Fatal fire in Scotland, 1999.
See any resemblance?
1999 – Fire tears through uPVC window panels at Garnock Court, a tower block in Irvine, Scotland. Pensioner William Linton is killed.
2000 – Following the fires at Garnock Court and Knowsley Heights, a select committee of MPs investigates the dangers of cladding fires. It
recommends tougher guidance to ensure that cladding products are ‘entirely non-combustible’ rather than the existing standard of ‘Class 0’. This recommendation is
ignored by ministers in favour of the introduction of ‘large-scale testing’ as a route to compliance for cladding systems. Many of these tests will be carried out by the BRE.
July 2009. Another fatal fire.
Can you see a pattern developing?
July 2009 – A fire at Lakanal House spreads via its window panels and through the inside of the building because of flawed compartmentation. Six residents die, including three children, after they were advised to ‘stay put’ by the emergency services.
December 2010 – Industry and fire sector bodies
issue warnings about fire safety during a public consultation on Approved Document B – including making calls for sprinklers in high-rise buildings. These are ignored, with the minister responsible
later saying there was “a lot of pressure to reduce regulations”.
January 2012 – David Cameron announces plans to “kill health and safety culture” and introduces a ‘one in, two out’ rule for new regulations, where double the financial burden has to be removed by cutting regulations before any new regulation is introduced.