The findings and recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry report should mark the end of paper-based certification for safety critical construction products, according to the UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (CARES).
CARES chief executive Lee Brankley said: 鈥淲e can no longer leave open any route to a repeat of the dishonesty and incompetence in approvals revealed so shockingly by the Grenfell tragedy.
鈥淲here safety critical materials enter supply chains their performance and provenance must be subject to rigorous and searching examination, with any approvals or certification only issued in secure, fully digital formats.鈥�
He said that paper routes to product certification represented an 鈥渦nacceptable vulnerability鈥� that must be closed as swiftly as practicably possible, given that the 鈥渃atalogue of catastrophic failings鈥� leading to the tragedy showed just how commercial pressures led to safety being sidelined.
鈥淓nding this means a fundamental shift in supply chains from specification to procurement,鈥� Brankley said.
鈥淲e must accept that there remain ongoing vulnerabilities as long as people continue to issue assurance certificates and product information in paper form. The truth of a product鈥檚 performance; the safety or sustainability standards it is required to meet, and the independent verification tied to rigorous assurance this demands, can only be guaranteed digitally,鈥� he said.聽聽聽
CARES said that it welcomed the Grenfell Inquiry鈥檚 call for an end to departmental fragmentation in the government鈥檚 approach to construction supply聽 鈥� as well as the report鈥檚 recommendation that a properly resourced chief construction adviser role be reinstated and enhanced.
CARES says that it even supports the inquiry panel鈥檚 recommendation for a new construction regulator to be set up to take over the full spectrum of standards, testing and certification (thus effectively nationalising organisations like CARES).
鈥淎s the ramifications of the Grenfell Report reverberate across our industry there will no doubt be a focus on the next stage in this long process of seeking full accountability,鈥� Lee Brankley said. 鈥淲hile that is in the hands of others, the opportunity that is now in the hands of those of us who wish to learn from this is to take whatever swift actions we can now that can bring positive change.
鈥淪ecure, transparent and wholly digital product history is one such change we must now seize.鈥�
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
