Grenfell: what we can learn and how to prevent another tragedy

Yesterday was exactly four years to the day since the tragedy of Grenfell Tower occurred and 72 innocent lives were taken by a very avoidable fire in the Grenfell Tower block.

In a tragedy like this we must seek to learn how to prevent another one. That means tighter regulations, that means materials used in similar blocks will need to be fire-tested and evacuation routes and schedules are made clear to everyone living in the buildings.

It is critical that these kinds of stipulations are strict and enforced to the people responsible for these type of high rise buildings. New buildings and refurbished buildings regardless of size, should only be equipped with fire retardant materials and devices such as fire safety doors for example, and in some cases sprinklers should be equipped to further prevent the breakout of fire.

As mentioned above, buildings similar to Grenfell must be more sophisticated in their approach to fire safety. Meaning that early warning signs are picked up far earlier, such as ensuring that smoke detectors and fire alarms are always ready and functional. Even in some cases, a fire safety system that involves activating sprinklers when early signs of fire hazard are detected.

A great step forward would be ensuring that more tall buildings in a similar mould to Grenfell are built with fire resistance instilled into their design. This involving the engineers that build the buildings are doing so with a forward thinking approach, thinking how the building would perform if a fire incident were to occur, how it would respond structurally and thermally.

What we need to move away from is generalising how a building is put together. Ensuring that those engineers always think ahead to the possibility of fire when first constructing and not loosely following general guidelines that don’t always take into account how a real fire would affect a specific building. This of course would be more costly as more thought and therefore time would be needed when in early stages of production as well as money when using extra safe fire resistant materials. But is absolutely necessary to do so when involving multiple lives inside of one building.

Would you like to know more about how Protest ES Ltd can help protect your business, staff and visitors, thus keeping you safe and legally compliant with the latest regulations?

Please do not hesitate to contact us, by calling this number: 01604 696113 today, or by contacting us via email: enquiries@protestesltd.co.uk / sales@protestesltd.co.uk

Important to note - our new address is now the following below: Stone Barn, Pastures Farm, Olney Road, Yardley Hastings, Northants, NN7 1HL.

Our landline and email contact details will remain the same as above.