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Grenfell Tower Fire
On 14 June 2017, a List of fires in high-rise buildings, high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of Public housing in the United Kingdom, flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 British Summer Time, BST and burned for 60 hours. Seventy people died at the scene and two people died later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Blitz of World War II. The fire was started by an electrical fault in a refrigerator on the fourth floor. As Grenfell was an existing building originally built in concrete to varying tolerances, gaps around window openings following window installation were irregular and these were filled with combustible foam insulation to maintain air-tightness by contractors. This foam insulation around window jambs acted as a conduit into the rainscreen cavity, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grenfell Tower Inquiry
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry was a British public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people and destroyed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It was ordered by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Theresa May on the day following the fire. May announced on 29 June 2017 that the inquiry would be chaired by retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, with the immediate priority "to establish the facts of what happened at Grenfell Tower in order to take the necessary action to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again". She promised that "No stone will be left unturned by this inquiry." On 15 August 2017, the terms of reference of the Inquiry were announced. The first hearing opened on 14 September 2017. The Inquiry was divided into two phases: Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1, Phase 1, which addressed the events on the night of the fire, and Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2, Phase 2, which investigated the wider situation. Hearings for Pha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Summer Time
During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC+00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and evenings one hour more. BST begins at 01:00 GMT every year on the last Sunday of March and ends at 02:00 BST on the last Sunday of October. The starting and finishing times of daylight saving were aligned across the European Union on 22 October 1995, and the UK retained this alignment after it left the EU; both BST and Central European Summer Time begin and end on the same Sundays at 02:00 Central European Time, 01:00 GMT. Between 1972 and 1995, the BST period was defined as "beginning at two o'clock, Greenwich mean time, in the morning of the day after the third Saturday in March or, if that day is Easter Day, the day after the second Saturday in March, and ending at two o'clock, Greenwich mean time, in the morning of the day after the fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyisocyanurate
Polyisocyanurate (), also referred to as PIR, polyol, or ISO, is a thermoset plastic typically produced as a foam and used as rigid thermal insulation. The starting materials are similar to those used in polyurethane (PUR) except that the proportion of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) is higher and a polyester-derived polyol is used in the reaction instead of a polyether polyol. The resulting chemical structure is significantly different, with the isocyanate groups on the MDI trimerising to form isocyanurate groups which the polyols link together, giving a complex polymeric structure. Manufacturing The reaction of (MDI) and polyol takes place at higher temperatures compared with the reaction temperature for the manufacture of PUR. At these elevated temperatures and in the presence of specific catalysts, MDI will first react with itself, producing a stiff, ring molecule, which is a reactive intermediate (a tri-isocyanate isocyanurate compound). Remaining MDI and the tri-i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Council Housing
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public housing, public or social housing use are built by or for Municipality, local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s, non-profit housing associations (HA) became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used — as technically, council housing only refers to properties owned by a local authority — as this embraces both council and HA properties, though the terms are largely used interchangeably. Before 1865, housing for the poor was provided solely by the private sector. Council houses were then built on council estates — known as schemes in Scotland — where other amenities, like schools and shops, were often also provided. From the 1950s, alongside large deve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kensington And Chelsea TMO
Kensington and Chelsea TMO (KCTMO) was the largest tenant management organisation (TMO) in England, managing nearly 10,000 properties on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council – the entire council housing stock in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The TMO was set up on 1 April 1996, under the UK Government's Housing ( Right to Manage) Regulations 1994. Kensington and Chelsea TMO was the largest TMO in the UK and unique in having been the only TMO that managed the entire housing stock for the local council. Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the council terminated its contract with KCTMO. Since January 2018, the housing has been directly managed by the council. However, KCTMO continues to exist as a legal entity so that it can be represented at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. History The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation was established on 1 April 1996, when it assumed management of 9,760 properties from the council. Run b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kensington And Chelsea London Borough Council
Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, also known as Kensington and Chelsea Council, is the local authority for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Conservative majority control since its creation in 1965. It is based at Kensington Town Hall. History The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its council were created under the London Government Act 1963, with the first election held in 1964. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's outgoing authorities, being the councils of the two metropolitan boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington. The new council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1965, at which point the old boroughs and their councils were abolished. The old borough of Kensington had held the honorific title of royal borough since 1901. The royal borough status was transferred to the new borough creat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inquests In England And Wales
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden or unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of and discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove". In England and Wales, inquests are the responsibility of a coroner, who operates under the jurisdiction of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. In some circumstances where an inquest cannot view or hear all the evidence, it may be suspended and a public inquiry held with the consent of the Home Secretary. Where an inquest is needed There is a general duty upon every person to report a death to the coroner if an inquest is likely to be required. However, this duty is largely unenforceable in practice and the duty falls on the responsible registrar. The registrar must report a death where: *The deceased was not attended by a doctor during their last illness *The death occurred within 24 hours of admission to a hospital *The cause of death has not been certified by a doctor who saw the deceased afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London's Air Ambulance
London's Air Ambulance Charity is a registered charity that operates a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) dedicated to responding to serious trauma emergencies in and around London. Using a helicopter from 08:00 to sunset and rapid response vehicles by night, the service performs advanced medical interventions at the scene of the incident in life-threatening, time-critical situations. The charity was founded in 1989 by General Surgeon Dr. Richard Earlam in response to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons, which documented cases of patients dying unnecessarily because of the delay in receiving prompt and appropriate medical care. The charity was the first in the UK to carry a senior doctor in addition to a paramedic at all times on a helicopter, introducing a system that reduces the death rate in severe trauma by 3040%. The helicopters are hangared at RAF Northolt, but operate during the day from their base at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Ambulance Service
The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is an NHS trust responsible for operating ambulances and answering and responding to urgent and medical emergency, emergency medical situations within the Greater London, London region of England. The service responds to 999 phone calls across the region, and 111 phone calls from certain parts, providing triage and advice to enable an appropriate level of response. It is one of the busiest ambulance services in the world, and the busiest in the United Kingdom, providing care to more than 8.6million people, who live and work in London. The service is currently under the leadership of chief executive Daniel Elkeles and chair Andrew Trotter. The service employs around 5,300 staff. It is one of ten ambulance services trusts in England providing emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role. The LAS responded to over 2.1million 999 calls for assistance, and over 1. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Appliances In The United Kingdom
Fire services in the United Kingdom use a variety of fire appliances, which perform a wide range of general and specialised roles and fit into several distinct categories. Contemporary fire appliances carry a multitude of equipment and firefighting media (such as water and foam) to deal with different types of emergencies ranging from fires, rescues, vehicle extrication, floods, salvage, casualty and trauma care. The design and size of a fire appliance depends very much upon the role it is expected to perform. In general, most fire and rescue services use a standardised range of vehicles and equipment. However, airport fire services tend to use much larger and heavier appliances than those typically deployed by public fire services. Most front line fire appliances in the UK are marked in high conspicuity red and yellow battenburg markings, and are fitted with blue lights and sirens. Many appliances have roller shutter doors revealing compartments housing various items of e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
