Protecting You and Your Home
With new government legislation, banning the use of combustible cladding as of December 2020, it’s time for you to act and ensure you and your home stay safe and protected from disasters like Grenfell taking place again.
Why has this ban been introduced?
As many of you will already be aware, in June 2017 a disastrous fire broke out after a Hotpoint fridge-freezer began to overheat. This then resulted in a fast-spreading fire that engulfed the 24-storey tower block located in London.
Both the cladding and insulation on the exterior of the building had failed all preliminary tests conducted by police; due to last-minute changes in maintenance allowing costs to be cut drastically and a low standard of products being installed.
This change led to the unfortunate death of 72 people and a total loss of 151 homes, making the Grenfell Tower fire one of the UK's worst modern-day disasters.
What’s happening now?
On the 17th December 2020, the government announced a £30 million fund to help pay for the costs of fire alarm systems in high rise buildings like Grenfell Tower that have combustible cladding installed on them, helping to reduce the need for internal safety measures.
By installing fire alarm systems into areas where there is a risk of fire, you can have appropriate measures in place to allow individuals to get out of danger thanks to alarms identifying abnormal temperature increases.
Where does thermal imaging come into this?
Cladding tends to be inspected manually by building labourers, which at times can be invasive and expensive, especially when inspected on a fairly regular basis.
Thanks to high-quality thermal cameras from Teledyne FLIR, infrared cameras can highlight cladding defects quickly when used in the correct conditions.
Official figures claim that over 450 buildings are covered in combustible materials, which could impact as many as 500,000 residents. If the cladding is found to need replacing the charge for this is likely to be passed down and shared out to tenants by way of service charge, leading to an extensive increase in monthly payments.
However, it’s not all bad news. As you already know, infrared cameras can detect temperature hot spots before a fault has time to occur and cause damage. With the ability to arrange for an inspection with a certified thermographer to show where fixed cameras can be fitted to monitor the cladding, you can save yourself thousands of pounds whilst you’re in the process of waiting for cladding to be replaced.
We can also provide round the clock monitoring by installing fixed, automated FLIR thermal cameras to continuously monitor the cladding for any temperature anomalies. Set-up with software that can sound alarms when the temperature threshold is exceeded, as well as the added feature of sending alerts straight to you via email or SMS, so no matter where you are, you can be notified.
What camera is best for round-the-clock monitoring?
With monitoring capabilities to detect faults in an extensive list of conditions and multiple streaming capabilities, we recommend the purchase of cameras from the FLIR A400 and A700 series of thermal cameras. With each model available in different modes and more simplicity than any range before this, you can monitor your property 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
By choosing a camera with the image streaming feature, you are offered a more detailed view of what it is you are monitoring (in this case it’s cladding) the camera can then study analytics through its software.
If you would rather have a camera from the smart sensor range, you will be presented with built-in analytics ready for interpretation through thermal imaging software.
Key Features:
Choice of 4 different lenses
The option of Wi-Fi for connectivity between the cameras
MSX® for image enhancement
Accurate temperature readings (+2˚C) throughout
Flexible alarm systems
Improved temperature accuracy for objects both near and far away with precision motorised focus
Features FSX® (flexible scene enhancement) technology
By following all of the guidelines we have presented above, we will be able to ensure safety in your home keeping you and your family safe; preventing disasters like Grenfell from ever happening again.
If you would like to find out more about the measures, we can implement to ensure your safety, get in touch with us today.