Forensics in
focus ‘Beast from the East’ and Fraud
Issue 14 | June 2018
Dame Hackitt’s Report
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Safety at Sea
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Introduction - Professor James Lygate Welcome to the summer edition of Forensics in Focus; I hope you enjoy the mix of topics covered in this latest issue. The first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy falls this month and the impact on the local community, UK housing providers and the construction industry remains ever present in the public eye via all manner of media. As we compile this issue of Forensics in Focus, the Final Report from the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety led by Dame Judith Hackitt has been published, together with recommendations. Throughout my career as a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Fire Engineer, I have consistently been surprised at how few people really understand the Building Regulations. They represent not the best standards but the minimum standards, down to which contractors will typically build with the pressure on profit margins influencing commercial decisions. A number of issues in the Final Report concern me and I am disappointed that there is no recommendation to require new and refurbished complex buildings to be certified by Chartered Fire Engineers whose designs are checked by Chartered Fire Engineers. Such a system would, in my opinion, enforce good fire safety design and construction. I write more on this subject and the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety later in this issue. It seemed appropriate that our next article in our Health and Safety Series looked at Investigating Structural Fires and our Senior Investigator, Mike Wisekal, has put together an informative guide on typical hazards, risk controlling measures and current legislation. The Beast from the East caused chaos in the early part of this year with up to 50 cm of snow and temperatures plummeting to -9 degrees. Insurers faced a surge in claims with damage to property caused by the weight of the snow and the inevitable spike in claims from escapes of water related to frozen pipes. Early estimates put the cost of the cold spell to insurers in the region of £600 million. Our Senior Investigator, Deon Webber, considers the relative opportunity for fraudulent and exaggerated claims in his article, including advice on considerations for claims handlers / loss adjusters to assist in identifying claim account anomalies.
Incidents of shipping fires in the first half of this year have continued in frequency and our Operations Manager and Senior Investigator, John Gow, takes a closer look at SOLAS Chapter IX: Management for the Safe Operation of Ships and the application of the mandatory ‘International Safety Management Code’ in this issue. I hope you will find the article by our Client Relationship Manager, Chris Shorten, useful reference material. Chris outlines our three headline services, Forensic Triage, Forensic Screen and Full Investigation and includes guidance on when to select which service. We have had opportunity to meet some of you at industry events that have taken place in the first six months of 2018. We attended the Building Control Northern Ireland Fire Safety Conference in February where we met housing providers, private landlords and risk management professionals and discussed the Building Regulations Northern Ireland 2012, fire engineering and fire safety requirements. At the Irish Building Control Institute Conference in March, we discussed Building Regulations 1997 to 2006 and Fire Safety Requirements in Ireland together with the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management’s re-appraisal of the fire safety requirements. We were also delighted to be Silver Sponsors at the I Love Claims Home & Commercial Claims Lunch in May, hosting a table of guests and enjoying informed discussions with the claims community. As we finalise this edition of Forensics in Focus, we are making our preparations to attend the Airmic Conference in Liverpool June 11th – 13th. We are on Stand 17 and will be discussing fire engineering as a means of mitigating risk; we hope to see you there. And finally, I am pleased to be able to let you know that in line with our continued business growth, we are undertaking a strategic recruitment drive this year and will be expanding the talent and expertise within the business in a number of regions. I look forward to introducing you to new members of the team in later issues of Forensics in Focus. As always, if you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see included in Forensics in Focus, then please email me at jlygate@ific.co.uk.
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