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Areas of Rescue Assistance
Grenfell Inquiry Recommendations (2) – Fire Emergency Plans !
Previous Posts In This Series …
2019-10-31: Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry's Phase 1 Report – Information
2019-11-11: Grenfell Inquiry Recommendations (1) – Vulnerable People ?
2019-12-21: Recapping with regard to Vulnerable Building Users … the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations are pathetically and disgracefully inadequate ! At a later stage and in order to make amends for this serious error … Inquiry Chairperson, Sir Martin Moore-Bick must direct that Proper Consideration – not just Token Consideration – be given, in Law, to the Fire Safety of Vulnerable Building Users, who include people with activity limitations, children under 5 years of age, frail older people (not ALL older people !), women in late stage pregnancy, people with disabilities, refugees, migrants, the poor, and people who do not understand the local culture or cannot speak the local language … OR, to put it another way and to remove any ambiguity … any person who may be vulnerable in a fire emergency, i.e. those with limited abilities in relation to self-protection, independent evacuation to an external place of safety remote from the building, and active participation in the building's fire emergency procedures.
Now, Over 2.5 Years After The Grenfell Tower Fire … London Fire Brigade Commissioner (#LFB), Dany Cotton, has recently stated that she will retire at the end of December 2019.
On 17 December 2019 … The National Inspectorate in Britain for Police and Fire Services (#HMICFRS … www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs) published a report into the performance of London Fire Brigade. Some extracts from that document …
' We have concluded there is a long way to go before London Fire Brigade is as efficient as it could be. We have criticised both the way it uses resources and makes its services affordable now and in future. In some areas it is wasteful. While it has made savings, these are not of the level made in other services.
Worryingly, the Brigade is inadequate at getting the right people with the right skills. It also needs to improve how it promotes the right values and culture, ensuring fairness and promoting diversity as well as managing performance and developing leaders.
The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 was one of the biggest challenges London Fire Brigade has ever had to face. The incident has had a profound effect on how the Brigade now performs. Although our findings are broadly consistent with those of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, it must be emphasised that this was an inspection of the Brigade in 2019. We found that while the Brigade has learned lessons from Grenfell, it has been slow to implement the changes needed. This is unfortunately typical of the Brigade's approach to organisational change.'
HMICFRS Report on the Performance of London Fire Brigade (PDF File, 768 Kb)
If Dany Cotton is the only person to go at the end of December 2019, this is very obviously political scapegoating !
Very Quickly … the entire Culture and Value System of London Fire Brigade must change for the better. And to ensure that this transformation is Immediate and Fully Effective … ALL of Dany Cotton's Senior Commanders must also go, or be fired … including Dany's intended replacement, Andy Roe !
In addition … because it is still attempting to defend the criminal 'Stay Put' Policy … the National Fire Chiefs Council (#NFCC … www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/) in Britain must be held accountable. Its Chair, Vice Chairs and those Lead Officers with responsibility for fire safety in buildings must ALL be replaced NOW !
The Grenfell Fire Inquiry's Phase 1 Recommendations were published on 30 October 2019. Under the initial topics covered … they are far from being comprehensive … they are fragmentary, lack depth and any sort of coherence …
[ Paragraph #33.10 ] I therefore recommend:
a. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them ;
[ Paragraph #33.12 ] I therefore recommend that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law:
a. to provide their local fire and rescue services with up-to-date plans in both paper and electronic form of every floor of the building identifying the location of key fire safety systems ;
b. to ensure that the building contains a premises information box, the contents of which must include a copy of the up-to-date floor plans and information about the nature of any lift intended for use by the fire and rescue services.
I also recommend, insofar as it is not already the case, that all fire and rescue services be equipped to receive and store electronic plans and to make them available to incident commanders and control room managers.
[ Paragraph #33.13 ] I therefore recommend:
a. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular inspections of any lifts that are designed to be used by firefighters in an emergency and to report the results of such inspections to their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals ;
b. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to carry out regular tests of the mechanism which allows firefighters to take control of the lifts and to inform their local fire and rescue service at monthly intervals that they have done so.
[ Paragraph #33.22 ] I therefore recommend:
a. that the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings, such guidelines to include the means of protecting fire exit routes and procedures for evacuating persons who are unable to use the stairs in an emergency, or who may require assistance (such as disabled people, older people and young children) ;
b. that fire and rescue services develop policies for partial and total evacuation of high-rise residential buildings and training to support them ;
c. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review evacuation plans, copies of which are to be provided in electronic and paper form to their local fire and rescue service and placed in an information box on the premises ;
d. that all high-rise residential buildings (both those already in existence and those built in the future) be equipped with facilities for use by the fire and rescue services enabling them to send an evacuation signal to the whole or a selected part of the building by means of sounders or similar devices ;
e. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEP's) for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised (such as persons with reduced mobility or cognition) ;
f. that the owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to include up-to-date information about persons with reduced mobility and their associated PEEP's in the premises information box ;
g. that all fire and rescue services be equipped with smoke hoods to assist in the evacuation of occupants through smoke-filled exit routes.
Residents in High-Rise Buildings, whether public or private, must no longer wait in vain for a saviour, or to be saved by the 'system'. Instead, the time has arrived to become proactive, and to immediately initiate their own comprehensive programmes of Self-Protection In Case Of Fire … which go far beyond the Recommendations in Moore-Bick's Phase 1 Report.
Fire Emergency Management Planning begins very early in the long life cycle of a building. The following framework should be scaled up or down, depending on the size and extent of a project …
Fire Defence Plan (FDP)
A Fire Defence Plan (#FDP) elaborates the particular fire engineering strategy which has been developed for a specific building at design stage. It is usually in electronic format and/or hard copy … and comprises fire engineering drawings, descriptive text (including a clear statement of the project's fire engineering design objectives), a full construction specification (including façade cladding systems), fire safety related product/system information, with supporting calculations and the fire test/approval data which demonstrates their 'fitness for intended use'.
A Fire Defence Plan must demonstrate a proper consideration for the fire safety, protection and evacuation of all building occupants/users, with a particular and integrated focus on vulnerable building users, especially people with activity limitations. Refer to Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP's) in my previous post.
In 'real' everyday practice, as opposed to academic theorizing … effective fire compartmentation is very difficult to achieve. Passive/active fire protection measures are never 100% reliable … sometimes nowhere near 100%. Building management systems are very far from being reliable. For these reasons, 'Stay Put' Policies must be completely avoided !
[ In the specific case of Health Care Facilities, e.g. hospitals, it is highly hazardous to patients and unacceptable with regard to their welfare that they be evacuated during a fire emergency to a place of safety which is remote from the building. Instead, the optimal fire engineering strategy here is to 'protect in place' … which requires a very high level of independently monitored competence, quality and reliability in design, construction, management, operation, and servicing. ]
A hard copy of the Fire Defence Plan for a building must always be available for inspection on-site. A copy of the fire defence plan must also be retained at a remote, safe and secure location off-site.
Fire Emergency Planning Committee (FEPC)
Immediately after the completion of construction and occupation of a building, a Fire Emergency Planning Committee (#FEPC) must be established by the building owner(s), in consultation with building occupants/users. Membership of the FEPC must comprise representatives of the building owner(s), building occupants, and regular users of the building. The Committee's task must be to develop, implement and maintain a Fire Emergency Management Plan, consisting of the emergency response procedures and related training and regular practices, which are essential for the effective and efficient management of any fire emergency in the building. Sufficient resources must be allocated to the FEPC, by the building owner(s), to ensure that it can satisfactorily complete this task.
The FEPC must ensure that all relevant legislative requirements are met and must examine, if necessary, the need for the appointment of competent, specialist advisors and support. Special attention must be paid by the FEPC to the fire safety of vulnerable building occupants/users. The FEPC must establish a Fire Emergency Control Room (#FECR), which must be fitted-out and competently operated – 24/7/365 – in accordance with the Fire Emergency Management Plan. The FEPC must also appoint a competent Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager.
Fire Emergency Management Plan (FEMP)
The Fire Defence Plan is the basis for, and main component of, a building's Fire Emergency Management Plan (#FEMP). This document elaborates the fire emergency response procedures for an occupied building and is produced by the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager, in liaison with the Local Fire Service. It contains relevant information about the fire safety preparedness and prevention/protection/recovery measures in the building, and includes the pre-emergency, emergency and post-emergency roles, duties and responsibilities assigned to individuals and, in the case of their absence, nominated deputies.
The objective of a Fire Emergency Management Plan is to ensure that, in the event of a fire emergency, the health and safety of every building occupant/user is protected, including visitors to the building, contractors, and product/service suppliers … and access for, and the safety of, firefighters is assured. Particular attention must be paid to those occupants with activity limitations. All Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (#PEEP's) must be fully integrated into the overall Fire Emergency Management Plan for the building. Documented procedures must accurately reflect reality, and real behaviour, in the building.
The Fire Emergency Management Plan must include the procedures, chosen methods of warning to be used during a fire emergency, management control and co-ordination during the fire emergency, communications between each member of the Fire Emergency Control Unit and the building's occupants/users and with the Fire Service Incident Commander at the scene, emergency response equipment in the building, evacuation actions, arrangements for occupants/users with activity limitations, first-aid personnel, evacuation by lift/elevator fire evacuation assemblies, escalators, travellators and staircases, use and fitting-out of areas of rescue assistance (including visual monitoring and the provision of smoke hoods), lift/elevator lobbies (including visual monitoring and provision of smoke hoods) and floors of temporary refuge, up-to-date emergency contact details, etc.
The Fire Emergency Management Plan must always be available for inspection, in hard copy format, at a convenient location in the building. A copy must be provided to all building occupants, as they request, in hard copy, electronic and/or alternative formats. A further copy of the Fire Emergency Management Plan must be provided to the Local Fire Service, as they request, in hard copy and/or electronic formats.
To ensure its effectiveness, the Fire Emergency Management Plan must be regularly practiced at least every three months, tested and reviewed. If necessary, e.g. in the case of large/complex building types or existing buildings having suspect levels of fire safety, the establishment of an on-site, permanent, competent/specialist Fire Emergency First Response Team (#FEFRT) must be considered.
Fire Emergency Control Unit (FECU)
The Fire Emergency Control Unit (#FECU) must be established by the Fire Emergency Planning Committee to implement, manage, and recommend improvements to the Fire Emergency Management Plan.
In the event of a Fire Emergency, instructions given by the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager, or his/her Deputy, must take precedence over normal management structures and procedures in the building; and it shall be his/her duty to inform the Local Fire Service, immediately upon their arrival at the scene, about the number/locations of people still in the building, and the number/locations of vulnerable people who may need to be rescued.
Other members of the Fire Emergency Control Unit must accompany occupants/users as they evacuate to place(s) of safety, remote from the building. Once there, a head count must immediately be taken by those members – now the Person in Charge at a place of safety – to establish the following:
- That everybody is present, and that nobody has been left behind ;
- That everybody is uninjured … or if anybody is injured, what appropriate Medical Aid is rendered and/or summoned.
Communications during a fire emergency between all of the interested parties involved can be fraught with difficulty … lack of discipline will cause misunderstandings and confusion … signal strengths may suffer interference because of the building's construction. If necessary, Repeater Units must be installed in the building at any signal 'drop-zones' … and the development of a Fire Emergency Management Communications 'App', for use on FECU/occupant/user smartphones, must also be considered.
The Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager must prepare for the swift and orderly transfer of the Fire Emergency Control Room and its personnel to a safe location off-site, in the unlikely event of a severe fire emergency in the building.
Fire Safety Training & Regular Practice Evacuations
The objective of fire safety training and regular practice evacuations, which are held at least every 3 months, is to ensure that everybody in the building is skilled for evacuation during a fire incident, using safe accessible routes to an external place/places of safety which is/are remote from the building.
Fire safety training and regular practice evacuations must be conducted by the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager for all building occupants and regular visitors to the building, including FECU personnel. Fire safety training material used, e.g. brochures, hand0outs and fact sheets, must be site-specific, appropriate to an individual's role and responsibilities, and easily assimilated, i.e. can be comprehended by everyone, including people with activity limitations and those who are illiterate or may use different languages.
A programme of site-specific practice fire evacuations must be developed, in collaboration with the Local Fire Service, by the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager.
Skill: The ability of a person – resulting from proper training and sufficient regular practice – to carry out complex, well-organized patterns of behaviour efficiently and adaptively, in order to achieve some end or goal.
Routine Fire Safety/Evacuation Inspections & Maintenance
The Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager must ensure that all fire safety and evacuation related aspects of the Fire Emergency Management Plan, including systems, products and fittings, are routinely inspected, tested and maintained/serviced. Any deficiencies must be reported to the Fire Emergency Planning Committee at the completion of an inspection and/or test, and must be rectified as soon as it is reasonably practicable. Records of all activities must be regularly updated and safely/securely stored in the building, with a duplicate copy provided to the Local Fire Service.
Fire Evacuation Performance Indicators (Metrics)
Performance indicators/metrics must be formulated by the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the fire emergency response procedures in the building. During practice evacuations, the time between warning communications and first occupant/user movement, the time taken for evacuation to an external place/places of safety remote from the building, the evacuation routes chosen by occupants/users, and the time required to identify everyone who participated in the practice evacuation at the place/places of safety, including those occupants/users who did not participate, must all be recorded.
The Local Fire Service has two functions: a) to suppress and control a fire in the building, and to confirm extinguishment ; and b) to rescue people in the building who are injured, trapped, or otherwise unable to independently evacuate, e.g. people waiting in areas of rescue assistance and lift/elevator lobbies. In addition, therefore, the time taken for the first fire service vehicle to arrive on-site and, more importantly, the time taken for the fire services to arrive in sufficient strength to deal effectively with a fire emergency in the building must be recorded. In the event that either or both of these times are inordinately long, an on-site specialist Fire Emergency First Response Team (FEFRT) must be established by the Fire Emergency Planning Committee. The FEFRT must work under the control of, and report directly to, the Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager.
During the process of evaluation, generous allowance must be made for contraflow circulation during a real fire incident, i.e. emergency access by firefighters into a building and towards a fire, while building occupants/users are still moving away from the fire and evacuating the building.
The Fire Emergency Control Unit Manager must report, in full, the recorded performance and his/her evaluation of practice evacuations to the Fire Emergency Planning Committee.
#GrenfellTowerFire #FireSafety4ALL #NobodyLeftBehind #VulnerableBuildingUsers #PwAL #PwD #NeverStayPut #VulnerablePeople #Firefighters #FFsafety #FFhealth #2019GrenfellRecommendations #SFE #GrenfellTowerFireInquiry #LondonFireBrigade #DanyCotton #AndyRoe #FireResistingDoorsets #FireCompartmentation #FireProtection #FireEvacuation #MooreBick #FireEngineering #FireEngineers #IFE #England #Design #Management #Construction #HighRiseResidentialBuildings #UDHR #HumanRights #Discrimination #AusterityKills #Justice4Grenfell #Contraflow #LocalFireService #Skill4Evacuation
Fire Safety in Buildings – Reliable Design, Supply & Construction
2019-07-31: A very serious problem in modern buildings (post 1950's), and in many countries around the world … which can lie dormant and hidden from any and all Surface Inspections … until there is an outbreak of #Fire !
Passive/Active Fire Protection Measures, and Building Management Systems (i.e. any combination of human and smart systems), are never 100% Reliable. However, Poor Workmanship on building sites and Unauthorized Product/System Substitution are reducing this #Reliability to far below the threshold of legal 'acceptability'.
As a result, Fire Evacuation Routes can quickly become full of dense toxic smoke, impairing/incapacitating people trying to evacuate … the integrity of Fire Compartments can very rapidly be compromised, leading to uncontrolled internal fire spread … and Partial Structural Collapse will be a definite probability.
Most in danger and at high risk in 'real' building fires are Vulnerable Building Users and #Firefighters !
[ Vulnerable People: Those people – in a community, society or culture – who are most at risk of being physically, psychologically or sociologically wounded, hurt, damaged, injured, or killed … and include, for example, People with Disabilities, Young Children, People with Health Conditions, Frail Older People, Women in Late Pregnancy, Refugees, Migrants, and the Poor. ]
'Building Materials and Workmanship' Must Be Relentlessly Monitored PRIOR TO AND DURING Construction – Afterwards Is TOO LATE !
In these days of #Architects staring at computer screens all day, not being very 'smart' in and around actual construction sites … and with Fire Engineering Design Information still merely a #BIM add-on … there are 5 Fundamental Principles of Reliable Building Design, Product Supply and Construction for Fire Safety :
- Design of the works must be exercised by an independent, appropriately qualified and experienced architect/engineer/fire engineer, with design competence relating to the fire protection of buildings ;
- The Supply of 'fit for purpose' fire safety related construction products/systems to the works must be undertaken by reputable organizations with construction competence, particularly in relation to the fire protection of buildings … and all product/system substitution must be pre-authorized ;
- Installation/Fitting of fire safety related construction products/systems must be exercised by appropriately qualified and experienced personnel, with construction competence relating to the fire protection of buildings ;
- Supervision of the works must be exercised by appropriately qualified and experienced personnel from the principal construction organization ;
- Regular Inspections, by appropriately qualified and experienced personnel familiar with the design, and independent of both the design and construction organizations, must be carried out to verify that the works are being executed in accordance with the design.
Self-Regulation / Self-Monitoring Is NO Regulation / Monitoring !!
Incomplete/inaccurate information about the number of People, particularly Vulnerable Building Users, still remaining in a Fire Building, and/or the number of Occupants waiting in Areas of Rescue Assistance and Lift/Elevator Lobbies … all resulting from poor Building Management … will greatly increase the Hazards and Risks involved in Firefighter Search and Rescue Operations, and will result in Building Occupant Injuries and Deaths !
Mainstream Fire Codes/Regulations & Standards DO NOT Protect Vulnerable Building Users and Firefighters !!!
#SFE #Design #ProductSupply #Construction #FireSafety4ALL #FireEngineering #FireProtection #FireCompartment #FireEvacuation #Buildings #FacilityManagement #Resilience #Sustainability
England's 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire – Never Again Elsewhere ??
2018-06-12 …
As we approach the First Anniversary of the Grenfell Tower Fire Tragedy, in England, on 14 June … a few days ago, on 4 June 2018, the first batch of Grenfell Expert Witness Reports were uploaded (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44356660) to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Website (https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/) for public view.
At this time, in London … multiple, fragmented investigations are taking place into the actual fire incident … the role of the Local Authority, and building management … those involved in the refurbishment ('tarting up') design and construction … the fire services, particularly their 'Stay Put' Policy and how it adversely impacted on vulnerable Tower occupants during the emergency … and the highly flawed regulatory model of Building and Fire Codes with light-touch Control, which is still operating in England. One of Murphy's Laws immediately springs to mind with regard to the intended ineffectiveness of this overly-complex process !
Many other countries have adopted some or all of this modern English regulatory model which, after the repeal of an older Bye-Law format, has been shaped by political expediency, cost-effectiveness and general ineptitude … with little or no adaptation to local conditions in the adopting jurisdictions. Ireland adopted this model with some, but not a lot, of adaptation.
Fire Safety In Ireland ?
On 6 June 2018 … while that investigative activity was hitting the headlines in England … Minister Eoghan Murphy, T.D., Ireland's Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, quietly published the Report: 'Fire Safety in Ireland' … http://www.housing.gov.ie/local-government/fire-and-emergency-management/fire-safety/eoghan-murphy-publishes-report-fire … by a High-Level Task Force within his Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, after serious concerns and fears had been expressed in the public media that a similar fire tragedy might also occur in this jurisdiction.
To be crystal clear … this Report is a Bureaucratic Whitewash … an insult to the Public ! Nice sounding technical 'blarney' camouflages a failure to deal directly with critical issues, and answer concerns … while other important issues are avoided altogether.
.May 2018 – Ireland's Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government Report
Fire Safety In Ireland (PDF File, 2.55 MB)
Expanding on my comments in the Interview with Barry Lenihan, on RTE Radio 1's Drive Time early evening news programme on Friday (2018-06-08) …
A. Initially, Irish Local Authorities were requested to carry out a preliminary survey to identify all buildings of more than six storeys, or 18m in height. Specifically, they were asked to identify those buildings which had an external cladding system which might be a cause for concern.
This height threshold of six storeys/18m is arbitrary … an external cladding system can be just as much a cause for concern in a building which is lower. Imagine discarded cigarette butts or a rubbish fire at the base of such a system … and the resulting speed of fire spread and development across a building façade !
B. The highly flawed regulatory model of Building and Fire Codes, with light-touch Control, which resulted in the Grenfell Tower Fire Tragedy … we also have. Wake up and smell the coffee Ireland !
At the beginning of the 1990's, when Ireland had been persuaded by the European Commission to finally introduce legal, national building regulations having a functional format … our National Authority Having Jurisdiction, in desperation, grabbed the then Approved Documents for England & Wales … brought them back to Ireland, put Irish covers on them, and originally called them 'Technical Documents' … but, after seeing a tiny ray of inspiring light, later changed their title to the more accurate 'Technical Guidance Documents' ! This hunger for adopting all things English which are fire safety related continues to this day … with a similar, ongoing division of Technical Guidance Document B: 'Fire Safety' into 2 Separate Volumes.
This may have been a convenient response under pressure … but it has been very short-sighted. It has impeded the growth of a comprehensive and coherent philosophy on Safe, Inclusive, Age-Friendly, Resilient, Sustainable Planning, Design and Construction Codes/Controls which is suited to an Irish context and responsible local needs (not desires!).
C. Everywhere … this Report has a lot – too much – to say about Fire Risk Assessment ! After the Grenfell Tower Fire, however, Fire Risk Assessments must only be carried out by competent persons … and the process of Fire Risk Assessment, itself, must be radically improved ! And of course, prior to any Risk Assessment … a proper Fire Hazard Appraisal must be carried out.
D. To accurately present Fire Safety Trends in Ireland … it is not enough to furnish reliable fire fatality statistics. It is also necessary to produce reliable fire injury statistics … and reliable information on direct/indirect socio-economic losses.
E. The quality of fire safety related construction on Irish Building Sites continues to be very poor and problematic. Fire Compartmentation is nowhere near being adequately – never mind acceptably – reliable ! And during the last few years we have had quite a number of close-calls concerning fire incidents in medium-rise residential buildings.
F. Fire Evacuation for people with activity limitations is still handled atrociously in our current building regulations. This is ironic because, on 20 March 2018 last, Ireland had to be dragged screaming to ratify the U.N. 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) !
Positive Progress By Another Path !
1. Abandon the outdated English functional requirements in THEIR building regulations … and adopt a far better, more up-to-date body of functional requirements which is already on the Irish Statute Books … Annex I of the European Union's Construction Products Regulation 305/2011. And because there are important horizontal linkages between requirements … immediately finish the ridiculous current separation between Fire Safety requirements and all of the other requirements. And yes … new Technical Guidance Documents will have to be drafted.
.Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 9 March 2011, laying down harmonized conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC
EU Regulation 305/2011 – Construction Products. See Annex I
(PDF File, 998 Kb)
2. Yes … 'Persons Having Control' of buildings have responsibilities with regard to fire safety. But that is only one side of the coin ! National and Local Authorities Having Jurisdiction have greater responsibilities.
If we are at all serious about Consumer Protection … bad, inadequate, faulty construction must be prevented beforehand … it is too late, too costly and, in many cases, too impractical to correct afterwards. Self Regulation by building design professions and construction organizations is NO Regulation ! Stringent, independent technical control inspections must be carried out on all projects by Building Control personnel … which used to happen in Dublin City/County and Cork City/County prior to the introduction of legal building regulations in the early 1990's … and, depending on complexity, must also be carried out at critical stages during the construction process.
Building Control Sections in all Local Authorities must be properly resourced with competent personnel, equipment, training and support infrastructure.
Inspections concerning compliance with all functional requirements in the building regulations, including fire safety, must be carried out only by Building Control Personnel. Chief Fire Officers must not be allowed to manage or be involved in any aspect of Building Control. On the same project … a Disability Access Certificate Application and a Fire Safety Certificate Application must be inter-linked and overlap sufficiently, showing no gaps in compliance. Inspections must be carried out in connection with all Certificate Applications. Building Control personnel must satisfy themselves that actual construction at least matches, if not improves upon, what is shown in design documentation.
Building Control Inspection Reports must be made available for public view.
3. Firefighters are NOT a disposable Social Asset ! National and Local Authorities Having Jurisdiction … and some Chief Fire Officers … must begin to understand this fundamental truth !
Fire Services in all Local Authorities must each be properly resourced according to local needs … with competent personnel, equipment, training and support infrastructure. Shared provision of resources looks very neat on paper but, in practice, works very badly. Refer to the Grenfell Tower Fire and London Fire Brigade having to borrow firefighting equipment from other Fire Services.
After the 2015 Tianjin Regional Fire Devastation, in China, and the 2001 WTC Attacks on 9-11, in New York City … front line firefighters must be supported by Specialist Hazard Appraisal and Structural Engineering Units.
For Firefighter Safety in buildings and to quickly find people with activity limitations waiting in Areas of Rescue Assistance and/or other survivors in different locations … a portable and reliable Thermal Imaging Camera is an essential piece of every firefighter's equipment.
And Firefighter Safety begins with good building design. In all but the most simple building types, Circulation Routes must be designed for Contraflow … people moving away from a fire in a building and towards safety while, at the same time, heavily equipped firefighters are entering the building and moving towards the fire.
There is no place for 'Stay Put' Policies in Irish Residential Buildings of any height.
Ireland's 2017 Oireachtas Report: 'Safe As Houses' …
December 2017 – Houses of the Oireachtas – Joint Committee on Housing, Planning & Local Government
Safe As Houses ? A Report On Building Standards, Building Controls & Consumer Protection
(PDF File, 1.01 MB)
This was a good effort by our public representatives … but they missed core issues !
After The Grenfell Tower Fire !
Further to my last Blog, dated 2017-10-10 …
The 2017 Fire in England was not an extraordinary fire. Since the beginning of this decade, we continue to see a series of such fires: South Korea (2010) – UAE & France (2012) – Chechnya (2013) -Australia (2014) – UAE, Azerbaijan & UAE again (2015) – UAE (2016) – UAE & Russia (2017) – Turkey (2018).
With regard to Command & Control of Large Scale Emergencies … English AHJ's should have paid attention to the 2005 & 2008 U.S. National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) Recommendations following the 9-11 WTC Buildings 1, 2 & 7 Collapses.
The Fire Safety Objectives in current Building & Fire Codes/Regulations are very limited. In Ireland, this is clearly stated in Technical Guidance Document B …
' Building Regulations are made for specific purposes. Part B of the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations is therefore primarily concerned with the health, safety and welfare of persons. The fire safety measures outlined in this guidance document are intended for the protection of life from fire.'
Only insofar as it is necessary to protect the lives of able-bodied building users/occupants … is there a concern for property protection.
There is only inadequate, token concern for the protection of people with disabilities.
Client organizations, facility managers, building designers, construction organizations … and journalists … must fully comprehend these limits.
In the photograph below … look closely at the External Firefighting Operations at the bottom of the Tower. There are limits to what can be achieved from outside a building !
- A Fire Suppression System (Water Sprinklers/Mist/Hybrid) is an essential Fire Protection Measure in ALL Medium and High-Rise Residential Buildings … which include Apartment Blocks, Hotels, Hostels, Student Accommodation & Social Housing, i.e. ANYWHERE there is a Sleeping Hazard.
- A Reliable and Credible Fire Detection & Warning System is an essential Fire Protection Measure in ALL Buildings … and must be capable, under the control of Building Management, of transmitting warnings in many formats, i.e. Audible + Visual + Multi-Lingual Voice + Tactile.
- Fire Evacuation Routes in Buildings must be designed for CONTRAFLOW … people moving away from a fire and towards safety while, at the same time, heavily equipped firefighters are entering the building and moving towards the fire.
- Good Fire Evacuation Route Design is INTUITIVE and OBVIOUS. In many buildings, however, this is not always the reality. Effective Fire Evacuation Signage … comprising high-level signage, low-level signage, with both supplemented by photoluminescence … must be installed in ALL Buildings.
- For the purpose of protecting Vulnerable Building Users in Fire Emergencies, ALL Lifts/Elevators in Buildings must be capable of being used for Evacuation.
- Fire Risk Assessments must NO LONGER be carried out by people WITHOUT COMPETENCE in Fire Engineering AND Building Design & Construction … and the Fire Risk Assessment Process itself must be thoroughly re-examined and upgraded.
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text:
Benefits of Learning Data Analytics
One of the best fields that you can gain knowledge and skills is data analytics. Data analytics is now being used in many fields such as aviation route planning and predictive maintenance analysis in manufacturing plants. Even in retail, industries are using analytics so as to improve customer loyalty and tailor unique services. The good news is that it is now possible to gain skills in this amazing field by checking out this website. You will be able to learn data science and a bunch of other programming languages such as python and C++. In the paragraphs below, you will read more now of the advantages that are associated with data science.
The first benefit that you will enjoy is that you will be able to gain problem-solving skills. The heart of analytics is mainly centered on the concept of problem-solving skills. By studying data science, you will be able to gather the skills that you need to be effective in problem identification and solving skills. One thing that you should know is the fact that these skills are very useful especially in the professional world. This is because of the fact that at every point in your career, you will need to use these skills.
The job market is usually very competitive and it is important to ensure that you have a unique skill that will distinguish you from the other applicants. In the job market, is a high demand for skills in data analytics. As time goes by, there will be a shortage of these skills as more companies start working with big data. This means that the people who have analytic skills will be able to get the best salaries and choose from the available jobs. You can find out more at www.dataquest.io.
Another thing that you need to know is that analytics has applications in almost all fields today. Many companies are beginning to use big data in various fields to ensure that they offer quality services to their customers. That analytics is also being used in marketing among other fields. With skills in that analytics, all sorts of opportunities that will be available to you. This is because so many organizations that are looking to capitalize on data so as to improve their processes. Learning data science on this website will ensure that you are prepared for more complex and advanced studies on data analytics. For more information on this topic check out this link. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/data-analyst.
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text: Hello, this is my first post and I'm not sure if I'm in the right place. Kind of hope I'm not. My son is 5 years old and lives with me and my husband, has a stable home life, no drugs, drinking, abuse etc but I do have a history of mental illness which is being well treated. Dad does not have mental illness himself but there is family history. My son was moderately preterm and had delays from birth, was in early intervention, then diagnosed with autism when he was 3. He does struggle socially but is very outgoing and socially motivated and can be very charming. People generally like him as long as they don't have to ask him to do anything. Now to why I'm here ... he has been aggressive since toddlerhood, would randomly smack me in the face while sitting on my lap, etc. Over the years his aggression has increased, especially towards me but also towards Dad, therapists, and other children at school. He started kindergarten a few months ago and I have gotten numerous reports of hitting, punching, and stomping on other kids. In one case he sent a kid to the nurse's office with a bleeding lip. At home, I have been punched, kicked, bitten, choked a couple of times, head-butted many times, objects thrown at me, stabbed with a pencil, and so on. The triggers are small things like saying he can't have more of his favorite snack. He has no sense of authority, at all. If we discipline him we are being "mean" to him no matter what he did that brought about the discipline (eg. he hit me with a toy so I took the toy away). He says his teacher "talks back" to him. He is very noncooperative and defiant. He loves villains, like Disney villains or superhero villains, and always identifies with them and pretends to be them. He says he doesn't like doing nice things. On several occasions at parties or play dates he has talked about "making everyone die." He often says he wants to hurt his teacher or destroy the whole school. Earlier today we went shopping and he made up a song about how he was going to "destroy" me and sang it the whole time we were there, because I didn't buy him a toy. In the past when he has done things that hurt me I have asked if he wanted to hurt me and he said yes. All this being said, he can be very sweet and has many good qualities. I don't want to reduce him to these problematic behaviors but I'm trying to show why I'm concerned. He does have a therapist/counselor, who we started seeing a few months ago. I have been concerned for a while and feel that my concerns have generally been dismissed as me worrying too much. Now that he's hurting other kids people are starting to take it more seriously. I still feel very alone as if no one else sees what I'm seeing. But does any of this sound like we are headed for conduct disorder? And if so, what can be done to help him?


text:
Cannot set right monitor as primary in dual monitor configuration
|Assigned to
|unity-control-center (Ubuntu)
|unity-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)
|xfwm4 (Ubuntu)
Bug Description
Unity always considers the left monitor as the default/primary one when in a dual-monitor configuration. By this I mean that:
- Desktop icons appear only on the left monitor
- An opened app (eg libreoffice writer) is opened on the left screen, even if I launch it via the launcher on the right monitor
The current configuration can be seen at http://
The .config/
<monitors version="1">
<output name="VGA1">
<output name="HDMI1">
<output name="HDMI2">
<output name="VIRTUAL1">
|Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.
|Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
|New → Confirmed
|cis202 (202-edpnet) wrote :
It's not just unity, same problem when using kubuntu/plasma
|no longer affects:
|unity (Ubuntu) → xorg-server (Ubuntu)
It's unbelievable that this bug hasn't been fixed in more than a year and a half.
How difficult is it to add a "Primary monitor" setting?
|Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :
xserver does have primary on left by default, but it's the desktop that should allow to use something else in it's configuration
|xorg-server (Ubuntu) → unity-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)
|Robert M. Muncrief (rmuncrief-9) wrote :
I can confirm the same problem exists with Xubuntu x64 16.04 as well. However I can also confirm that this has been a problem with all Ubuntu flavors for many years.
The difference now is that nothing can be done on the user side to fix it. After all these years I'd become quite adept at editing display.xml and monitor.xml files, xorg.conf files, etc. but now none of that works. The only thing I haven't tried is changing Compiz settings, but that's because Xubuntu doesn't run Compiz by default, and people running Compiz have already reported that it can't be fixed their anyway.
I know the developers work hard and always have their plates full, but if they could at least fix it enough that we could edit conf files again it would be great.
|Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :
xubuntu and unity use different components so the issue is not the same, could you open another bug about the xubuntu issue?
|Raul Tambre (tambre) wrote :
I can also confirm that I'm experiencing this problem on Ubuntu x64 16.04. If there is any information I can provide to solve this bug, then please let me know!
|Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.
|Changed in xfwm4 (Ubuntu):
|New → Confirmed
|Jimmy Pan (dspjmr) wrote :
Not definitely a bug. But I consider this feature is good and very important to have.
|deter dangler (deter.dangler) wrote :
When can we expect fix for this? Any timeline?
|Raul Tambre (tambre) wrote :
It definitely still is a bug, since changing the setting (albeit in a hidden away config file) has no effect. That said, this bug still very much exists and annoys me.
|borninbronx (daniele-segato) wrote :
Confirm this in Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS.
I've an external monitor attached via HDMI. It sit on THE LEFT of my main monitor (laptop).
I need to set my laptop monitor as primary monitor and I want the system to know the external one is on the left.
If I use the Display application and drag my monitor on the left it become the primary monitor.
Also look at the discussion here
Please fix it, it's really annoying. (ps: can't "me too" this bug, it goes in timeout)
|borninbronx (daniele-segato) wrote :
|Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.
|Changed in unity-control-center (Ubuntu):
|New → Confirmed
|Michael V Thanh (mikeyvxt) wrote :
Can confirm this bug is still present in Ubuntu 16.10.
Seems like a pretty basic thing to implement, and it´s present on all other operating systems. When will this be fixed? All it is is a checkbox on Display Settings saying ¨Primary Monitor¨
|Ruben van Nieuwpoort (rubenvann) wrote :
This bug is also present in Mint x64 18.1. Eagerly awaiting a solution or workaround!
|潇湘居士 (lxf1992521) wrote :
This bug is also present in ubuntu x86_64 14.04.5.
|email@example.com (extraymond) wrote :
It would be nice to have an option in GUI to set primary monitor to yes in monitor.xml.
|daj (davidsonjrg-i) wrote :
This bug still happens in Ubuntu x86_64 17.10 development branch with Gnome 3.26.
|Alroger Filho (alroger-cafe-ti) wrote :
Still the same on Xubuntu / Ubuntu 17.04.
There are a few places to set which is the primary display, but they are useseless.
I have the option in nVidia Settings and Display in Settings. None help.
It's very anoyting, since my big monitor is on the right, and as I open new things, or even Save File popup slections keep going to the small left monitor on my laptop!
|Alroger Filho (alroger-cafe-ti) wrote :
Sorry, to complement my comment.
I'm running xfwm4 and xrandr says my big monitor IS the primary.
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 360mm x 200mm
1920x1080 59.94*+ 50.00
HDMI-0 connected primary 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 598mm x 336mm
1920x1080 60.00*+ 59.94 50.00 60.05 60.00 50.04
|daj (davidsonjrg-i) wrote :
Just a quick update on Ubuntu 17.10. Yes, you can change your primary monitor on Gnome 3.26. You'll just have to go to "Settings > Display" and click on "Primary Screen" (i'm translating that to enlgish, so it might not be exactly this name) and select the monitor that you'll have as your primary one.
Primary screen just didn't look like a button, so I didn't think of it until i tried it :P Editing the the bug to "this bug does not affect me".
|Alik (kilaka) wrote :
Unbelievable. It's 2018 and the bug is still unresolved.
The ungrateful bitch I am cannot convince people to use Linux if such basic defects exist :(
|David (plum117) wrote :
Having this bug not fixed is one of the main reason why people like other operating system than Linux. This is a basic feature and option that should not takes hours and command line to use.
By the way "Settings > Device > Display, just show Could not get screen information" on my side.
However, when opening "Screen Display", I have several options but not the one to identify my main screen.
Please fix this it was open for years, it is unbelievable!
|Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :
Have you even tried 18.04? It's using GNOME by default, and you can select the primary screen from the monitor capplet.. is that not enough?
|Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :
that said, I don't think this will be fixed in Unity
|Changed in unity-settings-daemon (Ubuntu):
|Confirmed → Won't Fix
|Changed in unity-control-center (Ubuntu):
|Confirmed → Won't Fix
|Dulo Stvol (dulo-stvol) wrote :
>Have you even tried 18.04? It's using GNOME by default, and you can select the primary screen from the monitor capplet.. is that not enough?
It's still the same. You can select primary monitor, but most applications will not respect it and will run only on the left monitor. If your primary monitor is on the right, everything works perfectly though.
Does this bug still affect Xfce? If yes, please open a separate bug report.
|Changed in xfwm4 (Ubuntu):
|Confirmed → Invalid
|Louis (louisgag) wrote :
> It's still the same. You can select primary monitor, but most applications will not respect it and will run only on the left monitor. If your primary monitor is on the right, everything works perfectly though.
I have the same behavior with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS


text:
Living with Earth-Shaking Realities
A dear friend, who is a retired RN and who served in the medical field for more than four decades, called me to urge me not to leave our home. She stressed how that exposure to this quickly spreading virus could be life-threatening for LeRoy, and how easily I might bring germs back home to him. That confirmed what I was already thinking.
Meditation for When Your World is Rocked
What is going on in your life right now and how do you need God's protection?
The Most Frightening Three Words
For those of us who long to come alongside the sufferer to provide help, it is important to be mindful that they are weary of answering the question of how they are feeling. They need the opportunity to voice their pain—but in voicing that pain, they fear that it may trigger more pain. They fear that in sharing, it will be more than the listener is ready to receive, or more than they have the emotional capacity to share.


text: tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6297464.post2061784167663645861..comments2020-03-27T03:03:17.017+11:00Comments on Bondville: Hip Products: OK, Let's Sew! patterns and kitsSteph Bond-Hutkinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6297464.post-66662823767509189542010-08-09T20:05:43.994+10:002010-08-09T20:05:43.994+10:00I agree, Lisa is very talented. I love her Sweetie...I agree, Lisa is very talented. I love her Sweetie Petites - I had lots of fun making them with my 6 year old daughter. The Ooshka Babooshkas are great for a more challenging and bigger sewing project. Great to see you yesterday, Steph. Looks like you have hit your stride in Sydney town! All the best, Vanessa O'Sullivan x.Gelati Arthttps://email@example.com


text:
is the sky
blue is the heaven
new is the day
fresh is the air
wind in her hair
song in her heart
~ Anita 2/2020
is the sky
blue is the heaven
new is the day
fresh is the air
wind in her hair
song in her heart
~ Anita 2/2020
© Anita Adams 2020
life exists
truths, lies, denial, laughter, love, balance and so much more
behind the veil, once lifted, one can not return to what was – only to accept what is
behind the veil
© Anita Adams 2020
Years ago, I traveled with my son, age four to Austin Texas in a 3 on the column chocolate brown with white camper GMC Truck and no A/C. We would drive 8 hours then stop at a La Quinta for the night, rested, eat, and drive another for a period of three 8 hour legs. We finally arrived in Austin and visited a head shop during that time called Oat Willies. They had a bumper sticker which I later attached to my truck that read Onward through the Fog.
On foggy mornings, like the one we're having today, those words come to mind with a different meaning.
Leaving you with the same excitation: Onward through the Fog!
Crickets chirp in the early morning hours
birds song follows as morning sun rises
leaves scatter the ground beneath the cherry tree
Autumn approaches
that place in-between
not knowing where you're headed
and what will be
a place where only Faith can lead
a time for prayer and meditation
served with a glass of mint tea, sunshine and gurgling water
company visits in the form of an occasional hummingbird, butterfly or dove
Transition calls for Faith in the unknown and unseen
for the window to open
space for fresh air and breath
Time to let go and Believe where one will be led will be safe and free
~ Anita Adams 7/31/2019
Here in Applachia …
land of heavy snowfalls, frost, rime ice and mistletoe
winter seems to have passed us by returning to Spring
daffodils and irises are sprouting through the brown, soggy ground
record rainfalls, fog and plenty of clouds
Where's winter asks the worms as they squirm along the pavement looking for their home in the darkness of the earth
Where's winter asks the fish in the pond as they swim around, confused by warm temperatures, sunshine, short days and rain
Where's winter asks the trees as they sway back and forth confused by the winds of an early Spring…instead of Winter's frozen ground
Where's winter asks the farmers as their fields begin to sprout
Where's winter asks I as I look about?


text:
The global financial crisis clearly demonstrated that poor corporate governance practices can have disastrous consequences not only for the companies and shareholders but also for the capital and financial market, and the economy as a whole. Good corporate governance, in turn, can help clearly distinguish the line between ownership and control of the company, balance the powers of shareholders, board members and other stakeholders, and ensure their accountability. As such, it is supposed to lead to better productivity and attract investment. Many countries around the world have already launched or are in the process of launching reforms leading to better corporate governance.
This class presents a comparative overview of Corporate Governance issues focusing on the US, the European Union member States legal systems and some Asian countries. It begins with a comprehensive introduction of the economic theories and a thorough analysis of the OECD Principles of corporate governance. Then, it compares the laws and practices in the United States and in such European Union member States as U.K., Germany and France. Examples from Asian countries will also be used to underline the difficulties for countries at different stages of economic and legal development to implement such rules. Topics covered will include rights and equitable treatment of shareholders, board selection and practices, Executive compensation, transparency and disclosure, corporate social responsibility. The class will mainly focus on listed companies.
The course aims at providing legal tools to improve corporate governance practices in listed companies and seeks to encourage the need for comparative law as a means of thinking about law in a globalized economy.
WEEK ONE COURSE. This course will meet for one week only on the following days: Monday, January 6, 2020 through Friday, January 10, 2020, 1:30 p.m. - 4:05 p.m.
This course is mandatory pass/fail and will not count toward the 7 credit pass/fail limit for J.D. students.
Attendance at all class sessions is mandatory and all enrolled students must attend the first class in order to remain enrolled. Students on the wait list must attend the first class in order to be admitted off the wait list. Enrolled students will have until the beginning of the second class session to request a drop by contacting the Office of the Registrar. Once the second class session begins, students may only seek a withdrawal by contacting their academic advisor in the Office of Graduate Programs. Withdrawals are permitted up until the last class for this specific course.