Today’s fire systems have become much more sophisticated, especially over the last few years, and now save countless lives and millions of pounds worth of property every day.

New European fire standards due to be adopted into UK Building Regulations this year (2007) are set to transform the UK fire damper market, potentially making the popular shutter-type fire damper used in countless UK installations redundant.

Engineers and managers involved with buildings are well aware of the benefits of variable speed drives, but many have concerns about specifying them in applications where they need to continue operating in the event of a fire. A lot has, however, been done to address those concerns, as Georgina Perkins of Siemens Building Technologies explains.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, or RR(FS)O, will come into force on 1 October this year, and is going to impact on every non-domestic premises in England and Wales. Here, Paul Bryant, CEO of Kingfell Plc one of the country’s leading fire safety consultancies, gives an expert’s overview on the impact the new legislation is going to have, and what it means to the building services engineer.

It is inconceivable that a car mechanic would fit a car sound system that required the anchorage provided for the seat belt restraint to be compromised or which interfered with the operation of the air bags. The mechanic would be very aware that in the worst case, should there ever be an accident involving the car in question, especially if there were to be injury or death to the occupants, he would automatically be seen to be culpable. At best, when the car comes up for its annual MOT, the effect would be discovered and the owner would fail to be awarded his certificate, a necessary requirement for re-taxing the vehicle. The car would soon be returned to the mechanic in question for the reinstatement of the safety measures or at worst, compensation be demanded.

The world of fire safety management is about to undergo substantial change, with reform impacting significantly on equipment manufacturers, installers and end-users alike. Keith Minster of Morley-IAS Fire Systems, Honeywell looks at the increasing impact of regulation on fire systems in the context of the rest of the business.