FIRE & SECURITY ARTICLES

Smoke control systems play a vital role in ensuring the safety of occupants in the event of a fire, limiting smoke ingress in evacuation routes to provide time for staff and potentially vulnerable patients to be safely evacuated where necessary, allowing firefighters access to the source of the fire and potentially helping to limit the extent and cost of damage to estates. A proactive schedule of inspection and maintenance is essential to ensure these systems are functioning correctly and represents a key legal requirement for estates managers, says Conor Logan, Technical director at Colt International.

Liam Nevins TIFireE, Product Technical manager – Fire Protection at Trox UK, highlights the importance of healthcare estates and facilities teams making sure that all fire dampers across their estate are maintained in efficient working order, both to ensure the safety of all their buildings’ users, and to meet regulatory requirements. He also outlines some of the additional requirements imposed in this area by the Building Safety Act 2022.

As architects, specifiers, and Estates and Facilities managers work to ensure the safety of hospital staff, patients, and visitors, passive fire protection measures (such as fire-resistant glass) can play a vital role. Faced with balancing functionality, wellbeing, design, and safety, demanding more from your fire safety glass specifications is essential, says Andy Lake, Sales director, UK & Ireland, at Pyroguard – a specialist in the manufacture of such glass.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, and Dame Judith Hackitt’s subsequent independent review of building regulations and fire safety, HTM 05-03: Part K: Guidance on fire risk assessments in complex healthcare premises,¹ has been revised, with some extensive changes. Maz Daoud, the head of Fire Safety, NHS Estates, NHS England – Commercial Directorate, here assesses the role of an HTM, the risks specific to complex healthcare premises, what’s new in the revised HTM 05-03 Part K, and how this applies in practice.

Maz Daoud, head of Fire Safety, NHS Estates, at NHS England, who chairs IHEEM’s Fire Safety Technical Platform, discusses recent revisions to HTM 05-03, and the implications for fire safety policies and procedures across the NHS estate. Here he focuses particularly on Part B, which looks at fire detection and fire alarm systems, including the reduction of false alarm and unwanted fire signals.