It matters not a jot if you have all the right ticks in the boxes, have carried out the FRA with due diligence, employed a FS manager as your competent person if, ultimately, as the operators of the premises you compromise all the foregoing by wedging doors open in central staircases for the 'convenience' of the occupants. The British Standard wedge has caused more fire spread than will ever be acknowledged or counted. And it was ever thus under the old FPA! I saw it countless times during inspections; all the doors were closed but the marks from the wedges were deeply imprinted in the carpets.
It was bad enough then. Now, with the RRO it will be impossible to regulate (ha ha, isn't that the point - DE regulating?) and with precious resources targetted elsewhere we now have the recipe for a number of such incidents and their terrible consequences. Throw reduced manning levels, mis-management, economies in maintaining firefighting appliances, regional control centres, etc, into the mix and what, just a few years ago was a service envied the world over has become overstretched, underfunded and utterly demoralised.
The bells will still go down, the response will always be a minimum 100% from operational firefighters, but the personal cost is making many ask, "Is it worth it?"
