FPA claims UK is behind Europe for fire safety in food manufacturing

The Fire Protection Association (FPA) has claimed that the UK lags way behind the rest of Europe when it comes to the use of fire safety measures such as sprinkler systems in food warehouses.

The FPA states that in order for sprinkler systems to become mandatory, UK factories and commercial/industrial warehouses must span more than 20,000 square metres. When compared to the rest of Europe, this is 10 times more than the legally enforceable threshold in countries like Denmark, France, Spain and Germany.

In another comparative analysis, the FPA’s technical director Dr James Glockling revealed that the cost of fire (i.e. damage to property, business losses) to UK businesses in 2008 was £865 million. Meanwhile, businesses in Germany in the same year only paid out £400 million in fire-related costs.

Speaking of the importance of using fire prevention measures such as sprinkler systems alongside fire alarms and proper fire safety training for staff, the FPA’s associate director Simon Bird said:

“In recent years we have seen a number of large fires at food industry facilities and, in the majority of these cases, it is our view that sprinkler protection would have made a very significant difference in terms of safety of occupants, reduction of economic loss, business continuity and preservation of jobs”.