Consultation Response: Implementing the Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure

Please find below our answers to the questions within the consultation proposals. We have also included a separate section at the end titled ‘other issues’.

Question 1: Do you agree with the proposed approach (set out in paragraph 20) of implementing the intent of the Measure through a combination of commencing section 1 of the Measure and making changes to the Building Regulations?

No.

The overall policy objective                

There is, manifestly, a need to reduce or eradicate the number of fire deaths in Wales and FMB Cymru appreciates and supports the overall policy objective to reduce fire deaths in Wales. However, the solution the policy objective proposes is to achieve a reduction in fire deaths and address the issue through new build and converted dwellings only.  Our understanding is that the main instances of fire deaths in Wales occur in older properties that have not been maintained well. It appears that a majority of deaths are caused by a particular failure to maintain battery powered smoke or fire alarms. Given this appreciation of the problem it is not clear to us how the proposed legislation will cause other than a minimum reduction in the dreadful loss of life.  It is not at all clear that the legislation in its current from will achieve its aim.

Partners have introduced evidence, we understand, (informed by South Wales Fire and Rescue) that in South Wales, a vast majority of all deaths recorded from house fires between the years 2000 and 2009 were recorded in homes without hard-wired smoke detectors installed. In this respect, given that since 1992 the mandatory installation of hard-wired smoke detectors in all new homes in Wales has been enforced through building regulations, the evidence potentially demonstrates that the vast majority of all deaths from fire within this period came from homes built pre 1992.

Evidence given to the legislative Committee

 [33] Val Lloyd: The committee has received evidence questioning whether the statistics provided in the explanatory memorandum, which relate to death and injuries from fire in all dwellings in Wales, are

[34] ‘sufficiently focussed to accurately assess the benefit of the proposed Measure’.

[35] Of the figures provided in paragraphs 3.8 and 3.9 of the explanatory memorandum, can you clarify how many of the fires occurred in newly built homes and how many were in older housing stock? Secondly, can you also provide details of the types of dwellings within which the fires occurred; for example, house, flat or caravan?

[38] Ann Jones: I have been unable to get hard figures but we are working on that. I will try to get some figures that break down the number of deaths and injuries in new properties, as opposed to deaths and injuries in older properties. I will try to do so during the course of your scrutiny of this proposed Measure. I do not know whether you, as a committee, could write to Communities and Local Government to ask whether the figures are easily collected, because we do not want to put an awful lot of burden on overworked staff within the fire service.

[39] Rosemary Butler: If you could find those figures, Ann, and submit them in written evidence that would be helpful. We will also make some inquiries…

Following this, at Ms Jones’ final evidence session on the 14^th October 2010 the following conversation took place on this issue.

[8] Rosemary Butler: When you last gave evidence, you advised the committee that you would try to provide a breakdown of the total number of deaths and fires in homes in Wales by the age and type of property. Are you now able to provide this information?

[9] Ann Jones: Sadly, no, though it is not for the want of trying. Apparently, the data are not collated in a fashion that would make them available to the committee. I spoke to my local fire service in north Wales and said that, if it could provide me with a list of property fires over the last 10 years, I would attempt to go around and check how old the buildings were. I could do that only in Rhyl and Prestatyn, I suppose, so the exercise would easily outweigh the data.

 As the above shows, the evidence given to the Legislative Committee was not at all robust; we consider that the Welsh Government should undertake further research, in order to ensure that any new legislation enacted would actually achieve the overall objective. This research should be particularly directed to measuring the relative value of retro fitting hard wired smoke alarms to all properties.

The FMB is concerned that data used in the WG argument uses the data for all fire deaths, to identify how many lives might be saved and injuries prevented if sprinklers are installed in all new dwellings. The argument uses the total fire deaths in all homes that have occurred in Wales and the Impact Assessment is based exclusively on the Welsh Government’s estimates of the number of new homes likely to be built in the future, the evidence plainly does not differentiate between the occurrences of fire that occur in newly built homes and those that occur in the existing stock. The issue is what can be done the save the majority of lives lost which would appear to be in older properties? 

The Impact Assessment informs us, there will be around 35 lives saved if sprinklers are installed in new buildings. However, given these figures are based on the total fire deaths in all homes that have occurred in Wales. The evidence clearly does not distinguish between deaths from fire in new homes and those that in existing stock. This would appear to be a major flaw in the calculations that leads to a distorted depiction of the potential for lives saved by installing sprinklers in new homes.

.

We can refer to the research given by our partners in the Welsh Construction Federation Alliance around the number of deaths and injuries that have occurred as a result of house fires in Wales. This research based directly on information provided to partners by all the Fire and Rescue Services in Wales. The have again used the presence of a hard wired smoke detector to establish whether or not a home would be a recently constructed property or part of the older existing stock. However, to be clear, hard wired smoke detectors were made mandatory in 1992, which means the properties that benefit from these devices could still be more than 20 years old. As such, when we say ‘recently constructed home’, it is important to remember that such properties could still be quite mature in comparison.

In terms of the above, according to our data, nearly 80% of all fire deaths in Mid, and West and South Wales between the years 2002 and 2012, occurred in homes without a hard wired smoke detector. Furthermore, more than half of injuries also occurred in homes without a hard wired smoke detector in South, Mid and West Wales. Please see the tables below for more information.

Data relating to South Wales
YEAR	Deaths (hard wired smoke alarm)	Deaths (no hard wired smoke alarm)	Injuries (hard wired smoke alarm)	Injuries (no hard wired smoke alarm)	Fire related deaths in dwelling fires South Wales	Fire related injuries in dwelling fires South Wales
2002	0	10	23	95	10	118
2003	0	13	31	131	13	162
2004	4	4	29	87	8	116
2005	2	9	56	60	11	116
2006	0	3	22	45	3	67
2007	1	5	25	71	6	96
2008	2	7	42	32	9	74
2009	0	5	54	50	5	104
2010	0	2	65	68	2	133
2011	3	2	50	20	5	70
2012	5	1	47	45	6	92
TOTALS	17	61	444	704	78	1148
%	22%	78%	39%	61%

 

Data relating to Mid and West Wales
YEAR	Fire related deaths hard wired smoke alarm	Fire related deaths non-hard wired smoke alarm	Fire related injuries hard wired smoke alarm	Fire related injuries non-hard wired smoke alarm	Fire related deaths in dwelling fires Mid/West Wales	Fire related injuries in dwelling fires Mid/West Wales
2002	0	6	56	156	6	212
2003	2	6	81	135	8	216
2004	0	8	67	131	8	198
2005	1	5	50	108	6	158
2006	0	1	57	110	1	167
2007	0	5	75	69	5	144
2008	1	6	53	84	7	137
2009	4	5	86	47	9	133
2010	2	6	64	33	8	97
2011	4	2	104	22	6	126
2012	1	1	57	66	2	123
TOTALS	15	51	750	961	66	1711
%	23%	77%	44%	56%

In this respect, if we assume that it is unlikely anyone would remove a hard wired smoke detector from a dwelling, it is reasonable to assume that these deaths occurred in homes built pre 1992. This therefore suggests that there are significantly more deaths occurring in the older existing stock than in newly built homes. This in turn suggests that installing fire sprinklers in newly built homes only, might not reduce these instances of death and injury in future years, given that the legislation will not cover the existing stock. Therefore, we believe the figures quoted for lives saved and injuries prevented as a result of the Preferred Option should be reconsidered, to ensure they are sound and robust. We also believe this evidence somewhat contradicts the comments made within the Impact Assessment (page 6), that the Committee received evidence that the Measure would possibly eradicate fire deaths in Wales. In this respect, we are yet to see any evidence from the Welsh Government to corroborate this important statement and given our evidence above, we believe this seems to be a very dangerous and rather ill-considered commitment statement to offer Welsh Ministers.

In terms of North Wales, similar data is only recorded from 2010 onwards, and does not distinguish between hard wired and battery operated smoke alarms. However the figures are very similar to those witnessed in other areas of Wales. The table below sets the evidence out and demonstrates that over the period 2010 - 2012, roughly 73% of fire deaths and nearly half the total injuries occurred in properties without a smoke alarm fitted. Furthermore, as you can see from the table below, even though the percentage of fires that occurred in homes without smoke detectors was relatively small, they still accounted for the vast majority of deaths from fire that occurred over this period. 

Data relating to North Wales
Year	% Proportion of residential fires where no smoke alarm present	% Proportion of total deaths in fires with no smoke alarm	% Proportion of total injuries in fires with no smoke alarm
2010	16.33	88.89	34.62
2011	14.71	50.00	48.84
2012	15.96	80.00	61.54
TOTALS	15.6%	73%	49%

In light of the evidence above, we believe it is imperative the Welsh Government tackles the important issue of the instances of fire that occur in newly built homes versus those that occur in the older existing stock. Not only is this important to ensure the impact assessment and cost benefit analysis are based on robust evidence, but it is also critical in order to ensure the proposed legislation will achieve the aims and objectives it sets out.

Further to the above, we believe it is also important for the Welsh Government to understand the type of property that has presented the most risk from fire. In this respect, the purpose of this consultation is to determine the type of properties that should be covered by the sprinklers legislation.  Therefore, when considering the number of deaths and injuries that have previously occurred in homes in Wales, in addition to considering the age of the property, it also is important to understand whether or not there is a certain type of property that is more prone to the risks from fire.

In light of the above, we believe it is crucial for the Welsh Government to revisit these aspects of the Measure and to undertake its own research into these matters, in order to ensure the impact assessment accurately reflects the potential effectiveness of the stated preferred option.

The FMB has done a brief desk top survey of the costs of retrofitting smoke alarms to existing stock. This shows that installing a surface mounted hard wired smoke detector [wiring not buried under surface] we can estimate a cost of around £250 a smoke detector. Individual house circumstances may cause fluctuations in this estimate. Providing the circuit breaker is not interfered with and the battery backup maintained, this may offer an opportunity to reduce fire deaths on a greater scale. Consideration to a heat sensitive alarm in the kitchen would be a similar cost, and these do not trigger from burnt toast. We understand that the two common causes of fire are from neglected chip pans, which would trigger heat, and cigarettes in bed, which should trigger a secondary detector.  Given the average house is 2 storey; we estimate a cost of £500 a house? WE believe a study of this option and support for its implantation would have a far greater effect on loss of life in domestic fires than sprinklers in new

The FMB are of the opinion that not all the pertinent issues have been addressed adequately and the proposals need to be reconsidered to ensure these important matters are addressed.

 

In light of the above, despite the numerous potential flaws within the cost benefit analysis, the impact assessment, the creation of the Measure, the potential success of the measure and the viability analysis work, it would seem there is a substantial amount of evidence weighted against the adoption of the preferred option.