Expert warns against quick-fix online fire safety training years after Grenfell
The chairwoman of a group reviewing building control in England in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze has vowed she is determined to bring about a 'culture change', as she warned against 'dubious' online training courses on fire safety.
Dame Judith Hackitt criticised 'quick fixes' which she said will not work towards rebuilding public confidence in an industry which has been heavily criticised since Grenfell, and urged businesses to see proper training as an investment rather than a cost.
She will chair the first formal meeting of the Building Control Independent Panel this month, set up to look at whether changes are needed to the current system across England.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry found an issue with building control bodies tending to co-operate with companies who wanted their proposals to be approved, instead of enforcing building regulations 'rigorously'.
The inquiry recommended an independent panel look at whether it is in the public interest for building control functions to be performed by those with a commercial interest in the process, or whether all such functions should be carried out by a national authority.
The panel is due to present a report to the Government in autumn and Dame Judith suggested it will be as 'hard-hitting' as her 2018 one.
That report identified 'deep flaws' within the building regulations system, as she argued ignorance and indifference had created a 'race to the bottom', where there was a desire to do things 'as quickly and cheaply as possible rather than to deliver quality homes which are safe for people to live in'.
Asked what might be expected from her report this year, Dame Judith told the PA news agency: 'I think my track record speaks for itself, doesn't it? I'm unlikely to change my approach.
'I was honest and hard-hitting in my report seven years ago. I've continued to keep the pressure on government and on industry for the last seven years. I see no reason to change.
'I am determined to drive through this culture change that is needed across the whole of the built environment.'
Next month will see bereaved and survivors mark eight years since the fire in west London in June 2017, which resulted in 72 people losing their lives.
Asked what her message is to the many who say they have still not seen justice delivered or enough wholesale change in the system so many years on, Dame Judith said: 'I share their frustration that it's taking so long, but that's no reason to give up.
'We will get there. We will drive this change. We owe it to the people who lost their lives to do that.'
Dame Judith said she is 'absolutely confident that things are better now than they were in 2017' after building control came under the Building Safety Regulator which launched in 2023.
She added: 'We have moved from where we were. Is that enough? Is there more we need to do?
'I'm not going to speculate until we have looked at the evidence, but we will do that at pace, and we will deliver our report before the end of the year.'
Dame Judith urged 'more people to take personal responsibility and leadership in different parts of this built environment sector' after recently visiting a fire door safety centre which she praised for its efforts.
She said businesses must understand that proper training is essential as 'money spent on cheap training and substandard training is money wasted'.
Dame Judith added: 'Spending it on this sort of training is an investment in your people. It's not a cost.'
She praised Fire Door Maintenance Training and Development, which describes itself as the largest such practical training centre in the UK, saying she saw a 'real sense of purpose' in the people training there.
Dame Judith said that despite the sector-wide knowledge of the need for thorough training in aspects such as ensuring fire doors are properly maintained, the take-up of such training has been 'very mixed, very variable, and some of the training courses that have sprung up, I think, are of dubious quality to say the least, particularly online ones'.
She referenced one-hour online video training which might promise someone competency once they had completed it but added: 'That's not the case.'
Dame Judith added: 'Let's be clear, there's a place for online training and familiarisation.
'But to get people to the level of competence that they need to be on things that are safety critical, like fire doors, that practical training with someone assessing whether you are doing the job properly and are competent to do the job properly, is crucial.
'We're trying to rebuild public confidence here in an industry, and quick fixes aren't going to do it.
'You know, a quick training session online in many cases, is just not enough.'
She highlighted Fire Door Maintenance as 'what good looks like' in an industry where many others have been slow to act and change.
Nicola John, managing director at the firm which sees people training in realistic settings with doors and corridors, said they wanted to offer a 'practical training facility for practical people doing a practical job' in contrast to online courses alone.
Ms John added: 'The issue that we have is that it's not currently mandated, so we only attract the people who have the same mindset currently.'
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