A three-party seminar for fire safety personnel at London Underground, run jointly by Draka, the UK’s market-leading cable manufacturer, electric cable fixings company, Ellis Patents, and ABB was held recently in London to promote LU standards and provide a forum for debate on the necessity for the standards.
Although nearly 24 years after the Kings Cross fire in which 31 people perished and more than 60 injured, the event was clearly never far from the minds of the seminar delegates. However, in the current economic climate, the need for there to be a balance between cost and what some perceive as an "over the top" or “belt and bracers” safety culture inspired considerable debate.
The relationship between the risk or likelihood of a fire, and the consequences of a fire, was raised several times during the seminar, recalls Draka’s Marketing Services Manager, Mark Froggatt. He says; “In a world free from any financial constraints we would all strive to get as close to 100 percent certainty as was humanly possible; unfortunately, the economics of the real world gets in the way.” “Even so,” he continues, “the opinions expressed at the seminar showed that London Underground remains fully committed to ensuring the safety of its staff and passengers.”
LU standards are something of a bench-mark for fire safety in the mass transit sector, particularly in the UK and few manufacturers of fire-related products can claim compliance with them. For example, when it comes to cables satisfying the safety requirements of Section 12 (underground) areas, as set out in London Underground’s LU 1-085, Draka’s Saffire is the only LU-approved BS 6724-compliant cable range.
Commenting on the value of this type of open-forum event, Mark Froggatt says: “Draka endeavours to do much more than supply cables; in terms of the specification, selection and installation of cables we aim to be a service provider and have a close shared-agenda involvement with everyone in the supply chain. We have recently had an industry-wide cable marking educational programme, there is an on-line cable sizing calculator that is now freely available as an iPhone application, and our Cables and Tables handbook is also now online as a flip book.”
More information on Draka and its cable offering can be found at www.drakauk.com. Draka UK is the country’s leading designer and manufacturer of fire performance cables, zero halogen power cables and building wires. The company is part of Netherlands-based Draka Holdings NV, which has over 9,000 employees worldwide. Further details are available by telephone on +44 (0) 1332 345431, by fax on +44 (0) 1332 331237, and via email at sales@draka.com.
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