Ireland

Irish Nursing Home Care – Dysfunctional National Governance !!

Posted by CJ Walsh

On Tuesday last … 9 November 2010 … Ireland’s Office of the Ombudsman issued a Report to the Irish Oireachtas (the Dáil and Seanad) … in accordance with Section 6(7) of the 1980 Ombudsman Act … concerning an Investigation based on more than 1,000 individual complaints made, since 1985, on behalf of older people who were unable to get long-term nursing home care from their health boards … now the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Please Note Well … this Report is not just about Older People !

This document raises a number of very serious and fundamental issues concerning our current system of Dysfunctional National Governance in Ireland.  Every Irish person should, therefore, expend a small bit of time and effort in making themselves familiar with these problems … especially in the run-up to any by-elections … or, perhaps, even a general election … and certainly before we enter a prolonged period of being hammered in a Draconian Series of 4 Budgets !

This Report places a major question mark over the positions of Ms. Mary Harney T.D., Minister for Health & Children (a woman of strong ‘Boston-esque’, neo-liberal and anti-social convictions) … and the Senior Civil Servants (plural !) in Her Department.

And don’t be fooled into thinking, either, that the Department of Health & Children is our only dysfunctional national ministry !   See my previous Posts.

Ms. Emily O’Reilly, Ireland’s Ombudsman, deserves our full support !

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This is the Full Ombudsman’s Report …

9 November 2010 – Office of the Ombudsman

WHO CARES ? An Investigation into the Right to Nursing Home Care in Ireland

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (621kb)

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Conclusions (Executive Summary)

The conclusions of this investigation are easily stated:

  • The Health Act 1970 has required the State to provide nursing home care for those who need it.
  • It is an open question as to whether that obligation continues in place, notwithstanding recent amendments to the Health Act 1970.
  • The State has failed consistently to meet this obligation over four decades.
  • The State has failed over that same period, and despite repeated commitments (especially since 2001), to amend the law so as to bring actual practice and legal obligations into harmony.
  • Very many people over these decades have been deprived of their legal entitlement.
  • Access to nursing home care over this period has been marked by confusion, uncertainty, misinformation, inconsistency and inequity.
  • Very many people over this period have suffered significant adverse affect.
  • This situation has been allowed to continue with the full knowledge and consent of the responsible State agencies.
  • Arising from these failures, the State is now facing several hundred legal actions from, or on behalf of, people seeking compensation for the costs incurred in having to avail of private nursing home care.
  • These particular failures, which have been allowed to continue for decades, point inevitably to wider failures in government.

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The conduct of the investigation and the preparation of this report for the Oireachtas have been marked by an unprecedented level of rancour and disagreement.

The Department, in particular, has laid a multiplicity of charges against the Ombudsman regarding the manner in which the investigation has been conducted.  Amongst its charges are:

  • that the Ombudsman exceeded her jurisdiction in undertaking this investigation ;
  • that the Ombudsman failed to abide by fair procedures particularly in relation to the provision of a draft version of the investigation report ;
  • that the Ombudsman displayed prejudice and objective bias in the course of the investigation ;
  • that the Ombudsman displayed arrogance in purporting to interpret the law ;
  • that the Ombudsman has purported to deny the State bodies concerned their right to have the litigation (detailed in this report) determined by the Courts.

The Minister, acting on behalf of the Government, has informed the Ombudsman that the Government supports the submission of her Department in which these charges are made.  While the HSE, in general, has been more temperate, it has specifically charged the Ombudsman with attempting to influence the outcome of court proceedings.  In effect, the Department and the HSE are saying that the Ombudsman undertook this investigation in bad faith.

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In fact, the Ombudsman’s motivation in producing this report was five-fold:

     1. To highlight the very significant difficulties faced over several decades by families seeking to make arrangements for long-term nursing home care for a family member.

     2. To represent, in many instances through their own words, the distress and upset (including financial) of people who complained to the Ombudsman’s Office over the years in relation to nursing home care.

     3. To highlight the inadequacy and the tardiness of the State’s responses to these problems.

     4. To raise the issue of whether and, if so how, people adversely affected should have some recognition of having been failed by the State.

     5. To raise wider questions of governance prompted by the practices highlighted in this report.

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In the 2001 Report: ‘Nursing Home Subventions’, the then Ombudsman expressed the view that the issues of bad administration dealt with in that report reflected significant dysfunction in our system of government.  That view could, with only minor contextual amendments, be reproduced in full here with the same validity as in 2001.

The then Ombudsman identified deficits in three sets of relationships which, in his view, contribute significantly to this dysfunction.

These relationships are:

The Relationship between the Oireachtas and the Executive – the Constitutional model whereby the Legislature makes the laws and the Executive implements them has become a fiction; in fact, it is the Executive (Government) ‘which decides policy; which proposes legislation and ensures its passage through the Oireachtas and, subsequently, in its executive capacity ensures that the laws are implemented’.  Parliament is relatively powerless and not in a position to exercise the role (including that of calling the Executive to account) envisaged in the Constitution.

Relationships within the Executive – in the past, there was a clear division of functions as between the political (Ministerial) side and the official side.  The integrity of the governmental process depended, to a large extent, on the official side being seen to be non-political; the tension inevitably generated by this division was regarded as necessary and healthy.  “Good government”, as Professor Séamus Ó Cinnéide put it, “depended on a certain distance and balance between the two sides”.  This distance and balance no longer applies and, again to quote Professor Ó Cinnéide, this change is part of “an unspoken revolution in our system of governance”.  Again, another key element in the overall model of government has been discarded or, at the very least, diluted considerably.

Relationship between Department and Health Boards – similar to the relationships within the Executive, the relationship between the Department and the health boards is most effective where the latter are prepared to keep a certain distance from the former and to exercise, as necessary, their status as independent, statutory bodies.  But the health boards, for the greater part, failed to act independently; to ‘a large extent, health boards appear to act in relation to the Department as if they are satellites rather than independent bodies […]   The majority of the health boards were prepared to continue with a scheme, about which they increasingly had doubts, for as long as the Department told them they should.’

The present Ombudsman comments on these three areas from the perspective of today and concludes that, if anything, matters have disimproved rather than improved.  In relation to the role of the Oireachtas, the Ombudsman observes that parliament has been sidelined and exercises only a limited role.  Reflecting the views of many commentators, the Ombudsman observes that our governmental arrangements are undermined significantly by virtue of having an Executive which is too powerful and a Legislature which is too weak.

As regards relationships within the Executive, and taking the example of the Department of Health & Children, the Ombudsman observes that the distance between Ministers and senior civil servants – which was a necessary feature of our model of government – no longer exists.  In the wider context of the health service, the Ombudsman draws attention to a continuing confusion as to the respective roles of the HSE and of the Department.

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Findings (Executive Summary)

The Ombudsman finds, in relation to the type of complaints dealt with in this investigation, that the health boards (HSE) failed to fulfil their obligations to older people under section 52 of the Health Act 1970 and that this failure came about with the full knowledge and agreement of the Department.  As a result of these failures, very many older people (and their families) suffered significant adverse affect over several decades.  The Ombudsman finds that these failures of the health boards (HSE) and of the Department constitute (to use the language of the Ombudsman Act) actions “based on an undesirable administrative practice” and also actions “contrary to fair or sound administration”.  These findings are at a level of generality as this investigation is an ‘own initiative’ one rather than one linked to specific, named complainants.

The Ombudsman takes the view that the HSE and the Department should acknowledge formally that the State, in the case of older people needing long-term nursing home care, has not been meeting its obligations under section 52 of the Health Act 1970.  This acknowledgment could be in the form of a public statement from the two bodies and could be made on a ‘without prejudice’ basis.

There is no satisfactory solution to the issue of whether there should be financial redress for those who have been adversely affected by the State’s failure to provide long-stay care.  The financial consequences for the State, in meeting a recommendation to compensate all those adversely affected, would be enormous, potentially running to several billion euros.  In present circumstances, it appears this is not a cost which the State can meet.  Nor is it likely that the State will be in a position to meet this type of charge for many years to come.  On the other hand, not to recommend financial redress, might be seen as condoning maladministration and allowing bad practice to go unchecked.  It would also mean that individual people and their families are being left with nowhere to turn and with a financial burden to bear which, as the Ombudsman understands the law, should have been borne by the State.

With considerable reluctance, the Ombudsman takes the view that in present circumstances the public interest is best served in not recommending any specific redress in the sense of financial compensation for those affected adversely.  The Ombudsman suggests that some thought be given within the Department to devising some limited scheme under which families which have suffered serious financial hardship might be assisted.  One possibility, in this regard, is that the existing Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme might provide the statutory mechanism for the making of one-off payments, based on exceptional need, for such people affected adversely by the State’s failure to provide nursing home care for a family member.

The Ombudsman feels it is vital that steps be taken to prevent situations, such as described in this report, coming about in the future; or, where they do come about, there should be mechanisms in place to deal with them at an early stage.  The Ombudsman proposes that, in future, measures to deal with such instances should be conducted with full transparency and in the public domain.  The Ombudsman proposes the creation of an independent group whose function would be to advise Government on how best to handle legal actions, or threatened legal actions, which involve numbers of people and which arise from a contended failure of a State agency to meet statutory obligations particularly in instances where those claimed to be affected belong to a vulnerable group in society.  Past examples of situations where such an approach might have been helpful include:

          –   the army deafness claims ;

          –   the contaminated blood claims ;

          –   education rights of autistic children ;

          –   provision of secure care for children ;    and

          –   the right of older people to long stay nursing home care.

This proposal is based on the premise that the State should react to such situations, not simply in legalistic terms, but in terms which have regard both to legal rights (including human rights), to the State’s finances and the overall public interest.  The proposal envisages that, while ultimate legal responsibility for dealing with such claims will continue to rest with the State (and its relevant agency), the direction of the State’s response should have regard to the advice of this group.  Amongst the options for this group would be that of stating a case to the High Court, perhaps at an early stage, in order to get legal clarity where that is needed.  The overall thrust of this proposal is that the State’s response to situations of this kind should be speedy, be made at an early stage, and be based on considerations of fairness and the public good rather than, as tends to happen at present, being defensive, combative and legalistic.

Some thought might be given to the possibility of such a group acting as adviser to the Attorney General in fulfilling the role of guardian of the public interest or, alternatively, that this group would replace the Attorney General in fulfilling that role.  In any case, there is certainly considerable scope for improving our governmental mechanisms with a view to ensuring that, where these major issues arise, they will be handled always with a view to securing the public interest.

Emily O’Reilly – Ombudsman – November 2010

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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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EU Commissioner Connie Hedegaard in Dublin – Hot Air ?

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-10-31:  At lunchtime on Friday, 29 October 2010 … European Union (EU) Commissioner, Ms. Connie Hedegaard, in charge of European Commission DG CLIMA (the new Directorate General for ‘Climate Action’) … addressed the Institute of International & European Affairs in Dublin.

While Connie’s Speech was not subject to the Europa House Rule … the Question & Answer Session, afterwards, was.

Note:  IIEA’s Europa House Rule … Irish equivalent of the Chatham House Rule … ‘ When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Europa House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.’

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Colour photograph of European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, DG CLIMA (Directorate General for Climate Action), who visited Dublin recently on Friday, 29 October 2010.
Colour photograph of European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, DG CLIMA (Directorate General for Climate Action), who visited Dublin recently on Friday, 29 October 2010.

Most importantly, I wanted to find out whether Europe will maintain its air of insufferable arrogance at the upcoming UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Cancun Summit, which will be held in December (2010) … and be excluded from critical stages in Global Climate Change Negotiations, as was the case in Copenhagen last December (2009) ???   I was not reassured that we have learned from those humbling experiences !

One small case in point … in Europe, we are still messing around with talk of limiting the rise in Global Average Temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius above Pre-Industrial Levels.  However … it was demanded last year, in Copenhagen, that this rise be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius … or lower … particularly by the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) !   Have we listened ?   No !   NGO’s in Ireland … please also take note !!!

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However !   Some good news for a change … the European Commission will produce, sometime early next year in 2011, a strategy document on ‘2050 – A Low Carbon Society in Europe’ … that is just a gist of the title, so please don’t quote me … which will also contain related EU Performance Targets for 2030.  2020 is just around the corner, folks !!

Also … Climate Change Adaptation, in Europe, will be given far more of a policy emphasis.  Up to recently, there has been little interest in this subject.  But the truth is dawning … Mitigation is failing, and Europe is already suffering from the adverse impacts of Climate Change.  Practical ways and means are now being identified, therefore, to integrate Adaptation widely into other European Union Policies and Instruments.

In 2009, the European Commission’s White Paper: ‘Adapting to Climate Change – Towards a European Framework for Action’ [COM(2009) 147 final] was published.  Next year, following consultations, the Adaptation Framework will make its appearance … and will be promoted with vigour !   So I hope !!!

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During the Question & Answer Session which followed Connie Hedegaard’s Speech, I raised the following two issues …

1.  Missing from the 2009 Adaptation White Paper … the Press Releases, Speeches, and Memos, etc. on the DG CLIMA WebSite … and her Speech at the IIEA on Friday … is any serious or meaningful reference to Sustainable Human & Social Development in all of her work on Climate Action.  I strongly suspect, now, that she does not fully understand the meaning of the concept … which involves far, far more than being ‘use-efficient with the earth’s resources’ !

And … would Connie ever consider acquainting herself … properly … with the EU Treaties ?   She might then discover the many substantive references to ‘sustainable development’ … and none to the ‘green’ society, ‘green’ this, or ‘green’ the other !!

2.  As usual, European Union (EU) Climate Change Data & Statistics were confidently presented by Connie at the IIEA … some, not a lot !   However, there is a major question mark hanging over those statistics … are they Reliable ??   At European level … the experts in the proper management of data and statistics work in EuroStat, which is located in Luxembourg.  I visited, there, at the end of June 2010.

However, Europe’s Climate Change Statistical Databases are managed by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which is located in Copenhagen.  Does the EEA have the required expertise to manage these Statistical Databases ?   No !   Is EuroStat being excluded from making an input into the management of these Databases ?   Definitely … Yes !

In question, and in serious doubt … this is the recent EEA’s European Topic Centre on Air & Climate Change (ETC/ACC) Technical Paper 2010/4: ‘Approximated EU Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2009 – Short Report for EU-15 & EU-27’ … please examine it carefully for yourself.

ETC/ACC Technical Paper 2010/4 was the basis for the Official Statement by Connie Hedegaard, dated 2010-09-10, on the Estimates for EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2009, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) !   She said …

” The sharp drop in overall EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions last year is not a surprise seen in the light of the economic crisis.  But the EU Emissions had already been falling steadily for several years before the recession hit, putting us well on track to meet or even over-achieve our Kyoto Protocol Targets.  This is thanks to the armoury of policies and measures implemented over the past decade, which have succeeded in breaking the automatic link that used to mean that economic growth translated into higher Emissions.  However, as the economy picks up again we can expect the drop in Emissions to level off or even be reversed temporarily.  It is therefore very important that the EU and Member States continue implementing the climate and energy package and the other measures needed to meet our 2020 Targets.  And of course I hope that the new strong figures also can inspire the necessary debate on how fast the EU can reach even more ambitious targets.”

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Just to get you started … please note how the Kyoto Industrial GHG’s (HFC’s, PFC’s and SF6) have … not ! … been handled in this Technical Paper …

September 2010 – ETC/ACC Technical Paper 2010/4

Approximated 2009 EU GHG Inventory – Short Report for EU-15 & EU-27

Click the Link Above to read and/or download PDF File (671kb)

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Embarrassing, isn’t it ???   VERY !!!

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Ireland’s Mental Health Services – In Serious & Rapid Decay !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-10-29:  For those of you who are not fully up to speed with Ireland’s Current Economic Disaster … very painful for some people, but not for all (!) … in the next few weeks, we will be presented with a 4 Year Budget Strategy Plan, which will be verified by the European Commission, in Brussels, and the European Central Bank, in Frankfurt … and also be presented with a Draconian First in a Series of 4 Budgets.  The track record of our Government shows that the most vulnerable groups in our society will be the Primary Targets for fiscal cutting, slashing, pillage and burning.

Which is why I am pleased to align our Organization … Sustainable Design International Ltd … with the following Open Letter to …

  • An Taoiseach (Ireland’s Prime Minister), Mr. Brian Cowan T.D. ;
  • Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan T.D. ;
  • Minister for Health & Children, Ms. Mary Harney T.D. ;   and
  • Minister of State for Disability & Mental Health, Mr. John Moloney T.D.

Dear Ministers,

We call on the Irish Government to respond to the Crisis in our Mental Health Services !

Mental Health Services simply cannot be maintained at acceptable levels in a civilized society if there are further cuts in Ireland’s Budget 2011.  They have already been cut unfairly and disproportionately.  Spending is down 9.2% since 2006, and is at 5.3% of the Overall Health Budget – now at its lowest share in modern history.  More than half of all the staff cut from the HSE (Health Service Executive … http://www.hse.ie) in 2009 came from the Mental Health Services, despite the fact that they only represent 9% of the HSE’s workforce.

In 2006, the Government’s National Mental Health Policy, ‘A Vision for Change’, promised to end institutionalization and provide modern community-based services.  Yet, progress in developing community services has ground to a halt.  We still have the shameful situation of people living in conditions described by the Inspector of Mental Health Services as “entirely unacceptable and inhumane”; hundreds of children being admitted to adult inpatient mental health units; and large numbers of people with a mild mental or cognitive impairment in Psychiatric Institutions who should not be there in the first place.

We know that there is a financial debacle – but, it is making the mental health crisis worse.  Financial stress, debt and unemployment are putting a massive burden on people’s mental health.  Waiting lists for services are growing as people look for support – rates of suicide and self-harm rose sharply last year !

Any further cuts in Budget 2011 will signal the death knell for ‘A Vision for Change’, and condemn another generation of Irish People to a Mental Health System which is a remnant from the Age of Victorian Asylums.

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I have also signed up to support this Campaign at … http://www.healthrisk.ie/

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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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Evacuation Chair Devices – Fire Engineering for All in Buildings ?

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-06-06:  This post has been running around in the back of my mind for quite some time … and I know now, for far too long !   But recently, my patience with certain manufacturers and suppliers of evacuation chair devices has reached its limit.

In relation to Building Users … previous posts have examined the technical term: Place of Safety (see the post dated 2009-10-24) … and why this concept is an essential starting point in the development of any practical … and comprehensive … fire engineering strategy for a building.

Previous posts have also explored the complex issue of Areas of Rescue Assistance in a building (see posts dated 2009-03-10 & 2009-03-17).

For the purposes of this discussion, now, a clear statement of Fire Engineering Design Objectives is required … 

  1. Evacuation for All Building Users … with an assurance of health, safety and welfare protection during the course of that evacuation.
  2. Sustain Building Serviceability during Evacuation … at the very least, while people are waiting in Areas of Rescue Assistance … and, until all of those people can be rescued by Firefighters and can reach a Place of Safety.

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We are rapidly approaching the day when all lifts/elevators in a building must be capable of being used during the course of a fire incident.  AND … these lifts/elevators must be situated so that … alternative, safe and intuitive means of evacuation … are effectively presented to all building users.

Greedy vested interests continue to impede the onset of that inevitable day.

Another surprising barrier to the implementation of this goal, however, is the sloppy and incompetent drafting of fire engineering design standards and codes of practice.  Previous posts have discussed … and shown … some of the serious problems with British Standard BS 9999 – Code of Practice for Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Buildings (2008).

A ‘Restricted’ Architectural Vocabulary is yet another barrier to implementation.  High-Rise and/or Complex Buildings are still typically being designed for Access … not Evacuation !   This fault very definitely lies with the architectural and engineering schools throughout Europe.

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Until all lifts/elevators in a building are capable of being used during the course of a fire incident … there is an obvious and pressing need for a fire engineering design solution which involves the installation, maintenance and proper use of Approved Fire Evacuation Chair Devices … which need to be powered or manual depending upon the particular circumstances in a building !

AND, even when all lifts/elevators are capable of being used during the course of a fire incident … because lifts/elevators must always undergo routine servicing and maintenance and they will not, therefore, be in operation for short periods of time … there will still be an obvious need for Approved Fire Evacuation Chair Devices.  So, these fire-evacuation related products should never be regarded as a wasted investment !

I have repeated the word ‘Approved’ because, unfortunately, since these are also disability related products … insufficient attention, and emphasis, is given to Product Approval in this Market Sector, i.e. showing that the product is ‘fit for its intended use, in the location of use’.

At the most basic level imaginable … National Building Regulations in the European Union Member States, and E.U. Safety at Work and Product Liability Legislation … all demand Product Approval.

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Performance Requirements for Fire Evacuation Chair Devices:  Fire Evacuation Chair Devices, powered or manual, must be capable of …

  • being safely and easily operated ;
  • carrying people of large weight (150 Kg minimum) ;
  • going down staircases which, in existing buildings of historical, architectural and cultural importance, may be narrow and of unusual shape ;
  • travelling long distances horizontally … in a robust and stable manner … both within a building … and externally, perhaps over rough ground … in order to reach a Place of Safety.

When going up a staircase is necessary in order to reach a Place of Safety, a powered evacuation chair device must be provided !

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Fire Evacuation Staircases:  A vivid image, with a few accompanying words, are necessary …

Unlike the incredible scene shown in the colour photograph above ... Fire Evacuation Staircases must be suitable for Safe, Intuitive and Unhampered Building User Evacuation, Firefighter Contraflow and the Assisted Evacuation of People with Activity Limitations. A Minimum Clear Width of 1.5 Metres (from edge of handrail to edge of handrail !) is required. Click to enlarge.
Unlike the incredible scene shown in the colour photograph above ... Fire Evacuation Staircases must be suitable for Safe, Intuitive and Unhampered Building User Evacuation, Firefighter Contraflow and the Assisted Evacuation of People with Activity Limitations. A Minimum Clear Width of 1.5 Metres (from edge of handrail to edge of handrail !) is required. Click to enlarge.

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Fire Evacuation Chair Devices & What To Avoid:  Can you spot the Evacuation Chair Device in the first photograph below ?

Colour photograph showing a Fire Evacuation Chair Device Installation at Dublin Airport, Ireland. On so many levels and in so many ways, this 'decorative' installation ... intended to demonstrate that an organization is complying with legislation ... will prove to be, in the event of a real fire emergency, SO wrong and unworkable. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2008-04-04. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing a Fire Evacuation Chair Device Installation at Dublin Airport, Ireland. On so many levels and in so many ways, this 'decorative' installation ... intended to demonstrate that an organization is complying with legislation ... will prove to be, in the event of a real fire emergency, SO wrong and unworkable. Photograph taken by CJ Walsh. 2008-04-04. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing a Manual/Gravity Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. Transfer from a wheelchair to this type of device at the top of a staircase can be difficult and hazardous ... it can only travel down a staircase, using gravity (never up, against gravity !) ... and during horizontal travel, it is shaky and unstable. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing a Manual/Gravity Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. Transfer from a wheelchair to this type of device at the top of a staircase can be difficult and hazardous ... it can only travel down a staircase, using gravity (never up, against gravity !) ... and during horizontal travel, it is shaky and unstable. Click to enlarge.

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Fire Evacuation Chair Devices & Issues To Carefully Consider:  Modern wheelchairs come in all shapes, sizes and styles … are highly adapted by their owners … and can be very expensive.  Why is it a surprise, therefore, to learn that most wheelchair users will not want to abandon their expensive personal property, i.e. the wheelchair, in the event of a real fire emergency.

The answer, of course, is PROPER CONSULTATION with All Building Users (where these are known !) during the preparation of a Fire Defence Plan for a Building.

The following photographs illustrate different aspects of the capability of Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Devices …

Colour photograph showing a Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. This particular device facilitates evacuation, down and up a staircase, using the person's own manual wheelchair. Having completed its task at the bottom (or top !) of a staircase ... the device can be quickly released for use by another person who needs assistance on the staircase. Throughout this process, wheelchair users move independently to a Place of Safety. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing a Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. This particular device facilitates evacuation, down and up a staircase, using the person's own manual wheelchair. Having completed its task at the bottom (or top !) of a staircase ... the device can be quickly released for use by another person who needs assistance on the staircase. Throughout this process, wheelchair users move independently to a Place of Safety. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing another Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device. This particular device facilitates evacuation of an adapted manual wheelchair, which may (or may not !) be the person's own wheelchair. It also facilitates travel on narrow or unusually shaped staircases. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing another Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device. This particular device facilitates evacuation of an adapted manual wheelchair, which may (or may not !) be the person's own wheelchair. It also facilitates travel on narrow or unusually shaped staircases. Click to enlarge.

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Colour photograph showing a Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. This particular device facilitates evacuation, down and up a staircase. It is also robust and stable while travelling horizontally ... both within a building ... and externally, perhaps over rough ground ... in order to reach a Place of Safety. Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph showing a Powered Fire Evacuation Chair Device in operation. This particular device facilitates evacuation, down and up a staircase. It is also robust and stable while travelling horizontally ... both within a building ... and externally, perhaps over rough ground ... in order to reach a Place of Safety. Click to enlarge.

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Product Approval in the European Union Single Market:  Fire Evacuation Chair Devices must be permanently CE Marked … including the product itself, any cover (such as that shown in the Dublin Airport photograph above), all product literature, and any product packaging.

It is not acceptable to print the CE Mark on an adhesive label … and then stick the label to the product !   Correct informative text must always accompany a CE Mark !

Please note that the CE Mark is not a Safety Mark.  A CE Mark denotes conformity with the Essential Requirements of a single, specific European Union Directive.

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E.U. ‘2 Degree Celsius’ Climate Change Target Is Not Enough !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2010-06-01:  Europe got its ass whipped at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, last December 2009.  Why aren’t all the Institutions of the European Union learning … really fast … from this hard lesson ???

This is also a question for the Stop Climate Chaos Campaign here in Ireland !?!

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Back on 10th January 2007 … the European Commission issued COM(2007) 2 final … a Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions … having the title: Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 Degrees Celsius – The Way Ahead for 2020 and Beyond.  [ This document is freely available for download … at EUR-Lex (a link to the WebSite is provided at the right hand side of this Page). ]

On Page 3 of the Communication, you will read the following …

‘ The EU’s objective is to limit global average temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.  This will limit the impacts of climate change and the likelihood of massive and irreversible disruptions of the global ecosystem.  The Council has noted that this will require atmospheric concentrations of GHG (greenhouse gases) to remain well below 550 parts per million by volume (ppmv) CO2 equivalent (eq.).  By stabilising long-term concentrations at around 450 ppmv CO2 eq., there is a 50% chance of doing so.  This will require global GHG emissions to peak before 2025 and then fall by up to 50% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.  The Council has agreed that developed countries will have to continue to take the lead to reduce their emissions between 15 to 30% by 2020.  The European Parliament has proposed an EU CO2 reduction target of 30% for 2020 and 60-80% for 2050.’

What a really sloppy, imprecise expression … and explanation … to give to a critical Climate Change Performance Indicator !!   And … please note the overly optimistic ‘50% chance’.

On the evidence of Europe’s ‘real’ climate change mitigation performance to date … there is no chance, whatever, of hitting that target.

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In Copenhagen, the Group of 77 & China and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), in particular, demanded that the planetary temperature rise be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius !

Outside Europe … irreversible climate change is already happening … and people must adapt in order to survive !!!

For example … climate change is seriously affecting the people of the Sundarbans.  Located at the mouth of the Ganges River in Bangladesh and West Bengal in India, this area is part of the largest delta in the world.  Sundarban means ‘beautiful forest’ in Bengali, as the region is covered in mangrove forests …

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Under the Aegis of the European Environment Agency ... these 3 Photographs were taken by Mikkel Stenbaek Hansen. In each case, click to enlarge !
Under the Aegis of the European Environment Agency ... these 3 Photographs were taken by Mikkel Stenbaek Hansen. In each case, click to enlarge !

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Colour photograph showing Ruhul Khan, who has lost three houses in recent years. His former homes were located to the left of the picture, an area now covered by water.
Colour photograph showing Ruhul Khan, who has lost three houses in recent years. His former homes were located to the left of the picture, an area now covered by water.

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Colour photograph showing that the rising sea level brings salt water inland, damaging the soil’s fertility. Some residents have adapted by using their farmland for fish breeding. Others are experimenting with crop species that are resilient to salt water.
Colour photograph showing that the rising sea level brings salt water inland, damaging the soil’s fertility. Some residents have adapted by using their farmland for fish breeding. Others are experimenting with crop species that are resilient to salt water.

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