There was not anything
particularly new in this documentary but it was compelling viewing. Even eight
years after the avoidable disaster, one is still left feeling numb seeing the level of incompetence and dishonesty...
The programme
concentrated on the cladding used on the building which was described as ‘a
petticoat to prettify it in a rich borough’. Of course, Grenfell had many other failures
which contributed to the death of 72 people. For example, containing fire/smoke within a flat (compartmentation)
is critical in tower blocks and is essential in a building that has a ‘stay
put’ policy. Fire started the tragedy but it was smoke and toxic fumes that
killed all of the people. And, essentially, the spread of choking black smoke
was partly a result of non-compliant fire resisting doors being fitted to the
flats and/or the doors not being properly maintained.
The fire doors in Grenfell Tower were not fit
for purpose. They failed to meet the minimum 30 minute fire standard in post-fire
tests. Furthermore, they were not fitted with cold smoke seals, which are
essential for preventing smoke leakage. This was not helped by the fact that
many of the self-closing mechanisms were
either broken or missing. This meant the doors were ineffective at
preventing the spread of smoke and toxic gases which hindered escape efforts.
History cannot be changed but let’s at
least learn from history to prevent tragedies of this type happening in the
future. The Government already knew about the possibility of a Grenfell type
disaster following the investigation of the fire that killed 6 people in Lakanal
House, Camberwell, London in 2009.
It is impossible to eliminate all risks of
failure but the risks can be reduced. In
this respect, for many years, DHF has been campaigning, particularly in respect
of fire doors, that they should be
factory prepared complete doorsets, properly tested and third party
certified. Of course, that is just the start of the journey. Following that, they should only be installed
by competent people who have been properly trained and then maintained and
periodically inspected by qualified fire door inspectors.
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