If you saw the film Rocketman, about Elton John, or watched the television adaptation of His Dark Materials, you will have seen furniture and props from specialist hire company Granger Hertzog. The company operates from a combined office, warehouse and showroom in Park Royal, London, all accommodated within a light industrial shed that is one of a number on an estate.

Following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower, the subsequent Hackitt Review into Building Regulations and the ongoing Public Inquiry, Colt is proud to establish their viewpoint on Compliance and Competence.

Smoke control is a ‘wide science’: it requires in-depth knowledge of the building layout, the technical aspects and the bewildering array of regulations in force. Each type of building has its own peculiarities and some have specific regulations and guidance on smoke control.

The number one cause of death related to fires is smoke inhalation; it is the most common cause of death at the scene of a fire. An estimated 50%-80% of fire deaths are the result of smoke inhalation injuries (rather than burns). Smoke inhalation alone (in the absence of burns) is responsible for around 40% of all fire related deaths in England. But mortality and morbidity of burn patients increases significantly when combined with smoke inhalation injury: Inhalation injury increases the risk of death from a burn injury by 30% to 40%.
Smoke inhalation injury is in fact a more complex clinical problem than burns alone, and can lead to multiple complications. Initially, a person’s airways are affected, but in a very short space of time (minutes) it can become a complex life-threatening condition, affecting every organ in the body.

There’s no fire without smoke

Problem

Controlling diesel engine exhaust emissions in enclosed spaces such as maintenance workshops is easily done with local exhaust ventilation (LEV), which can be as simple as fitting pipes to the vehicles’ exhausts while they are being serviced in order to draw the fumes outside. However, there are situations where this is not an option, for example in a warehouse where there is heavy vehicle movement inside the building, as vans and lorries come in and out for loading and unloading.

Car parks may experience a new risk with the growing prevalence of electric cars and, in particular, the likelihood that the cars will be charged in car parks. This may lead to a number of fires in their lithium ion batteries, that will pose a challenge to firefighters and to those responsible for safety in the car parks.

Strong winds and storms are becoming a more frequent feature of the autumn and winter weather patterns in the UK and external building features are being exposed to these more unpredictable elements.

However, Brise Soleil systems and typical architectural shading products are generally overlooked when considering inspections for damage. Under BS EN 1991-1-1-4 2005, it is a requirement to carry out inspection works to the fixings of external architecture to prevent wear and tear, check for vibration, divergence, and fluctuations to the system which could cause fatigue and cracking.

The potential for property damage, personal injury and even fatalities could easily become a reality. You must ensure you have a maintenance engineer you can trust. One who will check for galvanic corrosion or wear and tear and who will ensure that the installation hasn’t become loose or damaged from high winds.

An example of what can go wrong if you fail to maintain your Brise Soleil systems:

In my last blog post I wrote about the government’s proposed changes to the Building Regulations as they relate to fire and broadly welcomed them (the main concern is that the very sensible measures proposed for high-rise residential buildings should also be applied to their shorter cousins).

But principles are only as good as the way that they are applied, and in terms of fire protection, and of smoke protection in particular, the devil is certainly in the detail. If these systems are to work properly they have to be designed properly, installed properly and maintained properly. Sadly, this does not always happen. 

In the proposed changes to the building regulations discussed in our previous blog, there are two new roles connected with building safety. One is of the dutyholder, who takes responsibility for the design and construction of the systems that will make the building safe. The other is the accountable person, who is responsible for ensuring that systems are maintained properly.

Steam and humidity are by-products of many industrial production processes. But they can have an extremely negative effect on working conditions.

The Government has produced its consultation document on reforming building regulations relating to fire. This is in the wake of Dame Judith Hackitt’s report, which was a response to the terrible tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

While many know that they need to keep their smoke control systems maintained, a lot of building owners or operators are not fully aware of the details of what this should entail.

The first question that comes up when discussing a water based cooling system, such as evaporative cooling, is always about its safety and in particular about the control of legionella bacteria. In this article we will explain what you should be looking at if you are considering such a system, illustrating with examples of our approach to ensure that our evaporative cooling systems are safe.