MAY 2012
Insurers - The missing link…
A wide range of excellent work is regularly undertaken by UK fire engineers on projects across the world. Fire safety strategies are developed using sound engineering reasoning and coordinated with contractors and end users to optimise fire safety provisions enabling significant benefits in:
Capital costs
Maintenance costs
Aesthetics
Buildability
Business operation
Reduced delays
The vast majority of these strategies are aimed solely at the approving authorities, usually building control body and fire officer in the UK.
As a result of Trenton Fire's continuous drive to improve services it became clear that although the statutory authority was being addressed the concerns of the insurers were not. We would spend many hours developing innovative and cost effective fire strategies only to find that further down the line, when insurers became involved, important sections of the fire strategy would be ignored and their own requirements would be forced on the client and contractor or insurance premiums would rise significantly. This despite the fire strategy showing that risk to life, business and property protection was at least as good as a code compliant situation and frequently much better.
Trenton Fire have now adapted their services to enter into detailed discussions with insurers when they become involved, not just to get a list of what they consider a necessity, but also to demonstrate the effectiveness of the fire strategy and ensure premiums reflect the benefits identified. After all, lots of time is spent working with the approving authorities on life safety issues so why should property protection be ignored?
A recent further education college is a case in point. It was decided at an early stage that sprinklers were not wanted by the client or developer. Trenton Fire then became involved to demonstrate the life safety aspects were at a level sufficient to satisfy the approving authorities. This included meeting the architects design aspirations, the end users operational requirements and the contractors construction concerns.
As the building is arranged around an enclosed courtyard and each side was compartmented from the rest Trenton Fire could show that by automatically venting hot smoke and gases from the central area fire spread could be prevented across the courtyard. This resulted in the area at risk being significantly reduced and the insurance premium could be reduced accordingly.
Fire engineering is often seen as an expensive add on to problem projects however even the simplest buildings can benefit from an expert assessment and in the majority of cases provides cost savings in excess of any fees charged plus a wide range of other advantages.
