familiarization tours with tenants and occupants of high-rise buildings to ensure that everyone is knowledgeable in case a fire occurs. VR training is both time and cost-efficient, making them a welcome addition to an existing fire safety plan for any business. As an integral part of a new mode of training brought about by the circumstances surrounding the pandemic, virtual reality allows for participants to undergo fire safety training without sacrificing their well-being and other’s health. Immersive technologies enable learners to engage in a realistic setting that not only familiarizes them with actual fire scenarios, but it also allows for measuring individual performance in accomplishing tasks that can spell the difference between survival and fire casualty. 

There are many fire hazards present on building and construction sites, with flammable liquids and hot work present on the day to day job. These hazards mean that workers and visitors are at high risk of injury and potential fires. A fire on a construction site can cause damage to the project itself, surrounding areas, and everyone within the vicinity, so it is vital that fire safety equipment is kept safely on site. Here are several pieces of equipment that should be on every work site: Fire hazard risk assessment The risk assessment on a construction site will identify hazards, risks, and who will be affected. It assesses the extent of the risks and measures to put in place to reduce or eliminate the risk of a fire to make the environment as safe as possible. Controlling the hazards in the environment is fundamental to decreasing the risk of fire, with the need of specific controlled measures implemented on site. Once these measures are put in place, this risk assessment must be kept safe and referred to when needed to ensure measures and safety standards are remaining high. A safe place to store high priority items All important documents and worksite keys, padlocks and cards are to be safely stored in a secure place so that management and employees who require access to these items are able to. A competent key system is needed regardless of the amount of people working on site, as security is paramount for everyone involved. Simple key cabinets, special security cabinets and outdoor key storage cabinets are available depending on company and site requirements. Key cabinets from Reece Enterprise are also fire resistant, so in the instance of a fire on site, the contents will remain safe and intact. Sprinklers and extinguishers Once a risk assessment is completed, the hazards that may cause a fire are sourced and the types of equipment that is required can be assembled. Smaller sites may only require single extinguishers, whereas high risk sites may need a sprinkler system and several extinguishers for employees to use if needed. It is important that the correct extinguishers are kept on site and fire equipment is stored in easily accessible places. Alarms Fire alarms or fire warning systems are used to alert people of a fire on the site, allowing them to escape safely and quickly. Low risk sites may require one alarm or system in place, whereas larger, high-risk construction sites will need a comprehensive alarm system and detectors. It is important that all fire alarms and fire detectors are tested once a week. Escape equipment Escape equipment, such as escape ladders, are of use to construction and building sites when working at height or in multi-story buildings. Before using escape equipment, an escape route should be established that is clearly marked and known to all workers and visitors. In conclusion, fire safety on construction sites must be detailed due to the hazardous working environment. It is vital that all persons present on site have knowledge of how to react in the event of a fire with knowledge of how to use the fire safety equipment.

Specialist manufacturer AEI Cables is calling for the release of details as soon as possible covering new measures which will make sprinkler systems mandatory in all new high-rise blocks over 11 metres. Stuart Dover, general manager of AEI Cables, said: “The detail in the new guidance is critical so it would be helpful all round for the manufacturers and installers of the products for these systems to see how it is going to work in practice. “We would want to see sprinkler systems currently being specified being covered by the new detail so they can be installed in the knowledge that all best practice has been followed in the interests of safety for all concerned. “The fire performance industry is welcoming the amendment and the sooner the practical guidance can be rolled out then the sooner we can start to familiarise ourselves with it.” In April, the government announced an amendment to the statutory guidance to building safety regulations, known as Approved Document B, reducing the requirement for sprinkler systems from the current 30 metres to 11 metres. The Fire Safety Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in April, will also empower fire and rescue services to take enforcement action and hold building owners to account if they do not comply with the law. The tried and tested generation of AEI Cables’ fire performance cabling ensure critical fire-safety circuits can continue to operate in the event of a fire from 30 minutes up to 120 minutes and often support systems which provide intelligence for the fire and rescue services. AEI Cables’ Firetec Enhanced cabling is the only cable to be independently approved and certified by LPCB to BS8519 (Annex B) Category 3 Control for firefighting systems including sprinkler pumps, fire suppression water mist systems, water spray systems, wet riser pumps, wet riser valve and equipment monitoring under the Code of Practice. All AEI Cables’ products are supplied with approvals from independent bodies including BASEC and LPCB. It also holds approvals from organisations including Lloyds, the MoD, Network Rail and LUL and works to international standards around the world.