Communities and Local Government CommitteeWritten evidence from the Fire-Resistant Glazing Group (FRGG) FRR 13)

1. The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF)’s Fire-Resistant Glazing Group (FRGG) welcome such a clinical analysis of efficiencies and operations in fire and rescue authorities in England and commend Sir Ken on his analysis, pointing as it does towards the next stage in the transformation of the Service in adjusting to the future context.

2. The FRGG is committed, firstly, to the better understanding of glass performance in fire, secondly, to the development and advancement of best practice in the manufacture, testing, specification, application and installation of fire-resistant glazed systems. Members have first-hand experience of developments in construction through their direct involvement in the design and build process. The FRGG’s goal is to achieve the optimum fire protection in the UK’s buildings whilst maximising the varied valued benefits of using glass, given the vulnerability of standard glass products to fire exposure, the uncertainties of fire and the importance of glass in today’s buildings. Our overriding concern as the responsible representative industry body is the correct use of glass where it could be exposed to fire.

Evaluating Fire Safety

3. Whilst the FRGG largely welcomes Sir Ken’s report, we believe that there is a striking omission in the way in which fire safety is evaluated. At present, fire safety is measured in terms of fatalities and injuries. But there are also wider effects of fire which are growing in importance as the built environment becomes more complex, congested and valuable. In order to ensure that the trend in numbers of fatalities and injuries as a result of fire continues to decrease, and to make sure that there is no relaxation of the scrutiny that has brought such appreciated success in the figures to date, it is imperative that fire safety be assessed in wider terms than just fatalities and injuries. The effects of fire are felt by communities in terms of the costs of fire as a result of loss of jobs, increasingly high property losses and impact on lives through damage to valued public assets. 

Question: Would Sir Ken agree that fire safety should increasingly be considered on more grounds than fatalities and injuries, also taking into account, for example, the costs resulting from other effects of fire in the public interest, such as loss of jobs, destruction of property, damage to valued public assets?

Importance of prevention

4. The FRGG agrees with Sir Ken’s statement that “there is little doubt that prevention is better than cure.” Sir Ken attributes this prevention not solely to the actions of fire and rescue authorities but also to “societal changes, technological improvements, the increase in smoke alarm ownership, safety campaigns and government regulations for both buildings and furniture.” Whilst the FRGG would agree that prevention is a vital part of the fire safety process, we would argue that more could be done to ensure that preventative measures are more widely installed and that compliance with established fire safety practice is more rigorously monitored; something which fire and rescue authorities should have an increasing role in, in order to prevent the number of emergency call outs.

5. One of the core concerns of the glass industry is the provision in the first place of a design and building fabric that is adequate against fire.

Compliance with good practice

6. The fire environment is a hostile one for all materials and the occurrence and development of fire is unpredictable and subject to chance. It is therefore critical that the specification, selection, and installation of fire-resistant glazed systems are all carried out with close attention to detail. It is also vital that these steps are correctly enforced at all points along the supply chain, including traceability of the individual glazing products and confirmation that they are made to a suitable and appropriate precise property specification.

7. However, there is no overarching body to check competency, and as a result each part of the work stream has, essentially, to be self-regulating—generally by those outside the fire safety sector in varied parts of the construction chain through to building handover where knowledge of fire protection measures is scanty at best.

8. Members of the GGF—practising suppliers and installers of glass and glazing products—have become increasingly aware of the tendency at large to reduce levels of built-in fire safety, for example, by reducing margins of safety in fire resistance and substituting properly validated products by products that do not have the same level of tested assurance in fire.

Conclusion

9. The GGF’s FRGG, representing the industry sector, welcomes Sir Ken’s report which it believes is a good starting point for development of the role for the fire and rescue service in the future. The service can play an invaluable leadership role in creating an integrated and compliant fire safety supply and installation chain with proper respect for the risks and effects of fire in buildings.

10. Currently fire safety does not receive the degree of attention it deserves. Fire safety is too readily and easily neglected against other drivers in design and construction. The new leadership role for the Service—more closely involved with design, construction, and installation—involves communication and education to raise awareness, just as much as enlightened enforcement. The fire and rescue service, working with others in the fire safety sector such as industry, is pre-eminently placed to fill the gap that currently exists, to provide the necessary leadership and focus that fire safety will increasingly need in the future.

Question: Would Sir Ken Knight envisage a growing role for a further transformed service in influencing the application of considered good practice fire safety measures in the design, construction and completion of buildings—including refurbishment and repair—in view of modern developing trends in attitudes, practice, construction methods and use of materials that threaten to reduce the basic robustness of buildings against fire and increase the risks of fire damage in the future?

June 2013