One of the most effective ways of protecting your property is to invest in comprehensive fixed fire protection (FFP) systems, for example, property protection sprinklers. According to the Fire Protection Association, “having sprinklers fitted helps protect businesses in the long term, safeguarding them against potentially disastrous losses that amount to £2.4m each day across the UK.”
Given the fortification which a property protection sprinkler system provides against potentially catastrophic building and contents losses and business interruption, what holds businesses back from investing in a comprehensive FFP system? According to Zurich’s Fire Protection experts, a misconception that a single sprinkler would activate the entire system and a fear that this would flood the entire building, is one just potential barrier. Cost is also a factor and although most developers and business owners recognise the importance of ‘value engineering’, FFP must be considered within the tight boundaries of commercial reality.
What is the law around sprinkler systems?
UK legislation requires that businesses (buildings with a fire area) spanning 20,000 square metres or more (and that are un-compartmented) must have a sprinkler system installed. In addition, all organisations that employ five or more people or that are open to the public must complete a fire risk assessment for their premises. The assessment findings may require a business to have tailored fire sprinkler systems installed, even though there is no actual law requiring such a system to be put in place.
The confusion and inconsistency around sprinkler regulation was noted in 2018 by the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety led by Dame Judith Hackett, which found that the regulatory system was ‘not fit for purpose’. The Review went onto to say that ‘England’s sprinkler laws appear to be lagging far behind those in Europe, where some countries now require systems for commercial spaces measuring just 3,000 square metres.’
What are the risks of not investing in comprehensive FFP?
Losing a building critical to business operations because of a fire is something that some SMEs may not recover from. In a fire incident and where there is no risk to life, the fire service may not enter the building and may only tackle the fire defensively/externally, suppressing it to it’s building of origin and stopping it from spreading to nearby structures, so not investing in FFP makes it more likely that a premises could be completely lost during a fire scenario. This can result in catastrophic financial losses in terms of replacing the building and the resultant business interruption implications.
It’s not only important to consider Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) during the initial construction of a building but it’s equally important to consider the overall resilience of a building and what ESG implications a less resilient building might be impacted by.
An organisation without FFP can risk damage to its reputation due to certain aspects of its Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) being compromised. For example, factory, warehouse, and manufacturing plant fires can cause extensive damage to surrounding plant and animal habitats. Smoke can also coat plants and other vegetation with toxic substances that can prevent sufficient photosynthesis. These substances can also be absorbed through the root system, making it hard for the plant or tree to survive.
Another often forgotten consequence of manually extinguishing an established fire is the vast amount of water required. Not only is this itself bad for the environment, but if containment measures are not swiftly put in place, toxic particles and substances can harm human, animal, insect, and plant health.
Property protection sprinklers aim to capture a fire during its early, incident phases and in turn will limit the excessive amounts of water required to manually extinguish an established and uncontrolled fire scenario.
What is the best practice for installing adequate Fixed Fire Protection?
The first thing to understand is that the regulatory requirements provide minimum standards only and focus primarily on saving lives. The most comprehensive form of FFP is actually property protection sprinkler systems, which can protect your buildings/assets and will equally result in the protection of life as a by-product of the comprehensive nature of the protection provided.
To fully safeguard your property and business operations, the best time to look at FFP is at the beginning of a development project however, Fire Protection Engineers and Specialists can of course provide FFP reviews for existing structures as well.
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This article was adapted from an article by Zurich which can be found here.