safety

Since the Building Safety Act came into force in October 2023, the construction industry has seen significant changes across all levels, from the way buildings are designed and constructed, to the types of materials that are used, and even how they are installed.

As is well known, a critical aspect of this is the ability of a material to resist the spread of fire and yet still perform its primary function.  This is particularly important when considering the membranes that are used for sealing around windows and façades.

Since 2002, Hispec has stood as a figure of reliability in the UK wholesale market, offering an array of fire safety, emergency lighting, air quality, and lighting products. Our journey has been characterised by a commitment to excellence, rooted in the provision of reliable solutions that have garnered the trust of our customers. Through our dedication to quality and service, we’ve become the preferred choice for those seeking life-critical safety solutions.

With legislation changing all the time, specifying the right products is essential to meet the correct standards. We spoke with Howard Trotter, business manager of window and fire door manufacturer Shelforce, to find out what housing associations must look out for when specifying windows and doors and how Shelforce can help provide the right products for the right value.

Kidde Safety Europe is launching a new relay unit designed to provide enhanced safety for building occupants, particularly for dwellings that house vulnerable people, or where compliance with the Equality Act is essential.

Kidde Safety Europe, a trusted fire safety leader for more than 100 years, has unveiled a significant rebrand. With a new logo that represents the home combined with the strapline: ‘The Power to Protect,’ the roll-out of the new identity started to hit the merchant and wholesaler shelves on new packaging earlier this year with the launch of Kidde’s new Co2 Monitor.  Kidde is a part of Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions.

Peter McAteer, CEO of Sysmax, the compliance, risk and competency software platform now deploying across housing providers and contractors, discusses scalable solutions to solve the Golden Thread and Building Safety Act compliance and competency management conundrum which the sector is currently wrestling with.

Born of involvement in some of the biggest industrial disasters in history, including Piper Alpha and Deep Water Horizon, I established Sysmax driven by a passion for, in its simplest terms, ensuring people with the right skills are in right place, doing things properly. After many years of investing to get Sysmax recognised as ‘the competency and compliance platform against which all others are judged’ in the oil and gas industry, we decided to share our software’s unparalleled benefits across other sectors. After all, whether in energy, manufacturing, farming, utilities, tourism and even on Hollywood movie sets, we need competency and compliance to keep things safe and efficient. The Grenfell tragedy resonated deeply with me due to personal loss and threat to my own and my family’s lives. I offered to be an expert witness based on two highly explosive properties I had experienced. The publication of the Hackitt Report made social housing and the construction supply chain appropriate markets for our platform.

National Social Housing Safety and Compliance Week 2022 will take place 7-11 March. This year’s theme is ‘Challenge for Safety’.

The event is spearheaded by the Association of Safety and Compliance Professionals (ASCP). Dedicated to shining a spotlight on safety and compliance at an operational, strategic and cultural level, this week is an opportunity for the sector as a whole to come together to make homes safer than ever before.