Photo Credit – ChiralJon on Flickr.com
72 lives were sadly lost in The Grenfell Tower Fire Tradegy in June 2017 and as with all tragedy many more lives are affected in some way or form that is often forgotten about.
The Rt Hon Sir Martin Moore-Bick author of the report which criticises The London Fire Brigade in his 1000 page report has made a series of 16 initial recommendations that will be of interest to owners and landlords of high rise buildings.
Some of these recommendations include:
The owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them;
Provide their local fire and rescue services with up-to-date plans in both paper and electronic form of every floor of the building identifying the location of key fire safety systems;
Ensure that the building contains a premises information box, the contents of which must include a copy of the up-to-date floor plans and information about the nature of any lift intended for use by the fire and rescue services
Carry out regular inspections of any lifts that are designed to be used by firefighters in an emergency and to report the results of such inspections to their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals.
The owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular tests of the mechanism which allows firefighters to take control of the lifts and to inform their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals that they have done so.
The owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) carry out an urgent inspection of all fire doors to ensure that they comply with applicable legislative standards.
The owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings (whether or not they are high-rise buildings) be required by law to carry out checks at not less than three-monthly intervals to ensure that all fire doors are fitted with effective self-closing devices in working order
For further information the detailed report can be found here. https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/phase-1-report
Sir Martin Moore-Bick goes on to say in his 12 minute video statement that the main cause of the Fire starting was from a large fridge freezer and makes it clear that no fault was on behalf of the tenant Mr Kebede. The fire spread around the kitchen and the materials around the kitchen window deformed in the heat allowing the flames to escape into the cladding. The fire then progressed fiercely up and around the building due to the presence of aluminium composite rainscreen panels containing a polyethylene core which is highly combustible. The video statement can be viewed here. https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/phase-1-report