THE FABRICATOR

NEWS
Fire alarm inUK Apeeringly so!
The new chairman of the UK’s largest
fire door certification scheme has
sounded a stark warning about fire
safety in UK buildings.
David Oldfield, head of joinery at
Arnold Laver, has been voted as
chairman of the BWF-Certifire Scheme.
He replaces David Paxton, technical
director at Premdor.
David Oldfield said that safety had
seen major breakthroughs in the last few
years thanks to the overall improvement
and simplification of third-party
certification of fire doors and the work
of the Fire Door Inspection Scheme
(FDIS). However, he was very worried
still about a culture of complacency
among those responsible for specifying,
installing and maintaining passive fire
protection measures such as fire doors.
In particular, he pointed to recent
research by FDIS which discovered that
61% of fire doors inspected had
problems with fire orsmoke seals, and
fines for breaches of the Regulatory
Reform (Fire Safety) Order which
included fire door failures had reached
almost £1m this year.The ’75 facts about
fire’ produced by the BWF-Certifire
Scheme for this year’s Fire Door Safety
Week also showed adossier of safety
failures across the country.
David Oldfield says: “The scale of the
problem is huge and appears to affect
every sector and every type of building
we use,work and live in.The state of the
nation’s fire doors is a borderline
6
David Oldfield
national crisis.
“The fire door industry and its close
partners across construction and fire
safety services need to continue to
work together to ensure critical
messages about fire door safety reach
our customers, but also echo in the
corridors of power –change needs to
be driven from the top.
“The message is simple: ensure the
right product is specified and installed
correctly, and that means athird-party
certificated product. Anything less is
frankly an unnecessary and
unacceptable risk.” ❐
Criminals are
telephoning
FENSA
registered
installers
claiming to be
from FENSA, and
asking for their
bank card details.
They are
claiming that this information is required so that FENSA can
refund installers monies that it owes them. They tell installers that
FENSA has sent out aletter about refunds and that they are
following up on this letter.
AFENSA spokesman says that the organisation will never contact
installers asking for their bank account or card information –and is
not in the process of refunding monies to any registered
businesses. FENSA has not sent out any letters about refunds.
He continues: "If an installation company has been telephoned in
this way they should contact the police by dialling 101 and give this
crime number: NFRC151101236514. They should also report itto
FENSA." ❐
Everybody loves the new Lumi
window system from Apeer –this
was the overwhelming message the
exhibition team received during the
Grand Designs exhibition in
Birmingham at the beginning of
October.
“Even before the show opened we
had the other exhibitors asking what
we are all about,” says marketing
manager Linda Tomb.“Apparently, even
during the build our guys were
constantly being asked about our
windows.
“The show was almost too busy for
our liking –wedidn’t stop until Sunday
afternoon. It was very enjoyable and the
product has had a terrific second
launch.”
Many visitors also showed keen
interest in the black door, which was
also displayed onthe stand, with many
saying that they would upgrade their
front doors first, then return to the
windows later.The bifold was also well
received as a separate product for
renovations.
Tomb says: “The show felt much
busier than last year, and people loved
Lumi. Lots of people came on to the
stand in the morning, walked round, and
came back later for asecond and third
look in the afternoon.
“We are now swamped with quotes
and leads, with projects coming from
across the UK –fromTruroinCornwall,
to the north of Scotland, with many
moreinbetween.We have rebooked for
next year,which is afive-day show!” ❐
The Fabricator 2015