Harlem Shake to King’s Cross Fire – 25 Years, it’s Long Time!

By Graham Ellicott, FIA CEO

Every day I take a look at the BBC News website to see what’s happened in the fire world. I’m usually looking for which fire and rescue service has, yet again, changed their attendance policy or what the government’s latest views on the way that the fire sector will change in the future are. This type of information seems to come in waves; lots of news about possible privatisation and then nothing, followed by a plethora of videos of fire people doing the Harlem Shake!

Indeed, a quick search reveals that London, Staffordshire and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Services have all recorded their own Harlem Shake! I was particularly intrigued by the red elephant (Welephant) in the Staffordshire version and wondered whether it was that great sport, Chief Fire Officer, Peter Dartford, getting down with the kids! My guess is, if it was, he won’t be doing this when he assumes the mantle of President of the Chief Fire Officers Association in a year or two’s time.

But it’s not only the fire and rescue services that shake their booty as can be seen from the TYCO Electronics version which does seem a bit tame and certainly doesn’t contain a red elephant – that’s a ‘blue chip’ company approach!

But leave aside the Harlem Shake videos which are most likely, a passing internet craze; for the participants- they will have had their Warholesque five minutes of fame. The thing that caught my eye on the BBC News website was an article on the radio show The Reunion. The latest edition brings together people involved in the Kings Cross Fire and listening to this it took me back just over twenty five years.

This was a particularly formative time in my life as I’d just returned to live in the UK after a major adventure in North America and I was finding it hard going. Nobody here was interested in what a great time I’d had over the last six years abroad and the UK had massively changed since I had left in 1981. Britain then, as now in many cases, regarded the glass as being half empty (and at risk of being knocked over) whereas, generally North America is a glass half full place!

As a result of the Kings Cross Fire, ‘The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989’ were introduced. In addition, smoking was banned in all London Underground stations; smoking on the trains themselves had been banned in 1984 following a fire at Oxford Circus tube station. Thirty one people died in the Kings Cross fire including the fireman Station Officer Colin Townsley who was posthumously awarded the George Medal.

Well, I’m still in the UK, although in 1987 I nearly did get back on the jet to return to the land of optimism. As I grow older I think I become mellower and on a slow day in the fire world I think I’ve seen it all before. I hope I never have to see another Kings Cross type fire again; it would be depressing in the extreme to think that 31 people died in vein.

It’s good to see that fire and rescue services can find time for a piece of fun such as the Harlem Shake, indeed the Greater Manchester version was encouraging people to cook more safely and in particular to ‘Ban the (Chip) Pan’. I’m sure that despite these austere times the fire and rescue will continue to fight the glass half empty syndrome; to do their job you surely have to be a measured optimist!

Would you believe it I’ve just knocked over my glass of squash (fruit juice is banned at the FIA but that’s the subject of another blog) which had been half full…

Put Down the Beer…Pick up the Pimms!

By Becky Reid, Marketing Manager

I don’t think anyone can have missed the massive amounts of sport happening not just in London but around the world at the moment. The Euro 2012 footie, now Wimbledon and shortly the Olympic extravaganza. Great for sports fans like me and also great opportunities for marketers to ‘play’ with.

Now, I admire anyone who can cleverly connect their products, services or brand with the sport of the moment (of course being careful not to do any ‘ambush marketing’)  but I have to say I was a little surprised by London Fire Brigade’s latest campaign.

Aimed at dissuading footie fans from drunk cooking during Euro 2012 I commend the campaign for its intentions and also for being translated into seven languages so as to reach Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and Portuguese residents. There’s just a couple of things that I noticed upon closer inspection…

The posters, as featured on BBC News’ website, feature a burger with the word ‘Goal!’ above it. The aim is to get fans who are watching the game in the pub to get a takeaway on the way home rather than try to tackle the frying pan when plastered. According to LFB stats ‘three quarters of alcohol related fires are caused by cooking under the influence’. O-kay…

But is the headline ‘Play Away from Home and Eat Out’ the best they could come up with? Not sure RELATE would agree with this!

Also, the French version features the word ‘But!’ above the burger…erm, do they mean ‘Goal!’ or the French electrical chain BUT. Is the LFB branching out into the electrical goods business now?!

It’s ok, LFB, I’m only teasing. It’s good to see them using some initiative at getting their message out there; I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the Olympics!

Anyway, the England team have done their bit for fire safety by losing in the quarter finals, safely ensuring that no one will be watching any more Euro 2012 games.  Instead we can all get on with cheering on another underdog in British sport – it is Pimms O’Clock after all!

A week is a long time in fire

By CEO FIA Graham Ellicott

What a week it’s been for fire!

BAFE launched its Fire Risk Assessor scheme SP205 and this joins the FRACS schemes that are available from Warrington Certification, so now Fire Risk Assessment organisations have a choice of Third Party Certification schemes to join and this can only be good for fire safety in the UK. The hard work from all involved in these schemes is to be applauded.

On the same day that BAFE had the SP205 launch the Worshipful Company of Fire Fighters in partnership with BRE held the 2012 Fire Lecture which consisted of a number of presentations and was well attended by all sectors of the fire world. In her presentation, Debbie Smith of BRE, lamented the lack of available data in some cases to inform all manner of decisions that the fire professional could be faced with on a day-to-day basis.

This, in my opinion, has always been the case and unfortunately as much of the data that has been generated has been as the result of Government funded research then the situation is not likely to improve because of the cuts in budgets.

At the same event Nick Starling of the ABI repeated much of what was in their 2009 document ‘Tackling Fire – A Call for Action’ and I think he missed an opportunity here. The document in question was issued while the last Government was in power and, if I remember correctly, the ABI suggested that there be quite a bit of Government work, admittedly with other stakeholders to drive down the cost of fire. The current Government, based upon its actions to date, shows little or no inclination to intervene in the fire sector and if they do it will be predominantly for life safety.

Lee Howell of CFOA was understandably late for the lecture as he had been involved with the Atherstone court case which was another large fire story during the week. Thus his presentation was given by his staff officer who delivered it in an entertaining fashion and I have to say, probably engaged the audience more than Lee would have because of the ‘sympathy factor’.

I don’t know who wrote Lee’s presentation but they couldn’t resist a ‘pop’ at the private fire trade as they inferred that Lee ran a successful commercial fire trading business for Devon and Somerset FRS. This diatribe went on to infer that the private sector was metaphorically quaking in its boots about this operation. Well if they were referring to Red One Ltd (the DSFRS arms-length company) then the latest accounts filed at Companies House show it as dormant, that is that it hasn’t traded. Is this the fire service’s new definition of success? Perhaps Lee could clarify this situation.

At the end of the presentations it was time for questions and this brought forward some interesting debate. I was particularly impressed by the comments of Rita Dexter and Ron Dobson of London Fire Brigade who reached to the heart of the problem of the complexities of why people lose their lives in fire. They did this without the dogma of the various fire stakeholders (some of whom spoke at the Lecture) and were a breath of fresh air – more of it please!

As I write this it has been reported that Southwark Council will not face manslaughter charges with regard to the six deaths in the Lakanal House fire that occurred in July 2009. In December 2009 the BBC reported that the Lakanal House inquests would not complete for two years and now 30 months on it has still not completed.  It is hoped that the decision not to press charges over manslaughter will now hasten the progress of the inquests. Indeed Southwark Council would like to see the situation progressed as their Cabinet Member for Housing commented: “We now ask that the coroner agrees a date as soon as possible for the six inquests to begin so that all the facts from that tragic evening of nearly three years ago can be brought before the public.”

Whatever the ‘rights or wrongs’ of the situation, this long delay in completing the inquests (it’s now nearly three years since the fire) has meant that the bereaved relatives are still waiting for answers as to why the deaths occurred. The fire world also awaits the conclusion of the inquests as it could have ramifications for the design of buildings.

In another big fire news story earlier this week, the Welsh Government announced that from 2013 all new homes would be fitted with sprinklers. In contrast, England has no intention to have sprinklers fitted. This is yet another example of the ‘postcode lottery’ approach to fire across the UK and one has to ask why, as a UK taxpayer, there are major differences occurring in the way that fire and rescue operates between England and Scotland; and now why the levels of fire protection in new buildings across the UK, for example, sprinklers in care homes in Scotland and in new homes in Wales, are becoming so disparate.

It will be interesting to see what, if any comments, the Coroner for the Lakanal House inquests makes with regard to fire protection and management of buildings such as Lakanal House; The FIA wonders whether any comments will be implemented differently across the UK. Time will tell!

FIA on the Beeb

By Monica Keats

This morning our very own Robert Thilthorpe featured on BBC One’s Fake Britain discussing Halon extinguishers.

A fraud investigation was carried out by North Wales Police after it was found that Eric Andrew Lyon had altered certificates showing that the halon gas supplied by Lyontech Engineering Ltd for halon fire extinguishers was 99% pure although it was not up to standard.

According to the dailypost.co.uk, the impure gas provided by Lyontech Engineering Ltd was used by airplane fire extinguisher manufacturers between 2007 and early 2009. More than 15,000 fire extinguishers had to be taken out of airplanes across the globe.

Prosecutor Wyn Lloyd Jones told the Mold Crown Court that while Lion had admitted a £390,000 fraud, the seriousness of the case outweighed the value.“There was a substantial breach of trust. There was at the very least a real risk that public safety could have been compromised,” he said, adding: “The motive was greed and profit.”

Lyon of Northop Country Park near Mold, admitted 25 fraud offences and was jailed for two and a half years on 13th January 2012.

Fake Britain later contacted the Fire Industry Association, as fire industry experts, for more information on the risks involved in supplying less than adequate halon fire extinguishers.

Fake Britain episode 6 (series 3) is now available to view on BBC iPlayer:

BBC 1 Fake Britain S3E6

Confused by Cookie Compliancy? Snap!

By Becky Reid, Marketing Manager

Recently I wrote a blog about the impending cookie law and what it means for UK businesses. With the jerk of a British knee (my own personal opinion), from 26th May all websites that use cookies are going to have to make visitors aware of the cookies and what they do in order to give them the chance to ‘Just say no!’ to them.

Now, I like my privacy as much as the next person – a year ago I was the victim of online identity theft and fraud – but I also believe that the majority of online activity and websites are genuine and looking to provide a great customer experience.

Website owners across the land are now trying to work out the best way to abide by the law without scaring off customers with pop up banners (no one likes those much, do they?), unfamiliar words and terms (do you know what a CFTOKEN is??) and other such annoying factors.

In the past month I have read the ICO’s latest guidance, then the ICC guidance document and finally the Digital Cabinet’s guidance for not-for-profit organisations. With all those documents suggesting slightly different approaches I turned to my web agency for their opinion as well as looking what other top companies like BT and the Beeb are doing.

Following on from a cookie audit, which included deleting and disabling some old and unnecessary cookies, we have opted against a pop up banner but instead have separated out and expanded our cookie policy from the corporate privacy policy and added that to the footer of the FIA website. We are also promoting the new policy via all our communication platforms in an effort to be upfront and open about our use of cookies.

But that’s doesn’t mean I have ticked the box and closed the project file… every time we improve our Google Analytics I will need to understand what cookie(s) are being added, amend the policy and promote that. The FIA cookie policy is a living document and so needs to be tended to just like any other company policies – reviewed at regular intervals, amended and communicated as required.

Longer term web browser providers (Google Chrome, IE, Firefox etc.) are looking at how to incorporate cookie acceptance into browsers as standard but for now all UK businesses must learn to live with the cookie law.

Oh, and if you were wondering what a CFTOKEN is it’s the name of one of the cookies we use to provide transaction support when using our online shopping facility.