Burning issue

摘要

AT THE END of the 1980s, the number and cost of fires on UK construction sites reached a level where insurers were questioning whether it was economic to continue providing cover. Either the premiums would have to increase to an unacceptable level, orthe industry had to get its house in order. In 1992, the Fire Protection Association (FPA) and what is now the Construction Confederation, with the support of the Association of British Insurers and the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association, drafted the first edition of the Joint Code of Practice for Fire Prevention on Construction Sites. Though this first code did not call for costly and time-consuming measures, there was initially some suspicion from the construction industry. At the launch of the document in April 1992, the FPA's director said that "there is nothing in the code which cannot be implemented on any construction site". This practical and cost-effective approach is still at the heart of the code.