The Dangers of Price – Oriented Decision – Making in Regards to Fire Safety

When making decisions about fire safety systems and equipment, there can often be a strong temptation to prioritise lower upfront costs over other important factors.

However, focusing too narrowly on price can compromise safety and lead to dangerous trade-offs.

Key Points

  • Value for money is important but not at the expense of fire safety.
  • Using cheap equipment can cost more in the long run.
  • Be sceptical of companies that claim to follow all regulations but provide extremely cheap products and services.

Value management emphasises obtaining maximum value from each pound spent, not just minimising the initial price. This article will examine the risks of overly price-oriented decision-making when it comes to fire safety and discuss how value management can lead to more responsible and ethical choices.

The Risks of Choosing the Cheapest Fire Safety Options

A prime area where price-oriented decisions can seriously jeopardise safety is in the selection the contractor. Commercial buildings are required by law to have adequate fire protection, but codes set only minimum standards.

There can still be enormous variation in system capabilities and reliability. Yet, buyers are often enticed by contractors offering the “lowest bid” which allows cutting corners on quality.

This may involve using inferior or incorrect equipment, or deficient planning for system maintenance. Such systems seem “good enough” during initial installation but fail to perform properly over years of wear and tear.

The results of system failures can be disastrous, endangering many lives.

Likewise, always selecting the cheapest equipment can seriously compromise core safety infrastructure. It may save money upfront but cost lives later on.

Facility managers must thoroughly vet suppliers and scrutinise proposals to ensure no unacceptable trade-offs are being made.

Beware Of Supplier Claims

Contractors hoping to win business through low bids may claim their offerings meet requirements. However, not all fire safety equipment and standards are created equal. Seemingly small material substitutions or design alterations can greatly reduce resilience to fire, heat and smoke.

For example, claiming a cheaper chemical is an adequate substitute in fire retardant coatings sounds harmless in a proposal. But during an actual rapidly spreading fire, the difference in a few minutes before flashover could save or condemn occupants.

It is imperative to consult fire safety engineering experts to validate true equivalence.

Unless thoroughly vetted by third-party life safety experts, severe risks are being taken to save upfront expenses. The claimed savings pale in comparison to the value of lost lives and property.

It is very important to find a contractor that you can trust. If you are looking for a fire safety company that you can trust then look no further than the ECE Group. ECE Group is one of the best fire safety companies out there that offer a wide range of fire safety and prevention services.   

The Ethical Obligations of Decision Makers

Ultimately, decision-makers must recognise they bear an ethical burden to building occupants by shaping fire and life safety infrastructure. Prioritising upfront costs over properly managing risk exposure is clearly irresponsible.

Undue focus on bargain hunting can blind people to the long-term, severe consequences of failure.

While budgets are limited, fire safety requirements exist precisely because history shows how catastrophic fires can become without adequate preparation. Decision makers must approach choices recognising they are playing with others’ lives and livelihoods.

Those selecting deficient safety equipment purely to save money may open themselves to criminal negligence charges later on.

The Principles of Value Management

Rather than purely minimising initial price, decision-makers should utilise principles of value management. This involves thoroughly understanding requirements, analysing available options and deliberately determining the best high-value solution.

Critical steps include:

  • Defining goals, key needs and metrics for success upfront
  • Researching options extensively and documenting trade-offs
  • Validating claims through evidence and third-party testing
  • Consulting fire safety engineering experts on proposals
  • Evaluating long-term reliability, failure modes and life cycle costs

The optimal choice is the option substantiated to best satisfy the project’s life safety requirements for occupants over the entire building lifespan.

Low-bid offerings should be scrutinised heavily rather than automatically accepted.

While value management does consider cost, it does so only within the larger framework of thoroughly satisfied safety goals.

The central aim is maximising safety value from pounds spent instead of simply minimising expense. Prioritising front-end savings over long-term reliability and performance is rejected outright.

When working on fire and life safety infrastructure, decision-makers have an ethical obligation to building occupants to reject overly price-oriented thinking. Reliability, resilience and demonstrated capability to protect lives must remain the prime criteria.

Prioritising bargains and low bids over properly managing risk exposure is clearly irresponsible.

Final Words

Value management, with its emphasis on fully understanding needs and deliberately determining high-value solutions, offers a responsible methodology.

While expenses must be controlled, the ultimate priority should always be maximising safety per pound rather than the reverse.

By taking this conscientious approach, decision-makers can help ensure fire safety systems provide robust, reliable protection for many years to come.

ECE Group offer tailor-made services across London, Surrey and the South-East of England covering all aspects of Specialist Fire Safety Services and Facility Support.

We offer specialist cleaning services including grease extract ventilation cleaning, laundry extract ventilation cleaning and ductwork cleaning.

We also offer fire safety solutions including fire compartmentation, fire stopping and fire and smoke dampers testing and inspecting.

Contact us today on:

Tel: 020 3757 7150

Email: info@ecegroup.co.uk