Mirror Causes Warehouse & Office Sunlight Fire
A fire is believed to have been caused by sunlight reflecting off mirrors onto a combustible item, possibly window blinds. Six fire engines and 35 firefighters and...
Read Full ArticleLondon Fire Brigade has announced it will no longer respond to daytime activations of automatic fire alarms in most non-residential buildings from October 2024.
In the year to March 2024, LFB attended 52,000 false calls generated by automatic fire alarms. Less than one per cent of calls from non-residential automatic fire alarms are ultimately recorded as fires – the 99 per cent majority are false alarms.
In a bid to reduce this burden, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has announced that automatic calls won’t be answered between 7 am and 8.30 pm in most non-residential buildings. This includes office blocks and industrial estates.
Automatic alarms between the hours of 8.30pm and 7am will continue to be responded to, and there are several exemptions to the new rule, including: residential care homes, student accommodation, hotels, heritage buildings, schools and nurseries. Those who feel the building they manage has a special case to make regarding exemption should contact their local Borough Team or your local Prevention and Protection Team.
Insurance company AXA Commercial is advising London businesses to review their fire risk assessments and staff training:
Dougie Barnett, AXA Commercial’s Director of Customer Risk Management said: “London Fire Brigade’s decision is in line with many other fire and rescue services across the UK and it’s crucial that London businesses are aware of the change. If there's a fire, employees need to know to dial 999 during the working day because there won’t be an automatic response by the fire brigade like in the past.
“The change will impact all businesses that have a remote connection to an alarm-receiving centre. It means their fire risk assessments will need to be updated and staff will require additional training to make sure they respond in the appropriate way in case of fire.”
Picture: a photograph of a wall-mounted fire alarm with the words "break glass, press here" written on it. Image Credit: Pexels
Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 02 July 2024
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