Fire Safety: Dame Judith Hackitt reveals harsh realities for facilities management industry

SFG20 spoke to Dame Judith Hackitt about the latest updates in fire safety. Dame Judith spent nearly a decade as chair of the Health and Safety Executive, and led the independent review of building regulations and fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire. In this interview you will get exclusive insights into some of the biggest problems in the Facilities Management industry, how to manage risks in your buildings, and how you should be complying with fire safety regulations. Dame Judith reveals what the Building Safety Regulator should be doing, and outlines which problems that occurred at the Grenfell Tower fire are more widespread than people realise. Dame Judith Hackitt is a chemical engineer by training and spent the first half of her career working in the chemicals industry – both in manufacturing and also as an advocate for the industry at national and international level. She is a former President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow and Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Throughout her career she has championed the importance of Engineering in delivering solutions which provide benefit to society and has been a role model particularly for young women wanting to enter the profession. She cares deeply about safety in the workplace and more broadly. From 2007 to 2016 she was Chair of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive and in 2017 conducted an Independent Review for UK Government into Building Regulations and Fire Safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Since publishing her final report in 2018 she has continued to press for regulatory change and for industry culture change and her recommendations for radical reform of the regulatory system received Royal Assent in the Building Safety Act 2022. The change has been described as the biggest shake up in Construction regulation in a generation. Her non-Exec roles have included being on the Board of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Chair of Enginuity (the Engineering and Manufacturing Skills body) and a Board member at HS2. She has received 10 Honorary Doctorates from Universities in the UK and in Australia. She received the Hanson medal from the Institution of Chemical Engineers in 2022 for her work on Ethics in Engineering and the President’s medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2024 for her outstanding contribution to the Academy and for her contributions to Engineering. She is currently Chair of the RAE’s Membership Committee and also of the Engineering X Safer Complex Systems programme Leave your questions on fire safety in the comments 00:00 Meet Dame Judith Hackitt 00:30 Delegating tasks doesn't mean delegating responsibility 01:34 Introduction to Lisa Hamilton and Dame Judith Hackitt 01:58 The Grenfell Tower phase 2 report findings 02:30 How can Facilities Managers ensure they are compliant? 04:17 What needs to be done to improve the fire safety industry 05:35 What do enhanced fire safety obligations mean for maintenance professionals? 06:15 Do building owners and landlords realise the risks with fire safety? 07:30 Do professionals think outsourcing the task means outsourcing the risk? 08:11 What can happen to building owners if their building isn't maintained in compliance? 09:36 What do those buildings who fall outside the BSA have to do under the Fire Safety order? 11:08 The Principle of the Golden Thread 12:49 What can the building industry learn from other sectors? 14:12 Will fire safety under the Ministry of Housing change things? 15:20 What will the new Government Fire Safety legislation cover? #facilitiesmanagement #buildingsafety #firesafety #sfg20 #interview