Do Not Overlook The Letter Box
Each year there are over 3,100 arson attacks on shops, cafes and small businesses. Arson is the most common cause of fire in shops and retail premises. Arson claims cost over half (51%) of all insurance claims for businesses made in the last quarter of 2006 and the number of cases was further up by nearly 19% in the first half of 2007, which means that arson is an increasingly expensive problem for businesses. The average cost of a fire in commercial property in 2006 was £44,000, with fires costing the national economy £7.03 billion every year.
Employees cannot intervene to contain the damage from an attack at night time when business premises are normally not attended, but without the letter box there will be no mail deliveries during out of office hours.
Fire Safety Law
New Fire Safety Law in the UK is provided from 1st October 2006 by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - in England and Wales, Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations - in Scotland and Fire & Rescue Services - in Northern Ireland.
They are legally obliged to carry out the fire risk assessment of their premises and take measures to protect them from the known fire risks. They cannot delegate this responsibility down to the employees.
London Fire Brigade carries out around 14,000 fire inspections of premises in the capital each year. Last year breaches of the RRO cost London's landlords and premises owners more than £1 million in fines and payments, which shows how serious the courts are taking fire safety.
With all the ambiguity surrounding the Fire Safety Order, it states clearly that when carrying out the fire risk assessment the 'responsible person' must consider the possibility of a malicious fire or arson attack and the first thing to do is to identify fire hazards: source of ignition, source of fuel, source of oxygen.
Arson attack through the letter box is a source of ignition and source of fuel. As such it must be identified at steps one and two of the fire risk assessment.
In premises the oxygen source will be the air in the building. Where only normal natural domestic ventilation is provided the risk of fire in the premises will generally be normal. However, excessive air flow through an open letter box and draughts add to normal natural domestic ventilation. This leads to additional source of oxygen and increased risk to the premises in case of fire. Also, in case of fire (not necessarily arson) the open letterplate allows a direct passage for hot gasses and flames. It will contribute to the stack effect and this will increase spread of smoke.
Therefore, when carrying out the fire risk assessment do not overlook the letter box fitted in the front door because the risk of fire starting through the entrance door letter box (letterplate) is well known and identified by the insurance industry, Fire Brigade, Police service, Master Locksmiths Association, etc. and recently it was highlighted in the guidance document on fire safety for blocks of flats (paragraph 43.2).
The high risk premises are mostly those premises that have sleeping accommodation like hotels, hostels, residential homes and like premises.
Source - The Home Office:
THE DIVERSE MOTIVES OF ARSONISTS, VANDALS AND CRIMINALS MEAN THAT NO HOME OR BUSINESS IS IMMUNE FROM AN ATTACK
In case of such accident there would be no excuse for the owners/managers if they have not exercised due diligence in fulfilling their duty and they are risking hefty fines, difficulty with the renewal of the insurance or even imprisonment. The insurance company can refuse the payout if it turns out that the mandatory legislation requirement was not met by the business.
Businesses are discovering - to their considerable cost - that it is not injury, but the risk posed if there was to be a fire, which is triggering prosecution under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
If you are a consultant or risk assessor please note that the insufficient fire risk assessment is the feature of most persecution cases. In court hearings it is the customary line of defence to put the blame of the insufficient fire risk assessment on the consultant or risk assessor who carried out the fire risk assessment. Fitting of secure metal letter boxes on the inside of letter flaps is recommended in risk assessment guides for each building type published by CLG (Communities and Local Government) in 2006. So, there is no reason to overlook the letter box.
protecting the letter box is a practical, not moral choice for the owners and managers of non-domestic premises
Make sure that the letter box is protected against liquid inflammable, since it is more dangerous than the solid one because it gives out twice as much heat from the same mass and burns twice as fast. According to 2007 statistics 63% of losses from all deliberate ignition fires were from fires started by liquids. Fitting IdealGuard™ will resolve this problem.
The new Fire Safety Law is introduced for improving fire safety in the UK, not as a budget saving exercise. Because of the uncertainty, owners/managers often fall into the trap of over-prescription of fire safety measures, at prohibitive cost to the business budget.
In contrast to this, it is clear that IdealGuard™ is affordable. Moreover, due to fully insulating the letter box from draughts when the letterplate is closed and from massive heat loss when it is open, (often for hours, when stuck by the mail items), IdealGuard™ pays for itself through direct savings on the energy bills.
This feature alone makes fitting IdealGuard™ very good sense economically.
Fitting IdealGuard™ offers not only the safest solution, which helps operators of non-domestic premises to address their legal obligations to provide a safe place of work, but the solution, which is sustainable and cost-effective.