OPINION: Bill Chandler

WE were all moved by the story of the four Warwickshire firefighters who lost their lives earlier this month fighting a blaze in a warehouse. And, just days later, there was a massive blaze at a warehouse on the Olympic Park in East London which could be seen across the capital. But these are by no means isolated incidents, since there are over 2,500 warehouse fires every year in the UK.

The Warwickshire tragedy (and the subsequent discovery that the warehouse did not possess a fully-functioning sprinkler system) has provoked renewed calls for the current law on sprinklers in warehouses to be tightened. But what is the current law?

The new fire safety regime introduced in October 2006 makes no specific requirements in respect of sprinkler systems. In fact, the move away from Fire Certificates issued by the Fire Service towards self assessment by owners and occupiers could be considered a step in the wrong direction.

The main control comes through the Building Regulations, which were tightened up in April 2007 but still allow new warehouses of up to 20,000 sq m to be erected without sprinkler systems.

In the absence of Government intervention, the unlikely hero in this story is likely to be the insurance industry, as many insurers require sprinkler systems to be installed and maintained.
It will be interesting to see whether the Government becomes minded to legislate in this area.

l Bill Chandler is a .