Brompton Bicycles, London

Electric cars are becoming more prevalent and car parks are facing a new risk with the growing numbers of cars being charged in them. This may lead to a number of fires in their lithium-ion batteries, that will pose a challenge to firefighters and to those responsible for safety in the car parks.

Under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), the “Responsible Person” (typically a building owner and/or operator) must ensure their smoke control systems are maintained in an efficient state, are in efficient working order and in good repair at all times. If this is you, it is your responsibility to check that contractors have the qualifications, accreditations and training to work in accordance with the latest regulations. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) suggests that the “smoke control system should be maintained by a competent person who is familiar with the fire engineering performance specifications of that specific system”.

When a fire breaks out, the consequences can be devastating. In warehouses or other large, single-storey buildings such as factories, not only are lives put at risk, but large quantities of stock can be destroyed as well. Depending on the damage caused, days or months of production time can be lost – a challenge that most companies might find it difficult to recover from.

In this blog, we aim to give you some more information about how a smoke control and smoke clearance system can help to reduce damage to buildings and stock, whilst keeping occupants safe.