Fire safety has long been a key area of concern in the Indian construction market. However, the increasing number of fire incidents and recent high-profile tragedies across the nation has added a renewed sense of urgency to these discussions. For example, according to statistics released by the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), there has already been a 30% increase in fire-related deaths between January and May 2024 in the capital alone, as compared to the same period in 20231. Whilst this is of course a multifaceted issue with many factors to consider, ensuring that our buildings are constructed with appropriate fire safety measures to protect both our people and property must be top of the agenda.
Although there have been advancements in the fire protection regulations for buildings, this has been somewhat disjointed across the states, causing inconsistencies in approaches, a lack of oversight on whether standards are being met, and more scope for misinformation and misunderstandings around product performance to arise. To resolve these issues and ensure safe, reliable buildings in every state, the industry as a whole must take the initiative to level up its own practices. One of the ways we can begin to look at this is by learning lessons from other countries that are going through this process, such as the United Kingdom and its Building Safety Act.
What is the UK’s building safety act?
The introduction of the Building Safety Act is one of the most fundamental gear shifts in UK construction in decades. It was developed in response to the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London and the subsequent ‘Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’ commissioned by the government which found that the existing regulatory system for high-rise and complex buildings was “not fit for purpose.” 2
Its 262 pages contain several key reforms to create “lasting generational change” to the way buildings are designed, constructed, and maintained. These include addressing the need for absolute clarity on roles and responsibilities, regulatory oversight and enforcement tools, and a clear thread of project information running from specification to handover— especially in relation to fire safety. It applies to all buildings, with a stricter regime for those classified as higher risk, such as high-rise residential buildings. Whilst this legislation is extensive and developed for the specifics of the UK market, its fundamental message is that everyone involved in the creation of buildings is responsible for their safety, and it is applicable in any region. There are some broad concepts that the industry here in India can begin to adopt to regulate its own approaches to fire-safe construction, particularly concerning product specification, installation and information management.
Product and manufacturer choice
You can’t build safe buildings without safe products. Therefore, the industry must hold construction product manufacturers to a high standard, ensuring that they are providing the right information and advice to support accurate applications.
The UK’s Building Safety Act seeks to impose this by giving anyone affected by poor product performance the right to directly sue product manufacturers that fail to comply with construction product requirements, make a misleading statement in the marketing or supply of a product, and/or manufacture an inherently defective construction product.
To administer this, the UK government has introduced a National Construction Product Regulator (NCPR) which has the power to remove products from the market if deemed potentially dangerous and issue penalties against suppliers and manufacturers who do not comply with the rules around product information. This means that any construction product manufacturer or supplier found to be providing a substandard or faulty product, or one that is being marketed based on misleading information and false statements, will face repercussions. The Building Safety Act also provides the opportunity for further development of the Construction Product Regulations through secondary legislation.
Whilst there isn’t yet the framework for this level of enforcement here in India, the reality is that all construction product manufacturers— especially those producing fire safety products such as passive fire protection— should be supporting their performance claims with clear and comprehensive datasets that are third-party certified where possible and are easily accessible through their websites or via technical teams.
Interestingly in the UK, industry-led schemes have been developed to support this standard of product information and manufacturer responsibility, such as the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI). Whilst not a legislated part of the new building safety regime, the CCPI has been held up as best practice guidance across the industry, with some main contractors publicly announcing their commitment to only using CCPI-verified products where available, and recommended for implementation by an independent review of construction product testing commissioned by the government.
The Code sets out the minimum requirements for product information to be clear, accurate, accessible, up-to-date, and unambiguous. Its assessment and validation process is independently administered and consists of a product safety-related leadership and culture survey, verification of organisations’ product information management systems, and validation of specific product set evidence. With many UK manufacturers also supplying the Indian market, this accreditation can also be a good indicator of their commitment to accurate product information irrespective of jurisdiction, enabling safer specifications
Installer competency
Another key focus of the Building Safety Act is competency at every stage of the construction process, and it sets out various frameworks to ensure that anyone carrying out building, design, refurbishment and maintenance work is required to have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary to deliver a safe building.
This is especially relevant to passive fire protection within the building envelope. These solutions must be applied and installed properly to work as intended. Failure to do so could result in gaps in the compartmentation, providing an easy path for fire to spread up and around the building. Additionally, passive fire protection solutions not installed in line with their manufacturer’s recommendations may not achieve a project’s fire safety design requirement. This is because the installation will not be reflective of the way the products or systems have been designed and tested to perform.
As the experts in their products, manufacturers should be well positioned to provide the necessary technical and practical advice needed to ensure correct procedures are followed. For example, some manufacturers offer product-specific training packages, providing installers with valuable insight into the particulars of their products and systems, as well as potential build challenges— allowing them to be addressed before the installation programme has progressed. This offering should include a combination of classroom learning and practical onsite training, and benchmark installations to demonstrate best practices.
Engaging with these services early in the construction process is vital, particularly on ambitious or complex projects. Moreover, unless a specialist façade contractor with dedicated firestop and cavity barrier installers has been appointed, the individuals installing the safing measures can change from project to project, or even at different stages of a single project. Therefore, having continual access to manufacturer training throughout the project can help ensure adherence to the fire safety strategy.
Checkpoints
Even with ongoing support, having clear checkpoints where the progress of the project can be assessed for continued adherence to the fire safety strategy can be important. This is legislated within the Building Safety Act for what it classes as ‘high-risk’ projects through project ‘Gateways’, implemented at key points in the construction process: during the planning stage (Gateway 1), before construction work begins (Gateway 2), and after construction is complete (Gateway 3).
Project teams can of course set their own points of verification by engaging with independent experts at various stages. For example, having passive fire protection strategies and designs checked by technical departments and engineers, or by engaging with free manufacturer inspections to verify whether their fire- stopping and cavity barrier products and systems have been correctly installed.
For complex or large-scale projects, this is typically done in person, with regular visits and support from trained and experienced site services engineers. On more standard and straightforward projects, contractors can also use manufacturer-developed inspection and reporting apps. These are suitable for standard systems, allowing users to capture images as each area/ element is installed and to update the data input fields using their smartphone or tablet. The app then immediately turns this into a comprehensive, easy-to-understand report which can be reviewed offsite by a specialist technical team to ensure the installation meets recommendations and to quickly identify if any areas need remedial actions before they are concealed by the façade, helping to save time and money whilst ensuring a consistently accurate installation across the project.
Information Sharing
One of the key requirements of the Building Safety Act is the ‘golden thread’ of information that runs from the design phase through construction to eventual building management – logging everything from key design decisions to any changes to the plans or structure to ensure building safety risks are managed throughout the building’s lifecycle.
Where a manufacturer inspection has taken place, either by app or in person, the final report can be included in the handover information, providing a clear record of exactly what passive fire protection measures have been used in the building and where and how they were installed. This can be submitted as part of the evidence required to demonstrate that the building conforms with the regulatory requirements for fire-stopping. It also will be a useful reference point for any future modifications that may affect the building envelope and its fire safety.
Again, there are examples of the industry itself seeking to find ways to self-impose higher standards here. For example, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has developed a digital tool, BSI Identify, to help identification of installed products for the lifetime of the building. It uses QR codes added to physical products which are linked to unique identification numbers. These are applied to every construction product within their database. When scanned, this will take the user to the exact product data supplied by the manufacturer. This ensures that anyone can easily find all the correct product information relating to specification, testing, installation, and maintenance— including performance credentials, safety data and more, long into the future. Again, whilst this is a UK initiative, it will work wherever in the world these products are applied.
Taking charge
Whilst the Building Safety Act is of course just one example of how different regions are seeking to improve their practices and procedures when it comes to building fire safety, its general concept of taking ownership for your role within the construction process and holding yourself and the teams around you to the highest standards is widely applicable— and we do not have to wait for the government to mandate this. By learning from others and implementing what’s relevant, the industry has the tools and knowledge it needs to kickstart the changes the country urgently needs to protect people and property.
(For more information, please visit siderise. com.)
- Indian Express (27 May 2024) Fire deaths up by 30% till May as compared to 2023: Official data: https://indianexpress. com/article/india/fire-deaths-may-2023-9355093/
- UK Government (17 May 2024) Independent report: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: final report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ independent-review-of-building-regulations-and-fire- safety-final-report
