Spec Finish

Technical “Never assume” says Joe Cilia , FIS Technical Director, especially when it comes to specifying and installing firestopping products. There have been too many examples where non-compliance has led to tragedy. FIRESTOPPING SERVICE PENETRATIONS 22 www.thefis.org Joe Cilia, FIS Technical Director D URING a storm in January 2016 nine tonnes of masonry fell at Oxgangs Primary School because of a lack of compliant brick ties, this led the inspector to produce a report on the compliancy of the building itself which, amongst other failings, highlighted that the firestopping around services wasn’t compliant and, in some cases, didn’t exist. Previously, a fire at Lakanal House on 3 July 2009 killed six people and at least 20 were injured when a high-rise fire developed and spread through a number of flats in the 12-storey building. Breaches in compartmentation were shown to contribute to the fire spreading. Never assume These two tragedies should have provided the catalyst to drive changes in the way that firestopping is considered during the design stages of a building and to put processes in place to ensure that compliant solutions are used; yet there are still almost daily examples where assumptions are made on