Grenfell Tower Fire: What do Contractors Need to do Differently Regarding Health and Safety?

Following the Grenfell tower disaster in June 2017, many contractors might be asking themselves what they should be doing about health and safety.

Many contractors might not even have thought about this, but if they go into other people’s buildings, alter them, drill holes in the walls, damage things like fire compartmentation, then they will be having an effect on aspects of the building that are critical to fire safety. Those contractors could well find themselves in difficulty if they cause cost and damage to clients’ building which need to be put right; or if there is a fire which is linked back to their work.

I’ve even seen fire alarm contractors punching holes in fire walls, to put their fire alarm cables through. The irony is that the new fire alarm system has actually just compromised the fire compartmentation of the building, allowing rapid fire spread.

Companies that engage contractors should also think very carefully about how they control them. Contractors coming altering aspects of a building – drilling holes in walls, removing fire doors, or even removing the protection around structural steelwork which is designed to make it fire resistant – can all compromise the safety of the building. There is a need for more rigorous control of contractors to avoid this from happening and to keep buildings safe from fire.

Watch this short video for more, call Quadriga on 0118 929 9920 or click here to contact us if you are at all worried about this health and safety issue in your organisation.