sustainable design

EU Accessibility & Ratification of UN Disability Rights Convention

Posted by CJ Walsh

2011-01-15:  Recently, I was waiting … and waiting … for the first mention of this important news to pop up on any of the European Disability Networks … the Formal Ratification by the European Union (EU) of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities … on 23 December 2010 last.

History in the making !!

This U.N. Convention was adopted on 13 December 2006 (2006-12-13), at the United Nations Headquarters in New York … and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007.  It entered into force, i.e. became an International Legal Instrument, on 3 May 2008 (2008-05-03).  A copy of the Convention can be downloaded, here, on this Site … in my post, dated 31 October 2009.

Finally, on Monday 10 January 2011 … via ICTA-Europe, EDeAN, and the EU Press Release below … it was announced …

EU Press Release IP/11/4 – Brussels, 5 January 2011

EU Ratifies UN Convention on Disability Rights

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (25kb)

So much for instant communication in our much-vaunted Information / Knowledge / Smart Society !!

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Ordinarily, this news would be nothing to get excited about.

BUT … since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 January 2009 … the European Union now has a legal personality all of its own, separate from those of the individual EU Member States.  See Article 47 in Title VI – Final Provisions – of the Treaty on European Union (consolidated version).

This is the first time that the EU has become a party to an international treaty.

The 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is now part of the European Union’s Acquis Communautaire, i.e. the extensive body of EU Law.

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The consequential impacts flowing, therefore, from the EU’s Ratification of the U.N. Convention … at both European and Member State (National) levels … will be very, very interesting to observe during the immediate short term.  [A note of caution … be patient, and allow for a short period of ‘bedding-in’ at the start.  See below.]

The European Commission, for example, must now take full account of the Convention in the drafting and implementation of any new legislation, policies and programmes … in fact, all of its activities.

The European Court of Justice must also take full account of the Convention in all of its work.

This will, inevitably, heavily influence what is … or is not … happening with regard to social and other policies at national level in the Member States.  Many Member States (16) have already ratified the Convention … and more power to them !   BUT among these 16 … the Czech Republic and Denmark have not yet ratified the UN Convention’s Optional Protocol … how strange … and unacceptable !!

Some Member States … and I am thinking specifically of Ireland … will have to be dragged, screaming, to the point of ratification.  And even when that position has been reached … proper implementation will always be an issue.  Just consider, for a moment, Ireland’s uncaring and ham-fisted approach to implementation of the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child … which it did actually ratify way back on 28 September 1992 !   See my post, dated 30 November 2009.

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Accessibility of the ‘Human Environment’ – A Harmonized EU Understanding !

As far as the European Union must now be concerned … and all of the EU Member States … Preamble Paragraph (g) and Articles 9, 10 & 11 of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – together – form the basis of a harmonized understanding for Accessibility of the ‘Human Environment’ … which includes the Built Environment, the Social Environment, the Economic Environment, and the Virtual Environment … concepts which I have defined, here, many times before.

Preamble Paragraph (g)

Emphasizing the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development,

Article 9 – Accessibility

1.  To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.  These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:

     (a)  Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces ;

     (b)  Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.

2.  States Parties shall also take appropriate measures:

     (a)  To develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public ;

     (b)  To ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities ;

     (c)  To provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities ;

     (d)  To provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms ;

     (e)  To provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public ;

     (f)  To promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information ;

     (g)  To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet ;

     (h)  To promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.

Article 10 – Right to Life

States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

Article 11 – Situations of Risk & Humanitarian Emergencies

[My Note: An outbreak of fire in a building would be a situation of serious risk.]

States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.

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Accessibility of the ‘Human Environment’ – Competent & Effective EU Implementation !

Within the European Union as a whole, because it is a party to the Convention in its own right … and also within the individual EU Member States … Articles 31 & 33 of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – together – mandate that implementation is taken seriously … that it is competent and effective … and, most importantly, that independent monitoring and verification is a fundamental part of the process.

Article 31 – Statistics & Data Collection

1.  States Parties undertake to collect appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the present Convention.  The process of collecting and maintaining this information shall:

     (a)  Comply with legally established safeguards, including legislation on data protection, to ensure confidentiality and respect for the privacy of persons with disabilities ;

     (b)  Comply with internationally accepted norms to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and ethical principles in the collection and use of statistics.

2.  The information collected in accordance with this article shall be disaggregated, as appropriate, and used to help assess the implementation of States Parties’ obligations under the present Convention and to identify and address the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in exercising their rights.

3.  States Parties shall assume responsibility for the dissemination of these statistics and ensure their accessibility to persons with disabilities and others.

Article 32 – International Co-Operation

1.  States Parties recognize the importance of international co-operation and its promotion, in support of national efforts for the realization of the purpose and objectives of the present Convention, and will undertake appropriate and effective measures in this regard, between and among States and, as appropriate, in partnership with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities.  Such measures could include, inter alia:

     (a)  Ensuring that international co-operation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities ;

     (b)  Facilitating and supporting capacity-building, including through the exchange and sharing of information, experiences, training programmes and best practices ;

     (c)  Facilitating co-operation in research and access to scientific and technical knowledge ;

     (d)  Providing, as appropriate, technical and economic assistance, including by facilitating access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies, and through the transfer of technologies.

2.  The provisions of this article are without prejudice to the obligations of each State Party to fulfil its obligations under the present Convention.

Article 33 – National Implementation & Monitoring

1.  States Parties, in accordance with their system of organization, shall designate one or more focal points within government for matters relating to the implementation of the present Convention, and shall give due consideration to the establishment or designation of a co-ordination mechanism within government to facilitate related action in different sectors and at different levels.

2.  States Parties shall, in accordance with their legal and administrative systems, maintain, strengthen, designate or establish within the State Party, a framework, including one or more independent mechanisms, as appropriate, to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the present Convention.  When designating or establishing such a mechanism, States Parties shall take into account the principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of human rights.

3.  Civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, shall be involved and participate fully in the monitoring process.

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The European Union’s Disability Strategy 2010-2020 [COM(2010) 636 final]

The general approach to, and the quality of, Accessibility Implementation in Europe … when compared, for example, with Japan … is pathetically inadequate.

It is quite amazing, therefore, that the texts which deal with Accessibility of the ‘Human Environment’ in the EU’s Disability Strategy Document 2010-2020 … are weak and far too vague … basically, meaningless claptrap drafted by desk jockeys / ‘suits who do not know’ !   We did not achieve a ‘Europe Accessible For All’ by 2010 (see below) … do you see it ??   And … at the current rate of progress, neither will we achieve a ‘Europe Accessible For All’ by 2020 !

The European Union’s Accessibility Strategy, related Policies and Programmes … and the monitoring, targeting and independent verification of Accessibility Implementation … all require a radical overhaul !

All those Officials in the European Commission who are involved, in any way, shape or form, with Accessibility of the ‘Human Environment’ would do well to RE-READ AND MEDITATE DEEPLY on the contents of the 2003 Final Report from the Group of Accessibility Experts, which was established by the European Commission itself …

EU 2003 (EYPD) Expert Group on Accessibility

October 2003

2010: A Europe Accessible For All

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (294kb)

I was a Member of that Expert Group !

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AND SOME WIDER CONCERNS …

1.  The European Union HAS NOT RATIFIED the UN Disability Rights Convention’s Optional Protocol.  If the Union is so Open and Transparent … and so committed to Human and Social Rights for All EU Citizens … somebody, somewhere, has to scream out loud “Why is the EU Not Ratifying this Optional Protocol ???”.   And … we demand an honest answer !!!

Optional Protocol – Article 1

1.  A State Party to the present Protocol (‘State Party’) recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘the Committee’) to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of the provisions of the Convention.

2.  No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to the Convention that is not a party to the present Protocol.

2.  The EU Code of Conduct between the Council, the Member States and the Commission setting out internal arrangements for the implementation by and representation of the European Union relating to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Above, I talked about a short period of ‘bedding-in’.   BUT … get your teeth into the ‘meat’ of this document … which indicates that it might be a much longer and more difficult process !?!

Official Journal of the European Union (15 December 2010) – 2010/C 340/08

EU Council – UN Disability Rights Convention – 2010 Internal Code of Conduct

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (729kb)

3.  At EU Council … How Important is this Issue Considered ?   In the 37 Page Report on the Justice and Home Affairs Council Meeting, which was held in Brussels from 2-3 December 2010 … the adoption of the above Internal Code of Conduct rated just a very brief mention on the last page.  It was not mentioned, at all, among the Main Results of the Meeting !

4.  Will Disability Networks, at both European and Member State (National) levels, have the stamina … and be sufficiently competent and focused … to rigorously monitor European Union Implementation of the UN Disability Rights Convention ??   And … will these Networks be courageous in challenging the EU Institutions … if Implementation is found to be Inadequate ???   I’m not so sure !

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END

Firefighter Exposure To Smoke Particulates – New U.S. Research

Posted by CJ Walsh

To Properly Consider Firefighter Safety:  It is not ‘sufficient’ just to distribute Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to firefighters … an adequate Fire Service Support Infrastructure is required.  And … it is NO LONGER ethically acceptable to ignore this issue in the design and construction of buildings !

In Europe … it should be noted that part of  Essential Requirement 2: ‘Safety in Case of Fire’ … from European Union (EU) Council Directive 89/106/EEC, of 21 December 1988, on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to Construction Products … states the following …

‘ The construction works must be designed and built in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire … the safety of rescue teams is taken into consideration.’

I will return to building design and construction in a later post.

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Now, however … reproduced below is the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY from a recent important Report by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (USA) … comprising 390 Pages and weighing in at a mighty 10.54 Mb … too large to be presented here !   So sorry !!

As always … we recommend that you download the UL Report yourselves … and have a long, careful read.  It can be viewed and/or downloaded at this address … http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/buildingmaterials/fire/fireservice/smokeparticulates

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FIREFIGHTER EXPOSURE TO SMOKE PARTICULATES

(DHS AFG Grant #EMW-2007-FP-02093)

Final Report

Project Number: 08CA31673 – File Number: IN 15941

1 April, 2010

Prepared by:

 Thomas Fabian, Ph.D., Jacob L. Borgerson, Ph.D, Stephen I. Kerber, M.S., Pravinray D. Gandhi, Ph.D., P.E.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

C. Stuart Baxter, Ph.D., Clara Sue Ross, M.D., J.D., James E. Lockey M.D., M.S.

University of Cincinnati

James M. Dalton, M.Arch.

Chicago Fire Department

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INTRODUCTION

The potential for firefighters to experience acute and/or chronic respiratory health effects related to exposures during firefighting activities has long been recognized.  Specific exposures of concern for firefighters, because of their potential respiratory toxicity, include:

  1. Asphyxiants, such as Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulphide ;
  2. Irritants, such as Ammonia, Hydrogen Chloride, Particulates, Nitrogen Oxides, Phenol and Sulphur Dioxide ;
  3. Allergens ;    and
  4. Carcinogens, such as Asbestos, Benzene, Styrene, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and certain Heavy Metals.

An additional cardiovascular risk factor that is receiving increasing attention is exposure to respirable particles in the ultra-fine range (particles less than 0.1 micron in diameter), which have been detected in smoke.  Exposure to these gaseous and particulate agents has been linked to acute and chronic effects resulting in increased firefighter mortality and morbidity (higher risk of specific cancers and cardiovascular disease).

Currently, gaps exist in the knowledge concerning the size distribution of smoke particles generated in fires and the nature of the chemicals absorbed on the particles’ surfaces.  Some gaseous effluents may also condense on protection equipment and exposed skin, leaving an oily residue or film.  These chemicals can pose a significant threat to firefighter health directly (via the skin and eyes, or by inhalation) or following dermal absorption.  This fire research study fills gaps identified in previous studies on firefighters’ exposure to combustion products.  The study focuses on gaseous effluents and smoke particulates generated during residential building and automobile fires and subsequent contact exposure resulting from residual contamination of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

The information developed from this research will provide a valuable background for interpreting fire hazards and can be used by …

     a)  the Medical Community for advancing their understanding of the epidemiological effects of smoke exposure ;

     b)  First Responders for developing situational assessment guidelines for Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) usage, Personal Protection Equipment cleaning regimen, and identifying the importance of personal hygiene following fire effluent exposure ;

     c)  Organizations such as NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) and NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) for developing new test method standards and performance criteria for respirators used by first responders, and the care and maintenance of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

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METHODOLOGY

This study investigated and analyzed the combustion gases and particulates generated from three scales of fires:

     –  Residential Building and Automobile Fires ;

     –  Simulated Full-Scale Fire Tests ;    and

     –  Material Based Small-Scale Fire Tests.

Material-level tests were conducted to investigate the combustion of forty-three commonly used residential building construction materials, residential room contents and furnishings, and automobile components under consistent, well-controlled radiant heating conditions.  In these tests, material based combustion properties including weight loss rate, heat and smoke release rates, smoke particle size and count distribution, and effluent gas and smoke composition were characterized for a variety of natural, synthetic, and multi-component materials under flaming conditions.  The results from these tests were used to assess the smoke contribution of individual materials.

Nine full-scale fire tests representing individual room fires, an attic fire, deck and automobile fires were conducted at Underwriters Laboratories’ large-scale fire test laboratory to collect and analyze the gas effluents, smoke particulates, and condensed residues produced during fire growth, suppression and overhaul under controlled, reproducible laboratory conditions.  During overhaul, firefighter personal atmospheres were sampled and analyzed for gases and smoke particles.  Smoke particle analysis included mass and size distributions, and inorganic elemental composition.  These tests also served as a platform for developing and refining the condensed residue sampling techniques for field usage.

Note:  Overhaul … The final phase of firefighting, which involves searching out and extinguishing any hidden fire(s), preserving evidence and restoring the fire scene to a secure state at the conclusion of firefighting operations.

Over a period of four months, Chicago Fire Department designated personnel conducted personal gas monitoring and collected personal aerosol smoke samples at residential fires (knockdown, ventilation and overhaul).  Replaceable personal protection components (gloves and hoods) used by the firefighters during this time period were analyzed to identify the chemical composition of accumulated smoke residue.

Collected data was forwarded to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine to assess the potential adverse health effects of the observed gaseous effluents and smoke particles on fire service personnel.

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KEY FINDINGS

The key findings of the research were as follows:

General

  • Concentrations of combustion products were found to vary tremendously from fire to fire depending upon the size, the chemistry of materials involved, and the ventilation conditions of the fire.

Material-Scale Tests

  • The type and quantity of combustion products (smoke particles and gases) generated depended on the chemistry and physical form of the materials being burned.
  • Synthetic materials produced more smoke than natural materials.
    • The most prolific smoke production was observed for styrene-based materials commonly found in residential households and automobiles.  These materials may be used in commodity form (e.g. disposable plastic glasses and dishes), expanded form for insulation, impact modified form such as HIPS (e.g. appliances and electronics housing), co-polymerized with other plastics such as ABS (e.g. toys), or co-polymerized with elastomers such as styrene-butadiene rubber (e.g. tires).
    • Vinyl polymers also produced considerable amounts of smoke.  Again these materials are used in commodity form (e.g. PVC pipe) or plasticized form (e.g. wiring, siding, resin chairs and tables).
    • As the fraction of synthetic compound was increased in a wood product (either in the form of adhesive or mixture such as for wood-plastic composites), smoke production increased.
    • Average particle sizes ranged from 0.04 to 0.15 microns, with wood and insulation generating the smallest particles.
    • For a given particle size, synthetic materials will generate approximately 12.5 times more particles per mass of consumed material than wood based materials.
  • Combustion of the materials generated asphyxiants, irritants, and airborne carcinogenic species that could be potentially debilitating.  The combination and concentrations of gases produced depended on the base chemistry of the material:
    • All of the materials formed water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
    • Styrene-based materials formed benzene, phenols, and styrene.
    • Vinyl compounds formed acid gases (HCl and HCN) and benzene.
    • Wood-based products formed formaldehyde, formic acid, HCN, and phenols.
    • Roofing materials formed sulphur gas compounds such as sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.

Large-Scale Tests

  • The same asphyxiants, irritants, and airborne carcinogenic species were observed as in material-level tests supporting the premise that gases generated in large-complex fires arise from individual component material contributions.
  • Ventilation was found to have an inverse relationship with smoke and gas production such that considerably higher levels of smoke particulates and gases were observed in contained fires than uncontained fires, and the smoke and gas levels were greater inside of contained structures than outside.
    • Recommended exposure levels (IDLH, STEL, TWA) were exceeded during fire growth and overhaul stages for various agents (carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide) and arsenic.
    • Smoke and gas levels were quickly reduced by suppression activity.  However, they remained an order of magnitude greater than background levels during overhaul.
    • 99%+ of smoke particles collected during overhaul were less than 1 micron in diameter.  Of these, 97%+ were too small to be visible by the naked eye suggesting that ‘clean’ air was not really that clean.
  • While not the focus of this research, it should be noted that the ion alarm activated sooner than the photoelectric alarm in every room fire scenario (living rooms, bedroom and kitchen).  This is consistent with results reported in the Smoke Characterization Report for model flaming fire tests conducted in the smoke alarm fire test room.  Carbon monoxide alarm activation lagged behind both ion and photoelectric alarms, furthermore.

Field Events & Controlled Field Tests

  • Concentrations of certain toxic gases were monitored at field events during the course of normal firefighter duties.  These results were analyzed to determine:
    • Average gas concentrations and exposures calculated for the field events, which may be useful for estimating total exposure from repeated exposures during a firefighter’s career.
    • Potential gas concentration and exposures calculated for the field events, which may be useful for planning firefighter preparedness.
    • Gas exposures in excess of NIOSH IDLH, STEL, and OSHA TWA.  These were repeatedly observed at the monitored field events.  Carbon monoxide concentrations most often exceeded recommended exposure limits.  However, instances were observed where gases other than carbon monoxide exceeded recommended exposure limits – yet carbon monoxide did not.
  • Collected smoke particulates contained multiple heavy metals including arsenic, cobalt, chromium, lead, and phosphorous.
    • The NIOSH STEL concentration for arsenic was exceeded at one fire and possibly at a second.  Gas monitors would not provide warning for arsenic exposure.
  • Chemical composition of the smoke deposited and soot accumulated on firefighter gloves and hoods was virtually the same, except concentrations on the gloves were 100 times greater than the hoods.
    • Deposits contained lead, mercury, phthalates and PAH’s.
  • Carbon monoxide monitoring may provide the first line of a gas exposure defence strategy, but does not provide warning for fires in which carbon monoxide does not exceed recommended limits and other gases and chemicals do.
  • The OP-FTIR was difficult to successfully implement in the field and even for the controlled field events in passive mode.
    • While the OP-FTIR could be set-up in less than 2 minutes, it typically took as long as 5 to 10 minutes to start data collection.  This time frame is too long when compared to the aggressive time frames of fire suppression.
    • Poor thermal contrast led to insufficient signal-to-noise ratios.

Health Implications

  • Multiple asphyxiants (e.g. carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide), irritants (e.g. ammonia, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, phenol and sulphur dioxide), allergens (e.g. isocyanates), and chemicals carcinogenic for various tissues (e.g. benzene, chromium, formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were found in smoke during both suppression and overhaul phases.  Carcinogenic chemicals may act topically, following inhalation, or following dermal absorption, including from contaminated gear.
    • Concentrations of several of these toxicants exceeded OSHA regulatory exposure limits and/or recommended exposure limits from NIOSH or ACGIH.
    • Exposures to specific toxicants can produce acute respiratory effects that may result in chronic respiratory disease.
  • High levels of ultra-fine particles (relative to background levels) were found during both suppression and overhaul phases.
    • Exposure to particulate matter has been found to show a positive correlation with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for general population studies.
    • The high efficiency of ultra-fine particle deposition deep into the lung tissue can result in release of inflammatory mediators into the circulation, causing toxic effects on internal tissues such as the heart.  Airborne toxics, such as metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can also be carried by the particles to the pulmonary interstitium, vasculature, and potentially subsequently to other body tissues, including the cardiovascular and nervous systems and liver.
  • Interactions between individual exposure agents could lead to additive or synergistic effects exacerbating adverse health effects.
  • Long-term repeated exposure may accelerate cardiovascular mortality and the initiation/progression of atherosclerosis.

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FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

Based upon the results of this Firefighter Exposure to Smoke Particulates Investigation, the following areas were identified for further research:

1.  Greater in-depth analysis of the obtained results in relation to previous studies such as those of Jankowic et al on Firefighter Exposure, LeMasters et al on Firefighter Cancer Epidemiologies, and the First Responders at the World Trade Center Collapses.

2.  Characterization of potential fire scene exposures including: (a) asphyxiants, (b) irritants, (c) allergens, and (d) carcinogens.

3.  Better definition of the potential long-term respiratory, cancer and cardiovascular health impacts of varied and complex mixes of exposures such as those identified in this report.  Such information could help guide decisions on the selection and utilization of respiratory protection, especially during overhaul activities.

4.  Determination of the relative contribution of respiratory and dermal absorption routes to exposure and adverse health risks of firefighters to combustion products.

5.  Factors determining coronary heart disease risk among firefighters.  Such studies could help elucidate the mechanistic link between ultra-fine particle exposure and coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality, and identify measures to decrease its impact on this population.

6.  Characterization of contaminants accumulated on firefighter protection equipment and the subsequent potential for firefighter exposures to these contaminants and resulting health effects.

7.  Usage and industrial hygiene practices related to firefighter protection equipment, including cleaning patterns, length of use and storage practices.

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Christmas Tree Fire Hazard in Homes & Places of Assembly

Posted by CJ Walsh

For many years, I have been a Member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in the United States of America … a rich source of fire safety related research and information … vital to the everyday practice of modern fire engineering design.

A recent NFPA Safety Notification will be of interest to Home Owners … and Managers in Places of Assembly/Recreation/Public Resort (Établissements Recevant du Public), e.g. Hotels, Shopping Centres and Restaurants … during the prolonged Irish Christmas period … which is now stretching from mid-December to mid-January every year.

And, to overcome the ‘Recession Blues’ here … many people have already put up their Christmas decorations !

This NFPA and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Video very clearly and dramatically demonstrates the fire behaviour of a Natural Dry Christmas Tree … compared to a Natural Christmas Tree which has been watered regularly …

Link to NFPA/UL Christmas Tree Fire Test on YouTube 

Fire Statistics in Ireland are not reliable … but, to give you some idea of the scale of the problem, a few interesting Facts and Figures are available from across the pond …

  • From 2003-2008 … United States Fire Departments responded to an average of 260 home fires, which started with Christmas Trees, per year.  These fires caused an average of 14 deaths and 26 injuries … with $13.8 million in direct property damage annually ;
  • Christmas Tree fires are not common, but when they occur, they are likely to be serious.  On average, one in every 21 reported fires which began with a Christmas Tree resulted in death ;
  • A heat source too close to the Christmas Tree started one in every five (19%) of these fires.

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Have a Safe Christmas !!

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2010 UNFCCC Climate Summit in Cancún – Smell The Coffee !

Posted by CJ Walsh

The hype is less this year … and I bet that not too many politicians will be appearing in front of the cameras at the end of this 2010 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Summit … which is being held in Cancún, Mexico … from Monday, 29 November until Friday, 10 December 2010.

If you want to follow what’s happening closely … go to the Official UNFCCC WebSite … and check out the Daily Conference Programme, here, at this address … http://unfccc.int/conference_programme/items/5769.php

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Let us not forget that the result of last year’s debacle … the 2009 Copenhagen Accord … was an unofficial, political agreement between a small number of Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers, and Heads of Delegation – Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC) and the USA – who attended the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, which concluded on Saturday, 19th December 2009.  Since then, many countries have made voluntary submissions, i.e. they are not legally binding, to Appendices I and II of the Copenhagen Accord.

An initial overview of the submissions made by Developed Countries, however, revealed the following about the voluntary emissions targets being undertaken …

  • they are highly conditional on the performance of other countries ;
  • they are disappointing, being well below what is required to cap the planetary temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius ;   and
  • there is no consistent emission base year … varying from 1990 and 1992, up to 2000 and 2005.

This is very far from being a signal of serious intent from Developed Countries … and is not … in any way, shape or manner … an acceptance of historical responsibilities.  It would be reasonable, therefore, to surmise that the process of achieving a global, legally binding, consensus agreement on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets will be long and difficult.  The Climate Change Mitigation Agenda is, to put it mildly, fraught with problems … and has an unclear future in the short term.

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HOWEVER … Back In The ‘Real’ World … GHG Emissions Continue To Rise !

On 24 November 2010 … the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin No.6: ‘The State of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere Based on Global Observations through 2009′.

The WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme coordinates systematic observations and analysis of atmospheric composition, including Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and other trace species.  Measurement data are reported by participating countries and archived and distributed by the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) at the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Even here … it is clearly stated that there are still uncertainties …

2009 Global Observations of Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s) in the Atmosphere

24 November 2010

UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin No.6

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (3.37 Mb)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The latest analysis of observations from the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme shows that the globally averaged mixing ratios of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) reached new highs in 2009, with CO2 at 386.8 parts per million, CH4 at 1803 ppb and N2O at 322.5 ppb.  These values are greater than those in pre-industrial times (before 1750) by 38%, 158% and 19%, respectively.

Atmospheric growth rates of CO2 and N2O in 2009 are consistent with recent years, but are lower than in 2008.

After nearly a decade of no growth, Atmospheric CH4 has increased during the past three years.  The reasons for renewed growth of Atmospheric Methane are not fully understood, but emissions from natural sources (from northern latitudes and the tropics) are considered potential causes.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annual Greenhouse Gas Index shows that from 1990 to 2009, radiative forcing by all long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 27.5%, with CO2 accounting for nearly 80% of this increase.

The combined radiative forcing by Halocarbons is nearly double that of N2O.

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Help with the Technical Terms of Climate Change ?

Give it a lash !   Try out the Encyclopaedia of Earth WebSite … an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society.  The Encyclopaedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other’s work.  The articles are written in non-technical language and are useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.

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To Mitigate or Adapt ? – Prioritizing a Strategy for the Built Environment

We are already experiencing the adverse impacts of Climate Change !   And even if sufficient and appropriate Climate Mitigation Measures were succeeding … which they patently are not … the timelag between their implementation and any resulting beneficial environmental impacts is too great … half a century, at least … and full of uncertainty.

BUT … since the minimum period for a Sustainable Building in Use is 100 Years, and nothing less than a Recurrence Interval of 100 years should now be used in design calculations for events such as severe storms and flooding, or deluge rainfalls, etc … anyone involved in the design, construction, management or operation of the Built Environment must think ‘long-term’ … today !

In Dublin … buildings which are 250 or 350 years old still look remarkably good, and are well capable of fulfilling an important function within the social and economic environments of the city.  ‘Politically’ and ‘technically’, therefore, it would be more appropriate for the Built Environment if we were concerned with the Long-Term Climate Change Adaptation Agenda … rather than a problematic, Short-Term Mitigation Agenda.

In terms of a building … is there really a clear difference between measures undertaken for the purpose of mitigation and those undertaken for adaptation ?   For example, measures to incrementally improve energy efficiency and conserve energy, in accordance with short-term legally binding targets, will serve to mitigate CO2 Emissions … but the same measures will also serve to adapt the building to rapidly dwindling supplies of climate-damaging fossil fuels.

The long-term perspective exerts pressure for more radical, but necessary, actions in the short-term.

BUT … should we not already be undertaking these sorts of measures as part of the Mainstream Sustainability Agenda … in order to improve built environment resilience, prolong life cycles … and achieve social wellbeing for all ?

Generally … Climate Change Adaptation encompasses urgent and immediate short, near and long-term actions at local, national, regional and international levels to reduce the vulnerability and strengthen the resilience of the Human Environment, including ecological and social systems, institutions and economic sectors … to present and future adverse effects of climate change and the impacts of response measure implementation … in order to minimize the local threats to life, human health, livelihoods, food security, assets, amenities, ecosystems and sustainable development.

More specifically … Built Environment Climate Change Adaptation means reliably implementing policies, practices, projects and institutional reforms in the Built Environment … with the aim of reducing the adverse impacts and/or realizing the benefits directly/indirectly associated with climate change, including variability and extremes … in a manner which is compatible with Sustainable Human and Social Development.

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee … It’s Time To Get Serious !!!!

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Disability Access Certificates (DAC’s) – Acceptable Accessibility ?

Posted by CJ Walsh

A few weeks ago … in a post dated 20 October 2010 … Japan in April & May 2010 – Accessibility-for-All ! … I discussed some of the many aspects which, together, facilitate a high level of quality in ‘real’, or actually realized, Built Environment Accessibility Performance in Japan … and I illustrated that quality with a number of photographs.

In time, I will add more photographs from my valuable ‘Accessibility in Japan’ Collection !

Note:  Built Environment … Anywhere there is, or has been, a man-made or wrought (worked) intervention by humans in the natural environment, e.g. cities, towns, villages, rural settlements, roads, bridges, tunnels, transport systems, service utilities, and cultivated lands, lakes, rivers, coasts, seas, etc. … including the Virtual Environment.

Note:  Social Environment … The complex network of real and virtual human interaction – at a communal or larger group level – which operates for reasons of tradition, culture, business, pleasure, information exchange, institutional organization, legal procedure, governance, human betterment, social progress and spiritual enlightenment, etc.

Note:  Virtual Environment … A designed environment, electronically-generated from within the Built Environment, which may have the appearance, form, functionality and impact – to the person perceiving and actually experiencing it – of a real, imagined and/or utopian world.

However … many of these aspects are missing in European Approaches to Accessibility-for-All … and, typically, the level of Accessibility Performance which we are used to experiencing, and accepting, is inadequate, sloppy, poor … and to be direct and honest … BRUTAL !!

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As far back as 2001 … in an Introduction to a Page on our Corporate WebSite illustrating the Inaccessibility of European Union Institutional Buildings … specifically, the European Parliaments in Brussels and Strasbourg … I wrote …

‘ Many times each year, our work takes us to Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

In spite of all the rhetoric from European politicians, and the extensive body of European legislation actually in force at national and regional levels in every Member State … the inaccessibility of Institutional Buildings is shockingly and unacceptably bad … in some cases, dangerously so !

Yet, these buildings should represent, in built form, the ideals, values and aspirations of the peoples of Europe – as expressed in the EU Treaties.

What a bitter disappointment ! ‘

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Today … France, in particular, continues to be a depressing experience … where Talk is far, far too cheap … and Good Accessibility Performance is still all too rare !!

Last Thursday, 25 November 2010 … I attended a Paris Meeting of the Editorial Team for the CIB W108 Report: ‘Sustainable Climate Change Adaptation in the Built Environment’.  My airline flights from Dublin brought me in and out through Terminal 1 of Roissy Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport in Paris.

A spanking new automatically operated Métro (shuttle) … CDGVAL … connects Terminals 1, 2 & 3, various Multi-Storey Car Parks and Train Stations within the Airport Complex …

Colour image showing the Airport Complex Plan of Roissy Charles De Gaulle in Paris. Note the New CDGVAL Métro ... an important interconnecting transportation system. Click to enlarge.
Colour image showing the Airport Complex Plan of Roissy Charles De Gaulle in Paris. Note the New CDGVAL Métro ... an important interconnecting transportation system. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing the new, automatically operated CDGVAL Métro at Roissy Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Yet another magnificent example of Sloppy French Accessibility Implementation ! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-11-26. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing the new, automatically operated CDGVAL Métro at Roissy Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Yet another magnificent example of Sloppy French Accessibility Implementation ! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-11-26. Click to enlarge.

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IF … you search hard enough on the CDG Airport WebSite, you will find these three highlighted short sentences under content with the title ‘Personne à Mobilité Réduite’ … total rubbish and complete bullshit when you actually see the airport’s buildings and many facilities.  And … as usual, in French, the disability-related terminology is evil … and sucks !

‘Aéroports de Paris assure l’assistance des passagers handicapés et à mobilité réduite dés leur arrivée, et tout au long de leur parcours dans le terminal.

Aéroports de Paris a depuis longtemps entamé une démarche d’équipement et d’adaptation de ses terminaux pour faciliter les déplacements de tous.

Aujourd’hui, les problématiques d’accessibilités sont systématiquement prises en compte dans l’aménagement de nos infrastructures.’

Colour photograph showing the Door Threshold Detail of the new, automatically operated CDGVAL Métro at Roissy Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. In totally new construction ... an unacceptably huge difference between platform height and the shuttle's floor ! This is also now a trip hazard for everyone !! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-11-26. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing the Door Threshold Detail of the new, automatically operated CDGVAL Métro at Roissy Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. In totally new construction ... an unacceptably huge difference between platform height and the shuttle's floor ! This is also now a trip hazard for everyone !! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-11-26. Click to enlarge.

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Why is this relevant for us now … here in Ireland ?

The new scheme of Disability Access Certification, closely modelled on the existing highly problematic scheme of Fire Safety Certification … is undergoing a normal, introductory ‘teething’ process within this jurisdiction … and many questions about interpretation of the law and its operation are being asked.

Important Clarification:  The Guidance Text contained in Technical Guidance Document M … is not Law … is not Prescriptive Regulation … is not ‘Deemed to Satisfy’ … and … because the guidance is so incomplete, incoherent and inadequate … does not even indicate Minimum Accessibility Performance !

Part M Functional Requirements – Access for People with Disabilities     Second Schedule of the 1997 Building Regulations – As Amended by the Building Regulations (Amendment) Regulations, 2000 – Statutory Instrument No.179 of 2000

Access and Use     M1     Adequate provision shall be made to enable people with disabilities to safely and independently access and use a building.

Sanitary Conveniences     M2     If sanitary conveniences are provided in a building, adequate provision shall be made for people with disabilities.

Audience or Spectator Facilities     M3     If a building contains fixed seating for audience or spectators, adequate provision shall be made for people with disabilities.

Definition for This Part     M4     In this Part, ‘people with disabilities’ means people who have an impairment of hearing or sight or an impairment which limits their ability to walk, or which restricts them to a wheelchair.

Application of This Part     M5     Part M does not apply to works in connection with extensions to and the material alterations of existing dwellings, provided that such works do not create a new dwelling.

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Today in Ireland … Talk IS too cheap … and Good Accessibility Performance IS almost non-existent !!!   Yes … and that even includes the work of those mighty superheroes in the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Furthermore … the big fun will really start when the New Part M Requirements come into operation on 1 January 2012 … and we will enter a surreal Alice’s Wonderland of Accessibility Ambiguity …

Part M Functional Requirements – Access and Use     Second Schedule of the 1997 Building Regulations – As Amended by the Building Regulations (Part M Amendment) Regulations, 2010 – Statutory Instrument No.513 of 2010

Access and Use     M1     Adequate provision shall be made for people to access and use a building, its facilities and its environs.

Application of The Part     M2     Adequate provision shall be made for people to approach and access an extension to a building.

M3     If sanitary facilities are provided in a building that is to be extended, adequate sanitary facilities shall be provided for people within the extension.

M4     Part M does not apply to works in connection with extensions to and material alterations of existing dwellings, provided that such works do not create anew dwelling.

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‘Antilia’, The New Mumbai High-Rise Building – What A Mother !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-11-22 (2021-09-06):  It is difficult for any foreign news item, no matter how important, to penetrate the current economic media haze in Ireland and Europe … but latest reports from India put the casualty list after the Five-Storey Residential Building Collapse at Lalita Park in East Dilli’s Laxmi Nagar Area … which occurred on Monday evening (local time), 15 November 2010 … at 69 people dead, 82 injured, with perhaps as many as another 20 people still missing.

The Occupants of 38 Similar Neighbouring Properties have been told to immediately vacate the buildings by Dilli’s Municipal Authority.

Colour photograph showing the scene of the Five-Storey Residential Building Collapse at Lalita Park in East Dilli's Laxmi Nagar Area, which occurred on Monday evening (local time), 15 November 2010. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing the scene of the Five-Storey Residential Building Collapse at Lalita Park in East Dilli’s Laxmi Nagar Area, which occurred on Monday evening (local time), 15 November 2010.  Click to enlarge.

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Faulty Construction appears to have been the principal cause for this serious collapse, according to media reports.  It may also have been an extra storey illegally added to an original, weak building structure … and/or heavy water logging of the building’s basement from the nearby Yamuna River during recent storms.

Dilli … its local name … is a very old and large city, and is the Capital of India.  New Delhi refers to the relatively more recent British Imperial Quarter … the urban plan of which and its principal buildings were designed by the British Architect, Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944).

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Within India, today, there is a strong political desire to achieve ‘Developed Country’ Status by 2020.  However, in Developed Countries … Collapse Level Events (CLE’s) are completely unacceptable … witness the public reaction to the WTC Building Collapses on 9-11 in New York City.

The 2005 National Building Code of India … a copy of which is close at hand in my Dublin Office … is not mandatory.  It closely resembles the informal (i.e. not legal), but prescriptive, ‘Draft’, ‘Revised Draft’ and ‘Proposed’ Irish Building Regulations dating from the 1970’s and 1980’s … another Irish solution to an Irish problem !   The 2005 Indian Code has been drafted to deal with a large range of simple building types, their construction and related issues … certainly not any sort of Iconic, High-Rise Building of Innovative Design.  Anyway, the Code is still only at the initial stages of being adopted in India’s different States.  AND … there is not yet in place a National System of Local Building Control, or Independent Technical Control … never mind an ‘Effective’ System of Control !

In a lightly regulated European legislative environment … it may come as a surprise to find out that the level of non-compliance on building sites in France, for example, has been placed as high as 68%, according to a colleague from CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment) … the rate of non-compliance which was found by Energy Ireland (SEAI) on Irish building sites was 70%.

In India’s unregulated legislative environment … higher levels of non-compliance should be expected amongst indigenous building organizations.  AND … the percentage rate of non-compliance with foreign building organizations should be assumed to at least match those European figures quoted above.

There is a further complication in India and most of the rest of the developing world, however, because USA building design consultants will typically use one of the United States of America’s National Model Building Codes (including the International Building Code, which is also a U.S. National Model Building Code) … in preference to local building codes … whatever the local codes do, or do not, say.  We have a long experience of this approach in Ireland !   BUT … the USA Model Building Codes are not being adapted to suit local site conditions, building practices, safety factors, etc.  It sounds messy … and it is very messy !!

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A few quick words about  INDIA (Bhārata or Bharat, in Sanskrit) … a federal republic and a burgeoning country of extreme contrasts … which has a population of some 1,339,330,514 People (July 2021 estimated, USA CIA World Factbook).

Rapid economic development has driven India to prominence on the world stage … (refer to a current view on India’s Cyber Profile) … despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, extensive poverty and a startling degree of social inequity, environmental degradation, such as deforestation, soil erosion, overgrazing, desertification, air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions, water pollution from raw sewage and run-off of agricultural pesticides … and the widespread corruption which is a natural consequence following an extended period of harsh and abusive external imperial domination.  India became an independent country in 1947.

For the last few years, I have been travelling to this beautiful, complex land … from Chennai (Madras) and Bengaluru (Bangalore) in the south … to Dilli in the north.  Over 70 years before … my father, a native of Midleton in County Cork, was a teacher in Kolkata (Calcutta) and further north than Dilli.  He was trapped, there, from coming home during the 2nd World War (1939-1945).

For me, it has been a warm and rewarding experience to meet the people of India.

And … I am also very grateful for the hospitality shown by FSAI (Fire & Security Association of India).  Working together, we have successfully set a future direction for the FSAI’s National Fire Safety Agenda in India.

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Less recently in the news and, it seems, always for the wrong reasons … Mumbai (Bombay) … where of the approximately 14 Million (1.4 Crore, an Indian Unit of Measure) People living in this western city … capital of the State of Maharashtra, and the financial and entertainment capital of the country … an estimated 7,500,000 (75 Lakhs, an Indian Unit of Measure) People survive in its Slums.

Mumbai is also located in a Seismically Active Zone, due to the presence of 23 fault lines in the region …

Colour image showing the Seismic Zones on a Map of India. Taken from Indian Standard IS 1893 (Part 1) : 2002. Click to enlarge.
Colour image showing the Seismic Zones on a Map of India.  Taken from Indian Standard IS 1893 (Part 1) : 2002.  Click to enlarge.

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During past years, a pattern of extraordinarily violent ‘Hive-Attacks’ have been carried out in Mumbai, with the aim of causing widespread terror amongst the general population and disrupting the city’s important Social & Economic Environments.  The attacks have involved the strategic targeting of Built Environment Places of Public Resort, Iconic Buildings, High-Rise Buildings, Buildings having a Critical Function, Transport Infrastructure and Service Utilities:

  • On 12 March 1993 … a series of 13 co-ordinated bombings … up until that date, the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history … beginning at the Stock Exchange Building … resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries.
  • On 11 July 2006 … 209 people were killed and over 700 injured when seven bombs exploded on the city’s commuter trains.
  • Commencing on 26 November 2008, and lasting for three days … a series of ten co-ordinated attacks resulted in 175 deaths, 308 injuries, and severe damage to a number of luxury hotels and historical landmarks.

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Colour photograph showing 'Antilia' - the recently occupied Private, Iconic, High-Rise Mansion of Innovative Design belonging to Shri Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing ‘Antilia’ – the recently occupied Private, Iconic, High-Rise Mansion of Innovative Design belonging to Shri Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai.  Click to enlarge.

How strange it is, then, in this particular city … that at the end of October 2010 … after seven years of construction … an Indian businessman, Shri Mukesh Ambani, and his family … should choose to occupy their own 27 floor/173 metre tall Private Mansion … an Iconic, High-Rise Building of Innovative Design … within the near-sight of millions of slum dwellers !   The building is called ‘Antilia’ … the name of a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean, lying to the west of Portugal ?!?

OK … Let’s Get the Easy Bits Over First …

     1.  Architecturally …  and somebody, somewhere needs to say this … ‘Antilia’ is a mother of an ugly building.  There is an old joke about a committee starting out to design a horse, and ending up with a camel.  In this case, a group of people started to design an impressive building, and ended up with a spotty rhinoceros !

     2.  From the point of view of Sustainable Human & Social Development …  consider the resources used in the design, construction and operation of this mother … an architectural phallic symbol of obscene opulence and cheap looking ‘bling-bling’ … in close proximity to extensive and deep-rooted slum poverty.  It may be ‘Green'(?) … BUT … this building is certainly Anti-Sustainable !   Is it any wonder that a Class Action has recently been taken against the U.S. Green Building Council and its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Building Rating System in the U.S. Courts ?

The Difficult Issues …

     3.  Structural Resilience …  I would really like to be assured, by a person competent to do so, that ‘Antilia’ has actually been designed to withstand “a magnitude-8 earthquake” (according to local media reports), i.e. no significant damage will occur to the structure or fabric of the building.

AND … that ‘Antilia’ has been designed to properly resist disproportionate damage in the event that any “military grade explosions” (according to local media reports) happen in the building, i.e. no significant damage will occur to the building’s structure.

But … why only “military grade explosions” ?   If an ‘incident’ does take place in the building, it will not be the poorly equipped Indian Army who will be placing the ‘ordinary’ explosives … and the Army will not have the required expertise to place the explosives in the most vulnerable part of the structure.

Never assume that the people who plan these sorts of ‘incidents’ are anything other than highly motivated, intelligent and technically competent !

     4.  Fire Protection & Safety …  this requires much repetition … but the 2005 National Building Code of India cannot deal adequately with this type of building … an Iconic, High-Rise Building of Innovative Design.  AND, most obviously … the 2005 Indian Code does not incorporate any of the important Recommendations contained in the 2005 & 2008 NIST(USA) Reports on the 9-11 WTC Buildings 1,2 & 7 Collapses.  I have suggested that this be done, with urgency, during an upcoming revision to the Code … but there is resistance !

WTC 9-11 in New York City exposed a catastrophic failure … at all levels … in all of OUR common practices and procedures (architectural, engineering, first emergency response, regulatory, legislative, etc., etc) … used to design, construct and operate buildings generally !

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So … what does ‘Antilia’ … say about the Man … the Institutions of Governance and State Administration within Maharashtra … and India generally … at this time ???

Has this Man been well served by His Advisors … technical and otherwise ????

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Hazards in Attic Roof Spaces – A Strong Dose of ‘Reality’ !

Posted by CJ Walsh

It’s all happening here !   From trawling the depths of European Union (EU) Legislation in my last Post … to the heights of Attic Roof Spaces in Ireland … what a magnificent contrast !!

This Post has nothing to do with this law, or that law … or the proper technical control of these sorts of troubling situations.  It has everything to do with a strong dose of ‘Reality’ … and the typical sorts of Serious Hazards which lurk quietly, unannounced and generally unheeded in most houses … houses which are occupied by ordinary, average people.

The following photographs could have been taken in almost any house, anywhere in the country !   These particular photographs, however, were taken during a House Inspection for a good friend, somewhere in County Wicklow, during May 2010 …

Colour photograph showing the typical clutter which can accumulate, over time, in an Attic Roof Space. Wait and see, however, what else is happening underneath and around this clutter. Smoke Detectors should always be fitted in these Spaces as a matter of routine. Also ... notice that this is a trussed timber roof. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing the typical clutter which can accumulate, over time, in an Attic Roof Space. Wait and see, however, what else is happening underneath and around this clutter. Smoke Detectors should always be fitted in these Spaces as a matter of routine. Also ... notice that this is a trussed timber roof. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing fire scorched thermal insulation. Careless Hot Works are a major cause of fires in ALL building types! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing fire scorched thermal insulation. Careless Hot Works are a major cause of fires in ALL building types! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing that there is NO fire separation between this house and the neighbouring house at the junction between the party wall and the roof covering. And ... once fire enters this Attic Roof Space, those thin metal connecting plates in the roof trusses will rapidly lose strength, and the entire roof will then collapse. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing that there is NO fire separation between this house and the neighbouring house at the junction between the party wall and the roof covering. And ... once fire enters this Attic Roof Space, those thin metal connecting plates in the roof trusses will rapidly lose strength, and the entire roof will then collapse. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing a very badly constructed party wall ... see the many gaps in the joints between the concrete blocks. Just because a wall is made of masonry ... do not, for a single moment, assume that it is either smoke resisting or sound resisting. Also ... notice the sloppy DIY electrics. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing a very badly constructed party wall ... see the many gaps in the joints between the concrete blocks. Just because a wall is made of masonry ... do not, for a single moment, assume that it is either smoke resisting or sound resisting. Also ... notice the sloppy DIY electrics. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing, after I had pulled back a portion of thermal insulation, where the insulation had completely covered a downlighter. In other parts of this Attic Roof Space chipboard, to hold all of the clutter, covers the transformers as well. Downlighters need direct ventilation to facilitate the escape of heat. Also ... note the trap doorset is not fire and smoke resisting. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing, after I had pulled back a portion of thermal insulation, where the insulation had completely covered a downlighter. In other parts of this Attic Roof Space chipboard, to hold all of the clutter, covers the transformers as well. Downlighters need direct ventilation to facilitate the escape of heat. Also ... note the trap doorset is not fire and smoke resisting. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing thermal insulation packed tightly into the roof eaves ... choking off essential ventilation pathways. Thermal insulation was also placed under the water storage tanks ... exposing them to freezing external conditions during cold winter nights. Thick, multi-layered thermal insulation will also conceal the bottom horizontal members in all types of timber roof construction ... expect more fall accidents through ceilings in the future! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing thermal insulation packed tightly into the roof eaves ... choking off essential ventilation pathways. Thermal insulation was also placed under the water storage tanks ... exposing them to freezing external conditions during cold winter nights. Thick, multi-layered thermal insulation will also conceal the bottom horizontal members in all types of timber roof construction ... expect more fall accidents through ceilings in the future! Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-05-21. Click to enlarge.

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There are simple Design and Construction Solutions to all of these problems … and Competent, Independent Technical Control over the works being carried out is absolutely essential.

BUT … Dysfunctional Government Departments and State Agencies are still … to this day … directly sponsoring and knowingly contributing to these hazardous situations in our homes !

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Japan in April and May 2010 … Accessibility-for-All !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-10-20:  In Europe … we are experts at talking about an Accessible Built Environment … and hopeless when it comes to effective implementation …

Built Environment:  Anywhere there is, or has been, a man-made or wrought (worked) intervention by humans in the natural environment, e.g. cities, towns, villages, rural settlements, roads, bridges, tunnels, transport systems, service utilities, and cultivated lands, lakes, rivers, coasts, seas, etc. … including the Virtual Environment.

Virtual Environment:  A designed environment, electronically-generated from within the Built Environment, which may have the appearance, form, functionality and impact – to the person perceiving and actually experiencing it – of a real, imagined and/or utopian world.

However, I would like to share not just one single moment in Japan, but a Series of Special Moments … where I was observing and studying, up close and personal, the ‘real’ implementation of Accessibility-for-All in Public Places … including some discrete detailing at the Main Gate to Kanazawa Castle … Ishikawa-mon.

When I say Accessibility-for-All … I mean Accessibility Design, with all of the rambling philosophical bullshit removed.  The emphasis can then properly be placed on a high level of quality in Actual Accessibility Performance provided for users of the built environment … all users, because many of the details shown in the photographs below make movement in and around public places safer and more convenient for everybody.

Some of the many Aspects in Japan which, together, facilitate this high level of quality in Actual Accessibility Performance …

  • A robust legal base mandating the provision of Accessibility-for-All ;
  • Determined political will ;
  • Sufficient financial resources ;
  • A compassionate and understanding bureaucracy – at all levels in society ;
  • Competence, i.e. education, training and experience, of spatial planners, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, etc … and members of construction organizations ;
  • Innovative, well-designed accessibility-related products which can be shown to be ‘fit for their intended use’.

The following European Guideline Framework … which I drafted in 2003, and later incorporated into the 2004 Rio de Janeiro Declaration on Sustainable Social Development, Disability & Ageing … is useful …

C.J. Walsh

Guideline Framework on EU Equal Opportunity & Social Inclusion for All

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (82kb)

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Much of the Accessibility Detailing in Japan far exceeds, in quality of performance, what is described in the Proposed International Standards Organization (ISO) Accessibility-for-All Standard … to be published, hopefully(!), in 2011 … and here is a small taste …

Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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It is important to link one activity/task/function with the next … (please ignore the awkward step up at the entrance to the train carriage … instead, look at the wonderful entrance detail in the next photograph below) …

Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Nara, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-23. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Nara, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-23. Click to enlarge.

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What a beauty !

Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-24. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-24. Click to enlarge.

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Common everywhere … a closer look at the information which can very easily be provided on all handrails …

Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Osafune, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-21. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Osafune, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-21. Click to enlarge.

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The Main Gate to Kanazawa Castle … Ishikawa-mon …

Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kanazawa, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kanazawa, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kanazawa, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing Accessibility-for-All in Kanazawa, Japan. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2010-04-27. Click to enlarge.

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Dublin IFE Fire Conference – Sustainable Fire Engineering !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-10-18:  Nothing less than a complete Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Fire Engineering is now needed … because it is Necessary … because it is Inevitable … because it is The Future !!!

This process will not proceed, however, unless the International Fire Science & Engineering Community begins to communicate and engage, meaningfully, with the Mainstream Construction Sector … where this process is already well advanced.

One Organization in our community has recently decided to bite the bullet … CIB (International Council for Research & Innovation in Building & Construction) … where Working Commission 14 (W14) – ‘Fire Safety’ … agreed, at a meeting in Zurich, to significantly expand and elaborate its own Scope … please note the keywords in bold text …

A CIB Working Commission … W14 is an international, multi-stakeholder, trans-disciplinary, pre-normalization forum for discussion, and action, on research and innovation in Fire Science and Engineering for the design, construction and operation of a Safe and Sustainable Built Environment.

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Colour image showing the Title Page of CJ Walsh's Presentation at the Institution of Fire Engineers (Ireland Branch) Annual Fire Conference ... which will be held on Wednesday, 20th October 2010, in Dublin. Click to enlarge.
Colour image showing the Title Page of CJ Walsh’s Presentation at the Institution of Fire Engineers (Ireland Branch) Annual Fire Conference … which will be held on Wednesday, 20th October 2010, in Dublin. Click to enlarge.

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This will be my important message on Wednesday next, 20th October 2010, when I address the Institution of Fire Engineers (Ireland Branch) Annual Fire Conference … which will be held in the Dublin Fire Brigade Training Centre, Marino, Dublin 1 … beginning at 09.30 hrs in the morning.

Institution of Fire Engineers (Ireland Branch)

2010 IFE Annual Fire Conference Brochure

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (326kb)

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Three Powerful Pulling Forces for Change … or should I say Dragging Forces, with a lot of kicking and screaming involved (!) … will have a direct impact …

1.  Sustainable Design

The interior view shown below is not that of a Sustainable Building … but of a Modern Architectural Icon, designed by the Master Architect Mies van der Rohe towards the end of the 1920’s … way back in the last century !   Two innovative architectural concepts are elegantly illustrated in the photograph …

  • Open Planning – one space ‘flows’ into the next without interruption by a physical barrier … drawing the eye and encouraging movement.  In this particular building … a building of architectural, cultural and historical importance … any attempt to impose ‘fire compartmentation’ on the layout would be utterly ridiculous !
  • Separation of Building Structure & Fabric – notice the column in the foreground.  This is quite unlike the massive form of building construction in the past !

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Colour photograph showing an Interior View of the Barcelona Pavilion, designed by the German Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2009-03-20. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing an Interior View of the Barcelona Pavilion, designed by the German Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2009-03-20. Click to enlarge.

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Fire Engineering is still trying to grapple … unsuccessfully … with innovative approaches, dating from the early part of the 20th Century, to Architectural Design.  In the 21st Century, Sustainable Design – not Green Design – involves a far more radical approach to Design, the use of Building Materials, and Construction.  In the face of this much greater challenge, Fire Engineering must begin to respond effectively … with creativity and imagination.  There is no other alternative !

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2.  Cul-de-Sac of Current Fire Engineering

Working in Building Control at the time … I encountered the Typical Building Detail shown below in an early 1990’s Dublin Hotel Extension Project … comprising a 10 metre span steel beam … with non-loadbearing steel stud partitioning beneath, separating a corridor from bedrooms … each with 1 Hour’s Fire Resistance.  During a fire and long before the period of 1 Hour has elapsed … that steel beam will have deflected by a considerable dimension.  What happens, then, to the non-loadbearing steel stud partition, below, and its fire resistance performance ???   This makes no sense.

Does current Fire Engineering have a robust rational and empirical basis … or is it just one remove from Voodoo and Witchcraft ??

Black and white 'concept' drawing, with a small touch of colour, showing a typical detail in an early 1990's Dublin Hotel Extension Project ... of a 10 metre span steel beam ... with non-loadbearing steel stud partitioning beneath, separating a corridor from bedrooms ... each with 1 hour's fire resistance ?!? Drawn by CJ Walsh.
Black and white ‘concept’ drawing, with a small touch of colour, showing a typical detail in an early 1990’s Dublin Hotel Extension Project … of a 10 metre span steel beam … with non-loadbearing steel stud partitioning beneath, separating a corridor from bedrooms … each with 1 hour’s fire resistance ?!? Drawn by CJ Walsh.

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3.  NIST(USA) Recommendations on the 9-11 WTC Building Collapses

Determined resistance by Vested Interests … a Lack of Institutional Capacity, i.e. failure to be able to properly anticipate, or to be adequately prepared, and/or to respond effectively and in a timely manner to major fire incidents … and a small element of the ‘Issue Attention Cycle’, where considerable investment in time and resources were necessary to make real progress on the issues thrown up by 9-11 but, unfortunately, governmental and public attention soon waned and dissipated … shifting to new problems, e.g. the Illegal Iraq ‘Crusade’ … have all contributed to a situation where there has been little in the way of substantive implementation of the Recommendations contained in the 2005 and 2008 NIST(USA) Reports on the 9-11 WTC Buildings 1, 2 & 7 Collapses … in the United States of America, Europe … or anywhere else.

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Colour photograph of the World Trade Center Complex in New York, taken at the time of the 2nd Plane Impact during the morning of Tuesday, 11th September 2001. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph of the World Trade Center Complex in New York, taken at the time of the 2nd Plane Impact during the morning of Tuesday, 11th September 2001. Click to enlarge.

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That is not our approach, here, at FireOx International – the Fire Engineering Division of Sustainable Design International Ltd.  Instead, we have decided to present all of the NIST Recommendations … to our readers … in a Series of Posts on this Technical Blog.

Sustainable Fire Engineering HAS a robust rational and empirical basis !

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