Spreading like wildfire
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell considers how the flames of misinformation can easily get out of control.
The smoke following the Grenfell Tower fire lingers in the air long after the flames died away, and the acrid taste will remind everyone involved in the construction industry how poor specification and bad management can result in the loss of life and the destruction of families.
To report on the event in the days and weeks after, one had to have the caveats ready – the cause and spread seemed obvious, but misinformation can spread as quickly and easily as the fire itself. It will be many months before we are officially told how the fire started, and why it spread so quickly, but many people will have already made up their mind regarding who’s to blame, thanks to the overload of news stories and ‘expert’ opinion.
It should therefore be welcomed that the GGF has put together a government advisory panel in a bid to have our industry’s view properly represented following a major disaster.
It can’t come soon enough – only the other week an architect told me how PVCU windows can add to the fire load of a building (I put him straight).