No
valid fire risk assessment was in place when a fire broke out in a south-east
London tower block claiming six lives in 2009, an inquest has heard.
New
rules from 2006 meant all councils were required to carry out fire risk
assessments on their properties.
Chartered
surveyor David Walker, an expert witness, said Southwark Council "should
have prioritised" Lakanal House in Camberwell, as it was
"high-risk".
Six
people, including three children, were killed in the fire in July 2009.
Catherine
Hickman, 31, Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her children, six-year-old Thais, and
Felipe, three, were killed in the fire.
Helen
Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle also died.
'High-risk building'
Lakanal
House was a "high-risk building", Mr Walker said, but no valid fire
risk assessment was in place when the fire broke out.
Giving
evidence he said when the new regulations came into effect in 2006 few local
authorities prepared for their new responsibilities.
Refurbishments
took place at Lakanal House in 2006, but no risk assessment was done at the
time.
Mr
Walker said: "In my opinion London borough of Southwark should have
carried out a fire risk assessment of Lakanal House.
"It
was a high-risk building which should have been prioritised in any risk
assessment programme."
As
a result of no assessment being done serious fire hazards were probably
overlooked, he added.
The
suspended ceiling was high-risk and needed immediate attention before the fatal
fire as it breached safety designs around compartmentation, Mr Walker told the
inquest.
The
fatal tower block fire triggered a dramatic increase in completion of fire risk
assessments, but questions have been raised about how credible those
assessments were, the coroner heard.
Mr
Walker said: "Fire risk assessments are still of variable quality... a
complex building needs a fire risk assessor with comprehensive training and
experience to do credible assessments."
The
inquest continues.
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