The fire industry has always been a reactive industry. Some might even class it as a knee-jerk industry. In fairness, this is how many humans are. We don’t learn new things and new ways until we experience the effects. If you haven’t experienced something yourself, it can be very hard to imagine the effects.
However, while it has taken some time, we now see a new era beginning for fire safety. This has largely come as a result of the shocking Grenfell Tower disaster. This took place in 2017, nearly 5 years ago.
So, how is this becoming a new era for fire safety?
Property developers in particular are looking more closely at fire safety and fire proofing in the properties that they build. The fire safety processes in buildings are becoming increasingly stringent with on-hand experts becoming the best course of action for all future builds.
This is great news for the future, but what about now? For each new residential tower block that is built with fire safety in mind, there are hundreds still standing that do not have good fire safety. The cladding may not be adequate, or the fireproofing could be of poor quality, for example.
These properties need both temporary solutions in place, for the now, and long-term solutions for the future. One of the short-term solutions is the Waking Watch patrols. These are wardens that patrol the buildings and look for fires. If a fire is found, then the emergency services and those in the building are alerted of this.
However, the waking watch patrols are very expensive and not terribly reliable. Those in the building are relying on the waking watch patrol wardens being on shift, being in the place of the fire when it starts and not being off sick or late for work.
This is where we feel we are coming across a new era for fire safety. The government has introduced a new waking watch relief fund and a waking watch replacement fund. This is a pot of funding created to replace the expensive waking watch patrols with more cost-effective, reliable and efficient fire alarms.
Research shows that there are around 100 towers and apartment blocks in the UK that have failed fire safety checks since the disaster in 2017. Further to this, an additional 300 high rise buildings in England currently have Grenfell Tower style cladding.
Want to know more about the waking watch replacement fund and how it could help your property replace the waking watch fund with fire alarms? Call our team of fire safety experts now.
