In the final episode of "Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations," Season 3, the series explores how defects can arise, the multidisciplinary approach needed to address them, and the pivotal role of loss adjusters and expert witnesses in resolving such conflicts. The process begins with identifying the building defect, which is not merely about identifying something built incorrectly but involves complex definitions based on legal and insurance policies, potential dangers, and regulatory compliance. Experts shed light on the nuanced engagement needed from the involved parties and the broad implications for developers, insurers, and engineers.

The next stage delves into the methodologies for fixing these defects, highlighting the diversity in possible approaches. The insurance company's role is underscored as pivotal in deciding the solution, often requiring consensus across multiple expert opinions. The narrative stresses the importance of due diligence on the part of the engineers, who must ensure both regulatory compliance and innovative problem-solving aptitudes. As illustrated by Joanna Grant's insights, engineers and other stakeholders must strictly adhere to approved documents and practices, with an emphasis placed on follow-up to ensure all detected errors are remedied. This approach underscores the high stakes in building defect resolution, discussing the domino effect that might reveal further defects and the extensive coordination required for effective remediation.

Conclusively, managing conflicts remains a core aspect of the journey, with experts like Richard Gough and Gareth Bowers emphasising the delicate balance of maintaining impartiality while navigating policy and legal constraints. The episode highlights that while large-scale multi-occupancy disputes present significant complexity, effective management and expert collaboration can drive the process forward, albeit sometimes over extended periods. The overarching takeaway of the series lies in its in-depth analysis and the multifaceted perspective offered on building defects, cultivating a deeper understanding of both the technical intricacies and legal ramifications. Through engaging with a broad array of industry experts, "Uncovered Witness" provides a comprehensive view into this seldom-discussed yet critically important aspect of modern construction.

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Per Olsson, Halliwell Fire Research
• Joanna Grant, Fenchurch Law Ltd 
• Gareth Bowers, McLarens
• Richard Gough, McLarens

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

In this episode of 'Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations,' we investigate the complexities of identifying and fixing building defects. The episode begins by outlining the stages involved, from the initial detection of a defect to selecting an appropriate fix. The host highlights the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders such as developers and insurers, highlighting the challenges of defining what constitutes a defect and determining whether insurance policies cover it. Early responsibility lies with the developer, while latent defect policies can come into play later on, though these often include many exclusions that need careful navigation.

The episode again features expert insights from Richard Gough (McLarens), Gareth Bowers  (McLarens), Joanna Grant (Fenchurch Law), Mario Lara Ledermann (Halliwell Fire Research) and Per Olsson (Halliwell Fire Research), who explain the importance of technical analysis and fire safety engineering in this process. The discussion expands on the multi-layered 'pyramid of solutions', ranging from material and component fixes to system-wide and holistic building strategies. Each layer requires different levels of expertise and can significantly impact the costs and timelines involved in remediation. 

Through practical examples and detailed explanations, the experts describe the potential for cost-effective solutions that can satisfy all parties involved. They also address larger-scale issues affecting entire building stock, such as combustible claddings, and discuss the broader implications and challenges of systemic defect remediation. Additionally, the episode touches on emergency orders and interim risk mitigation measures that may be necessary while long-term solutions are being developed. Finally, the episode serves as a prelude to the next one, which will focus on the remediation process, stakeholder involvement, cost-effectiveness, and legal considerations, as well as the roles of engineering and legal experts in resolving complex defect cases. 

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Per Olsson, Halliwell Fire Research
• Mario Lara Ledermann, Halliwell Fire Research
• Joanna Grant, Fenchurch Law Ltd 
• Gareth Bowers, McLarens
• Richard Gough, McLarens

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

This episode of Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations, Season 3, delves into the challenging process of defining and identifying building defects, particularly in the realm of fire safety. We emphasize the complexity and multifaceted nature of what constitutes a building defect. Joined by experts from various disciplines, including fire safety, law, and insurance, the episode unravels different perspectives on defects, their implications, and their compliance with building regulations. 

The discussion includes key insights from experts like Mario Lara Ledermann from Halliwell Fire Research UK, Joanna Grant from Fenchurch Law Ltd, and Garteh Bowers and Richard Gough from McLarens. These professionals share their views on the roles and responsibilities in identifying and addressing defects. The episode highlights the importance of understanding building defects beyond technical non-compliance, considering the potential risk to life safety and property, and the complexities of legal and insurance implications.

Listeners learn how defects are often discovered incidentally, such as during water ingress investigations, and how rigorous evidence collection and expert analysis play crucial roles in building defect litigation. The episode also covers the differences between defects and damage, with detailed explanations on how policies respond to these issues, considering the original construction standards and current regulations.

The episode provides a deep dive into building defects' technical, legal, and practical aspects through real-world examples and expert testimonials. The comprehensive coverage aims to equip fire safety engineers, building professionals, and stakeholders with a thorough understanding of defect identification and rectification. The episode concludes with a look forward to further discussions on what happens after a defect is detected, promising more insights in upcoming episodes. 

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Per Olsson, Halliwell Fire Research
• Mario Lara Ledermann, Halliwell Fire Research
• Joanna Grant, Fenchurch Law Ltd 
• Gareth Bowers, McLarens
• Richard Gough, McLarens

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

Welcome to the third season of  Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations.

In the third season, the focus shifts from a purely technical analysis of building design and fire safety measures to an understanding of the intricate legal and regulatory landscapes that govern compliance. Across four in-depth episodes, experts in law, engineering, insurance, and forensic fire research collectively shed light on how buildings achieve (or fail to achieve) legal compliance and genuine safety. These conversations highlight the ongoing tension between prescriptive codes and performance-based solutions, the evolving complexity of building materials and construction methods, and the multifaceted processes behind identifying and remediating building defects.

In the premiere episode of Season 3 'Legal Framework of the Building,' we explore the intersection of building regulations, legal frameworks, and fire safety. The host introduces the season's focus on understanding what makes buildings legal and how defects impact fire safety. This episode explores what makes buildings legal and investigates how defects in fire safety systems can influence overall compliance and safety. Experts discuss the relationship between prescriptive and performance-based design approaches and highlight the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation. The episode underscores that merely adhering to codes and standards does not guarantee safety, emphasising the holistic and adaptive measures needed to ensure true building integrity.

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Per Olsson, Halliwell Fire Research
• Mario Lara Ledermann, Halliwell Fire Research

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

Welcome to Season 2 of Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations! This season, the show's theme is Humans as part of a fire safety engineered system. In this series, we will unravel our understanding of human behaviour in fires and how this complex behaviour may be accounted for in the fire-safe design of buildings. Our understanding of the occupant response, decision-making process and biases may influence our design of exits and improve (or impede) the egress process. 

In the final episode of Season 2, we continue the discussion on familiarity, which is explained through the theory of affiliation. Why clustering of people is a more familiar state than evacuating alone? How may understanding the familiarity of exits ruin our evacuation plan, and why should the main exit serve the occupants as their main escape route? Here, we demonstrate how understanding human behaviour theories may help us engineer better.

In the final part of this episode, we deal with some damaging myths related to human behaviour in fires. First, we discuss the altruistic behaviour of people, showing how compassion is more widely observed in fires compared to an individualistic approach. Then, we discuss the definition of Panic - one as understood by the scientists studying the phenomenon and the other as understood by media/layman. We discuss why panic is often used as a clickbait, scapegoat or cover-up of more serious technical issues (often all three at the same time). It is imperative that engineers understand the true concept of panic and other aspects of human behaviour and then use this knowledge to design better buildings.

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Prof. Daniel Nilsson, University of Canterbury, Halliwell Fire Research

Thank you for being us in the Season 2 of the Uncovered Witness. Follow @WojciechITB at Twitter or https://www.linkedin.com/in/wojciech-wegrzynski/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/fireresearchgroupltd for current information about new episode releases. Season 3 is coming soon, and this time, we will discuss the legal skeleton of a building and the responsibilities for building defects related to fire safety! 

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

Welcome to Season 2 of Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations! This season, the show's theme is Humans as part of a fire safety engineered system. In this series, we will unravel our understanding of human behaviour in fires and how this complex behaviour may be accounted for in the fire-safe design of buildings. Our understanding of the occupant response, decision-making process and biases may influence our design of exits and improve (or impede) the egress process. 

This episode is all about human behaviour theories - useful concepts that allow us to explain some of the behaviour observed in real-world fire incidents and evacuation drills. We learn about the behavioural sequence model, which explains the sequence of actions taken in the pre-evacuation time. Then, we move to the social influence model, which explains how normative and informative social influence influences people's actions. The first relates to the rules and social norms in the environment where the evacuation occurs and how people are afraid to not break those rules even while in danger. The informative social influence refers to how we use others as our source of information or to confirm our own choices. 

Further in the episode, we discuss the role-rule model and how our roles in our normal lives remain the same in the evacuation context. We try to define how these roles may be disturbed and how establishing a new hierarchy for evacuation may streamline the process. 

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Prof. Daniel Nilsson, University of Canterbury, Halliwell Fire Research
• Josh Gibbons, Halliwell Fire Research

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

Welcome to Season 2 of Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations! This season, the show's theme is Humans as part of a fire safety engineered system. In this series, we will unravel our understanding of human behaviour in fires and how this complex behaviour may be accounted for in the fire-safe design of buildings. Our understanding of the occupant response, decision-making process and biases may influence our design of exits and improve (or impede) the egress process. 

In the second episode of the series, we focus on the actions taken by the occupants from the moment they receive information about the fire to the moment when they start their evacuation. This includes response to fire cues - from the flames and smoke, through evacuation alarms and observing the reaction of others. We go into how people perceive the threat from a fire and how this perception is affected by the presence of others. With the examples of the Beverly Hills Supper Club and MGM Grand fires, we illustrate some of the most fundamental concepts related to occupant response and wayfinding. Finally, we discuss the group behaviours, touching also on the definitions of rational and irrational behaviour. 

Useful links:

• Max Kinateder et. al. review on risk perception in fires
• Erica Kuligowski et. al. guidance on behaviour modelling, including the PADM framework mentioned in the episode
• Fire Science Show episode 019 with Erica Kuligowski on modelling human behaviour in wildfire evacuations

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Prof. Daniel Nilsson, University of Canterbury, Halliwell Fire Research
• Josh Gibbons, Halliwell Fire Research

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

Welcome to Season 2 of Uncovered Witness: Fire Science Revelations! This season, the show's theme is Humans as part of a fire safety engineered system. In this series, we will unravel our understanding of human behaviour in fires and how this complex behaviour may be accounted for in the fire-safe design of buildings. Our understanding of the occupant response, decision-making process and biases may influence our design of exits and improve (or impede) the egress process. 

In the first episode of this series, we cover the approach used to account for complex human behaviour in assessing the Required Safe Evacuation Time (RSET). This is commonly done by accounting for a delay in the evacuation process that is a product of complex human behaviour between receiving a fire cue and making the decision to evacuate. 

Human behaviour may be considered repetitive over similar populations and occupations despite the complexities. This allows us to study this process from a statistical perspective—on average, how long does it take for people to respond to specific cues in specific circumstances? The answer is not a single number but a population-wide distribution of the pre-evacuation time, which can then be a useful input for our calculations and modelling.

In this episode, we discuss the history of this approach, the data sources and their validity. We also cover how cultural and societal context may influence the resulting time distribution. 

Useful links:

• The pre-evacuation Database research paper mentioned in the podcast episode.
• Fire Science Show episode 134 - interview with prof. David Purser
• The standard widely referred to in the episode was BS PD 7974-6, available to purchase through the BSI

 Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Prof. Daniel Nilsson, University of Canterbury, Halliwell Fire Research
• Prof. David Purser - highlights from the episode 134 of the Fire Science Show

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

In this episode of The Uncovered Witness, I've invited Kristen E. Lange from Ogden Murphy Wallace P.L.L.C. In her expertise, Kristen has worked on court cases related to fire safety; in those cases, she has worked with expert witnesses who were fire safety engineers. Trying to tap into this experience, we try to identify "who" is the expert witness? What role are they in legal proceedings, and how is their expertise presented? Also, what makes an outstanding expert witness? 

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.

In this mini-series of the Uncovered Witness - Fire Science Revelations, we cover the subject of the means of escape - the technical solutions in our buildings meant to allow for human evacuation in case of a fire.

In the third and final episode of the mini-series, we discuss what makes or breaks the design of an evacuation sign. While it may seem like a simple design choice (make it green and make the arrow point in the correct direction?), there are, in fact, many elements that influence the human perception of the sign. We tap into the tragic fire in Daegu Metro, which illustrates what happens when the signs are present but inaccessible. 

We connect the design of evacuation signage to the theory of affordances, presenting a framework for evaluating its design. We give examples of good and poor affordances and explain the consequences of non-fire engineers' actions, who may unwillingly alter the sign's readability.  

Guests featured in this podcast episode:

• Prof. Daniel Nilsson, University of Canterbury, Halliwell Fire Research
• Luke de Schot, Halliwell Fire Research
• Josh Gibbons, Halliwell Fire Research

Relevant Fire Science Show episodes:

• Human behaviour misconceptions that lead to (mis)modelling with Enrico Ronchi
• Modelling human behaviour in wildfire evacuation with Erica Kuligowski

This show is produced by the Fire Science Media for Halliwell Fire Research. Executive producer - Monika Węgrzyńska, scripting and production - Monika and Wojciech Węgrzyńscy, sound engineer - Mikołaj Jarząbek. All rights reserved. 2024.