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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/commentisfree/2017/jun/19/grenfell-tower-lakanal-house-inquest-fire-safety
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| I said in 2009 we couldn’t allow more people to die in a tower block fire | I said in 2009 we couldn’t allow more people to die in a tower block fire |
| (11 days later) | |
| I led the calls for a public inquiry after the Lakanal House fire in Camberwell, south London, that killed six people in 2009. I said then that we couldn’t allow a similar tragedy to happen again, that action had to be taken to stop flammable panels being put on the outsides of buildings, that the advice to residents to sit tight might be sensible in the majority of cases but clearly wasn’t a universal rule. I said that the confusion between layers of planners, contractors and subcontractors was going to lead to further mistakes if the monitoring wasn’t carefully done. All this was dealt with by the process of investigation and inquest, but eight years later we have the horror of Grenfell. | I led the calls for a public inquiry after the Lakanal House fire in Camberwell, south London, that killed six people in 2009. I said then that we couldn’t allow a similar tragedy to happen again, that action had to be taken to stop flammable panels being put on the outsides of buildings, that the advice to residents to sit tight might be sensible in the majority of cases but clearly wasn’t a universal rule. I said that the confusion between layers of planners, contractors and subcontractors was going to lead to further mistakes if the monitoring wasn’t carefully done. All this was dealt with by the process of investigation and inquest, but eight years later we have the horror of Grenfell. |
| I want the government to immediately publish all internal documents relating to the report from the Lakanal inquest and to come clean on the reasons for any delays in implementing those recommendations. I want fast action to be taken to reassure all those residents of high rises who are going to go to sleep tonight wondering if there will be a fire. That requires the government to pick up the provisional findings from the Grenfell Tower investigators and combine that information with the lessons of Lakanal House. The government doesn’t have to wait until the outcome of the public inquiry into the Grenfell fire before it acts. | I want the government to immediately publish all internal documents relating to the report from the Lakanal inquest and to come clean on the reasons for any delays in implementing those recommendations. I want fast action to be taken to reassure all those residents of high rises who are going to go to sleep tonight wondering if there will be a fire. That requires the government to pick up the provisional findings from the Grenfell Tower investigators and combine that information with the lessons of Lakanal House. The government doesn’t have to wait until the outcome of the public inquiry into the Grenfell fire before it acts. |
| The remit of the public inquiry must include an examination of whether any of the lessons of the Lakanal House fire have been learned, and whether inaction by the government or building professions led directly to the Grenfell tragedy. It was clear in 2009 that the system of fire safety checks was not working properly and inadequate building regulations relating to the outside panels were partly responsible for the rapid spread of the fire. Those doubts continued to be expressed in the years after the Lakanal House fire as recommendations made by that inquest and the coroner at the Shirley Towers inquest. | The remit of the public inquiry must include an examination of whether any of the lessons of the Lakanal House fire have been learned, and whether inaction by the government or building professions led directly to the Grenfell tragedy. It was clear in 2009 that the system of fire safety checks was not working properly and inadequate building regulations relating to the outside panels were partly responsible for the rapid spread of the fire. Those doubts continued to be expressed in the years after the Lakanal House fire as recommendations made by that inquest and the coroner at the Shirley Towers inquest. |
| We may well find that all the regulations were adhered to and all the boxes were adequately ticked, but an avoidable tragedy still occurred. People will be left with a huge sense of injustice if no one is found to be legally culpable, but that could well turn out to be the case when builders and officials operate a system which has remained flawed since 2009. | We may well find that all the regulations were adhered to and all the boxes were adequately ticked, but an avoidable tragedy still occurred. People will be left with a huge sense of injustice if no one is found to be legally culpable, but that could well turn out to be the case when builders and officials operate a system which has remained flawed since 2009. |
| Only a public inquiry can put ex-ministers in the dock, just as it did with the head of the National Coal Board, Lord Robens, after the Aberfan disaster in Wales killed 116 children and 28 adults in 1966. That tribunal was relatively quick and exposed how the fears regularly expressed by the council and the residents about the coal tip turning into a landslide had been ignored and dismissed. There is a chance that the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act will be used to obtain justice if anyone strayed from the rules, but if we want the truth about how politicians and civil servants failed to ban cladding materials in this country that are illegal in Germany and elsewhere, then a public inquiry, with subpoena powers to compel witnesses, is the most likely route to justice. | Only a public inquiry can put ex-ministers in the dock, just as it did with the head of the National Coal Board, Lord Robens, after the Aberfan disaster in Wales killed 116 children and 28 adults in 1966. That tribunal was relatively quick and exposed how the fears regularly expressed by the council and the residents about the coal tip turning into a landslide had been ignored and dismissed. There is a chance that the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act will be used to obtain justice if anyone strayed from the rules, but if we want the truth about how politicians and civil servants failed to ban cladding materials in this country that are illegal in Germany and elsewhere, then a public inquiry, with subpoena powers to compel witnesses, is the most likely route to justice. |
| I’m aware that I am making assumptions about the causes of the fire’s rapid spread and we must all wait for the investigators to reach their conclusions, but the lessons of Lakanal House and other fires are well established. Stopping future fires is all about political choices. Brandon Lewis’s rejection of a proposal to make sprinklers compulsory for high rises in 2014 when he was housing minister was a choice. Cutting back on the number of fire crews, or the budgets for planning officers due to austerity, is a choice. An ideological aversion to red tape and the deriding of our health and safety culture are political choices and ones we should now think carefully about. | I’m aware that I am making assumptions about the causes of the fire’s rapid spread and we must all wait for the investigators to reach their conclusions, but the lessons of Lakanal House and other fires are well established. Stopping future fires is all about political choices. Brandon Lewis’s rejection of a proposal to make sprinklers compulsory for high rises in 2014 when he was housing minister was a choice. Cutting back on the number of fire crews, or the budgets for planning officers due to austerity, is a choice. An ideological aversion to red tape and the deriding of our health and safety culture are political choices and ones we should now think carefully about. |
| Housing minister Brandon Lewis’s rejection of a proposal to make sprinklers compulsory in high rises was a choice | Housing minister Brandon Lewis’s rejection of a proposal to make sprinklers compulsory in high rises was a choice |
| It is staggering that fire safety professionals were warning in March this year that the use of flammable cladding was a tragedy waiting to happen. In fact, some had been warning about the use of such materials back in 2000, well in advance of the Lakanal House fire. The Lakanal House inquest reported in March 2013, so I don’t understand why ex-housing minister Gavin Barwell was still saying in 2016 that the government would review that part of the building regulations relating to fire safety. He was still thinking about this review at about the same time as the cladding on Grenfell Tower was being finished off. | It is staggering that fire safety professionals were warning in March this year that the use of flammable cladding was a tragedy waiting to happen. In fact, some had been warning about the use of such materials back in 2000, well in advance of the Lakanal House fire. The Lakanal House inquest reported in March 2013, so I don’t understand why ex-housing minister Gavin Barwell was still saying in 2016 that the government would review that part of the building regulations relating to fire safety. He was still thinking about this review at about the same time as the cladding on Grenfell Tower was being finished off. |
| The Lakanal House fire highlighted the lack of coordination between contractors and the local authority. The complaints of Grenfell Tower residents indicate similar problems may have hindered the refurbishment process and this too must be looked at. The inquiry must not only put the tenants centre stage and give them a voice, but also ask whether tenants across the country need to be given new rights to access information and be part of the decision-making and monitoring processes regarding their homes. | The Lakanal House fire highlighted the lack of coordination between contractors and the local authority. The complaints of Grenfell Tower residents indicate similar problems may have hindered the refurbishment process and this too must be looked at. The inquiry must not only put the tenants centre stage and give them a voice, but also ask whether tenants across the country need to be given new rights to access information and be part of the decision-making and monitoring processes regarding their homes. |
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