“At the same time those companies implicated in the Grenfell report should be barred from future contracts. This must now finally happen without further delay,” Khan added.
A total 15 of 37 disabled residents in the tower on the night of the fire died, and a leading disability rights group said the government was continuing to fail disabled people at risk from fires. The government failed to implement recommendations from the first phase of the inquiry on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), and Mikey Erhardt of Disability Rights UK said Labour was still not learning the lessons.
“We are dismayed that the government has quickly turned its back on our community. Once again, the interests of private businesses and public organisations have been prioritised over people’s lives,” said Erhardt.
“Instead of implementing PEEPs, it is proposing a watered-down right to a fire risk assessment and information sharing with the fire and rescue service, which are in no way near a PEEP. And yet, to add insult to injury, such assessments are now called ‘residential PEEPs’.
“You cannot simply rebrand a risk assessment as a PEEP and make it safe for the thousands of disabled people still at risk of fire.”
Grenfell United also criticised the government for its lack of commitment to PEEPs, saying in a statement: “Nearly eight years after Grenfell, what would be different if these recommendations were fully implemented?
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“Social housing blocks would be the same as before Grenfell. The evacuation policy is still ‘stay put’. Single staircases remain. No sprinklers. And no PEEPS for disabled residents.
“This is what social housing blocks look like today. And people are still living at risk.
“Ultimately, there is nothing [in the government’s response] that makes us feel like we’re in a new world where safety comes first.”
Florence Eshalomi echoed calls for greater protection for disabled people.
Eshalomi, who is chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, also announced MPs would hold a short inquiry into the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and building safety starting next month.
“It should not be forgotten that many of the victims of the fire at the Grenfell Tower were disabled people,” said the MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green. “To help ensure such a tragedy is not repeated, it is vitally important the government addresses the issue of PEEPs for disabled people. The government needs to set out how ‘residential PEEPs’ will be made enforceable and how they will ensure disabled people in the private rented sector have the same access to PEEPs as those in social housing.”
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Firefighters who worked inside Grenfell Tower during the blaze report significantly higher rates of gastrointestinal, respiratory, neurological and other diseases, new research from the University of Central Lancashire has found.
“We know that firefighters are exposed to toxic contaminants in fire throughout their careers, and that preventative measures are needed to protect their health. Although it is not possible to definitively trace any disease back to a single incident, it is alarming that a high proportion of the firefighters who were exposed to very high smoke levels that night are now falling ill,” said professor Anna Stec, professor in fire chemistry and toxicity at the University of Central Lancashire
“Given that firefighting is classified as a carcinogenic occupation by the World Health Organization and is associated with higher mortalities from rare cancers, introducing regular health monitoring for UK firefighters is essential.”
Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said deregulation and decades of political failure had made the fire possible. “Government at all levels must listen to the voices of residents. The deregulation of recent years must be reversed to prevent profiteers from putting lives at risk,” he said.
“Organisations responsible for building safety must be brought under public ownership and resourced adequately.”
Thousands of people remain trapped in unsafe buildings as part of the building safety scandal uncovered by Grenfell. Buildings remain wrapped in flammable cladding or featuring other fire safety defects.
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The government has pledged to speed up efforts to fix affected properties through its Remediation Acceleration Plan.
A spokesperson for the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group said: “First and foremost, our focus is on the Grenfell community. The bereaved, survivors and residents all still need and deserve meaningful justice, and we will always stand beside them in their quest for action and not just more warm words from government.
“Labour has accepted that there was a decades-long failure by successive governments to regulate industry – as well as systemic dishonesty across industry – yet the prime minister’s commitment to take the “necessary steps” to speed up remediation remains unfulfilled. Sir Keir Starmer says he considers himself “responsible for building safety,” yet officials are clearly still making decisions on behalf of ministers. The government is focused on a cultural shift in industry, but cultural change in the way that government operates is long overdue.
“Today’s announcement makes little difference to the lives of ordinary people who are still trapped across the country in unsafe buildings – of all heights – with serious cladding and non-cladding risks. If safe housing is truly a fundamental right, then Labour must finally show the impetus and political will to take control and grip this unrelenting crisis, and the focus must be on ensuring people know when their homes will be made safe. As it stands, we are still a long way from seeing the fundamental change promised by Labour.”
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