Fire Aware calls for collaboration across fire safety supply chain
Iain Hoey
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Collaboration, charters and a wider duty of care
Fire Aware has said closer working across the fire safety supply chain can help deliver safer outcomes for people in buildings across multiple sectors.
The organisation said Collaboration on legislation, product supply and innovation can help address current pressures facing the sectors it serves.
Fire Aware’s work centres on the moral responsibility of those involved in the fire safety supply chain, including designers, developers, asset owners, managers and other stakeholders.
This, it said, applies beyond specialist fire safety roles and extends across the wider supply chain.
Sectors identified as vulnerable to fire risk include hospitality and healthcare, where building operators are responsible for protecting customers, elderly people and others who may be unable to protect themselves in a real fire.
Collaboration and cultural change
Fire Aware said it aims to influence behaviour in the built environment sector through a moral code of conduct set out in a series of charters.
The organisation described those charters as a way to shape how member companies uphold their duty of care.
Fire Aware CEO Gavin Skelly said: “Our members tell us that when they work closely together the solutions are easier to find and everyone benefits.
“We are all in this together.
“At Fire Aware, we have a community of companies large and small who often collaborate together to find the solution to a problem.”
Skelly added: “We all believe in fulfilling our duty of care and working closely with partners who are like-minded will help everyone to achieve that.
“This is a vocation for life, not a job.”
He added: “The Fire Aware community – and the wider fire safety industry – are all of the same mind.
“We cannot compromise when it comes to safeguarding the safety of people moving about in our buildings.
“That cuts cross all sectors and applies to a multitude of responsible people who may or may not be directly involved in fire safety but want to uphold their duty of care.
“It’s not just about the specialists.
“It’s about the entire supply chain.”
The statement also noted calls for cultural change through moral and ethical behaviours, alongside the role of the independent Building Safety Regulator in promoting competence and higher standards.