There would be an outcry – and calls for public enquiries, prosecutions and changes to the law – if, each year, over a quarter of a million cars were involved in accidents. If there was a problem with a make and model of television, there would be product recalls and demands for compensation. Yet, unless it hits the headlines like the fire that engulfed the Grenfell Tower, a faulty house raises no concerns.
Fire goes under the radar
Each year there are around 300,000 fires in homes in England.1 One person in a hundred said they had had a fire where they live. That might not seem much but that’s still around a quarter of a million householders – maybe a fire in every other street.2
Most of these are, thankfully, minor accidents that are easily tackled – or which go out by themselves. Even fewer result in serious injury or loss of life. But the fact remains that fire services are called out to around a quarter of all domestic fires and that largely carries on – year in, year out – in plain sight but without anyone really noticing.
Three key reasons
For what it’s worth I think there are three main issues: raising awareness, raising standards and raising the bar for buildings.
Raising awareness
When you are well informed you can take appropriate action. And the truth is most fires in our homes are preventable. Even now the source of many fires in the home can be traced back to smouldering cigarettes.3 Previously, this gave rise to rules preventing the use of flammable materials in home furnishings and a greater emphasis on fitting smoke alarms.
There used to be a clear corollary between coming home after a night out and falling asleep, telly on, cigarette in hand while waiting for a snack to heat up. Now, as the prevalence of smoking decreases and the seat of fire has shifted, the finger of blame points to our kitchens.
Most domestic fires start on the hob or under the grill.4 It’s no surprise that only relatively recently ovens were banned in Greek homes – the risk of burning down your house, and that of your neighbours, was just too great. In the UK, it is also no coincidence that house fires are often associated with chip pans and everyone jokes about burning the toast. Indeed, the only fire my parents ever experienced was when a pan went unattended. Mum came home to firefighters in their flat and dinner in the garden. Thankfully, the worst that resulted was one hungry husband – and the need for fish and chips for supper.
But, joking aside, understanding the risks has seen vastly more smoke alarms in British homes. Alarms, wired into the domestic electricity supply, are now the norm for new-build homes and may also be required when work is done. And many more people have simply popped down to the DIY store to buy an alarm for older properties.
However, getting an alarm isn’t enough. Although many people install an alarm, they still need to be reminded to check they are powered up. Often, good intentions turn into useless junk plastic on the ceiling as batteries run down or are removed.
Work by government and fire chiefs has also improved the understanding of risks associated with using candles or portable heaters. Awareness is particularly important at the moment when many more people are working from home because of the hangover from Covid-19.
And we will have to remain vigilant as it seems likely the trend away from office working – something that was already gathering pace – will not be wholly reversed even when the pandemic is a distant memory.
Raising standards
There is only so much persuasion can do. Sometimes legislators need to force the pace and regulators prosecute breaches of the law.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)5 looks after workplace fire safety and ensuring people stick to the law. Employers must carry out safety and risk assessments for working at home to identify and mitigate risks. This also means having appropriate equipment and procedures in place to minimise hazards.6
Building security is another issue which has been highlighted by the pandemic and building operators still have legal responsibilities.7 This means fire-alarm systems and fire extinguishers must continue to work properly, but, with fewer people on-site, it may be even more of a challenge to ensure workspaces are fire-safe and normal checks are up to date.
But, important though it is, workplace safety is not the biggest problem. The sad fact remains that people are at greater risk when they live in older properties rented from private landlords.8 Owner occupiers – and people living in properties whose owners are more closely regulated – are significantly safer.
More needs to be done for residents. Even before the Grenfell disaster there had been changes to law and regulations to make people safer in their own homes. These ranged, as discussed, from smoke alarms and rules on material standards to fire doors in homes where there are many tenants. In Scotland9 an earlier high-rise fire had already brought about changes to building regulations.
Now, the Building Safety Act is set to do the same in England. The legislation will address safety issues in buildings over 18m tall. Elected politicians also enacted a Fire Safety Act – for buildings which include two or more sets of domestic premises.10
Raising the bar for buildings
But all of this pales into insignificance if the building in which you live is, of itself, a fire hazard.
The government is still facing calls to pay more for refitting high-rise homes where cladding has made properties unsafe and unsellable. Many people think it is unfair that people who bought their own flats are facing massive bills as well as finding themselves having to pay mortgages on properties now deemed to be worthless. There is no easy answer to this as the costs may run to hundreds of millions – beyond the means of individuals and beyond the ability of leaseholders.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) says that the UK has around 28 million homes and that most of them will require work if the UK is going to meet its climate-change commitments. The CLC is calling for a national retrofit strategy as British homes currently account for 35% of the UK’s energy use and create a fifth of all carbon-dioxide emissions.11 Improving fire safety while work is going on to tackle carbon emissions means we could end up with safer homes while greening the housing stock – thus bringing down the overall cost as well as our fuel bills.
But this demands a fresh look at building safety. There is, rightly, great emphasis on building homes that are attractive and creating spaces which are pleasant and uplifting. And there’s a push to meet demand for many new homes while helping build the UK’s finances out of the economic consequences of Covid.
But this must not be done at the expense of safety.
No home can be beautiful if it risks the lives of the people who live in it. And no tender should be accepted if it does not account for the cost of risk. Safety must not be a Cinderella consideration – we need to work together to shine a light on fire safety before that spark becomes a flame we can’t put out.
For more information, go to www.aps.org.uk
References:
4. Ibid.
5. www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/workplace/index.htm
6. www.fireprotectiononline.co.uk/info/safety-tips-when-working-from-home/
7. Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
8. www.firescotland.co.uk/fire-scotland-act-2005
9. Ibid.
10. https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2019-21/firesafety.html
About the Author
Lesley McLeod
Lesley McLeod is Chief Executive of The Association for Project Safety.
