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Monday’s parliamentary seminar on the greater use of sprinklers without resorting to regulation went ahead in spite of the widespread disruption from the weather that afflicted many other events.
The ‘spirit of the Blitz’ was underlined by James Shannon, president and ceo of the National Fire Protection Association in the US who, as a self-confessed Winston Churchill fanatic, was thrilled to be addressing the meeting in the Churchill Room in Westminster. He pulled no punches by describing the need to forcefully campaign against those who came up with arguments against the more widespread use of sprinklers in American homes. He compared the vested interests of house builders who claim that domestic sprinkler systems are not cost-effective with those of the tobacco industry, which resisted the introduction of reduced ignition propensity cigarettes – those that stop burning when they are put down – in spite of the technology in both cases being available for decades.
“Our goal is to increase [the number of communities with residential sprinklers] exponentially over the next few years and…rebut all of the specious arguments about residential sprinklers, their cost and their effectiveness, that have kept communities and states from adopting residential sprinkler ordinances. …As with the cigarette issue, the power of one special interest, the home builders, has kept communities from requiring their use.”
Acknowledging the good start that advocates of residential sprinklers have made with around 400 communities in America using residential sprinklers, he vowed: “This time we will wage not 50 campaigns but thousands of them all across the US to achieve our goal.”
Greenwich and Woolwich MP and former housing minister, Nick Raynsford, set out both sides of the sprinkler regulation debate, saying that the government had to strike a delicate balance between the undoubted improvements in fire safety standards that the wider use of sprinklers would bring, and the resulting costs and regulatory burden which may arise – especially in the current difficult housing market. But continued strides needed to be made on a risk-based approach and there were certain cases where Part B of the Building Regulations should be extended. “I strongly believe that we should continue to press the case for mandatory sprinkler installation in new buildings where a risk analysis demonstrates the clear benefits of doing this,” he said.
Other speakers at the seminar were Gosta Holmstedt of the Swedish Fire Sprinker Association, Les Sziklai, deputy chief fire officer if the Vancouver Fire Department, Bill Feeley, chief fire officer for Kent and Medway, Dennis Davis, chairman of the Federation of British Fire Organisations, Keith Pratley from Welsh Water, and Kenneth Davey, managing director, international division, of FM Global. Also at the seminar, Steve Mills was presented with the first Bernadette Hartley Award.