This year’s specialist event on fire safety and composite panels was a complete success with full complement of delegates in attendance at both Branston Hall and the Waddington training facility in Lincolnshire.
The theoretical sessions were well received with a keynote message from Neil Gibbins (QFSM FIFire) to start the day. Neil covered an array of topics including post Grenfell, Approved document B and his work with government relating to the standards of White goods.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue advised how companies can reduce the risk from composite panels by identifying, testing, manging and monitoring for damage. In addition, what steps can be taken in managing panels with a small, medium or large budget. Following this an interesting talk was provided by Vulcan Inspection Services on Thermography, in terms of electrical safety, this showed how everything appears normal to the human eye however thermal imaging equipment can reveals another story. Kingspan provided a number of real-life fire case studies involving composite insulated panels, technical information was also explained relating to various types and make up. Hall & Kay Fire Engineering described the 21 things you didn’t know about sprinkler systems. To end the morning session our sponsor NFUM gave us an insight on development planning advice including a case study where a company had relocated premises and had completed significant work in fitting racking to their warehouse without seeking advice. This resulted in the insurers recommending a sprinkler system to be fitted which then become very difficult to retrofit once racking had been installed. NFUM also offered guidance to both BFFF members and non-members on site development planning.
NFUM provide a risk management programme for composite panels which can be downloaded using the link: Risk Management Programme Combustible Panels
In the afternoon we transferred over to the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue training facility in Waddington to take part in the practical sessions these involved:
- Vulcan Inspection Services allowing the delegates to use thermal imaging cameras to identify a mock electrical fault.
- Checkmate Fire and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue showed how correctly fire stopping composite insulated panels can prevent fire and smoke spread.
- Kingspan showed the flammability of various types of composite panel on their test rig including their Quad core panel.
- Various types of fire extinguishing media were used to allow delegates to apply correct extinguishing media to correct class of fire and also how to apply good firefighting technique.
If this was not enough, delegates then experienced a tour around the Urban Search & Rescue Centre to see how the rescue services are trained in various disciplines including trauma training, rail crash, earthquake site and crane rescue.
With thanks to our sponsor
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