Tales from the Tube # 2

Continuing on from last week, in celebration of the 150th birthday of the London Underground, I am sharing some of the milestones that have arisen due to events and incidents on the Tube.

This week’s event involved a major fire at King’s Cross Tube Station. The  fire broke out at about 7:30pm on 18th November 1987. Sadly the fire killed 31 people with a further 100 + or – injured.

The cause of the fire was said to be a carelessly discarded lit match or cigarette which was caught up in the escalator. This old escalator had timber slats on the floor of each moving tread.

Source: www.thetimes.co.uk

This escalator serviced the Piccadilly Line and approximately 15 minutes after being reported, as the first members of the London Fire Brigade were investigating, the fire flashed over, filling the underground ticket office with heat and smoke. Part of the reason for the flash over was that a train came into the station and the sudden rush of air fanned the flames.

Rushing down the escalator at the time were firemen including the most senior attending officer. This resulted in a period of chaos and one of the outcomes was the senior officer is not permitted to put him or herself in danger and must control the fighting of the fire from a safe place.

Statue of James Braidwood, father of the modern fire service in Parliament Square, Edinburgh

This important lesson took a long time coming as over 100 years ago, on 22nd June 1861, the London Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s first chief, James Braidwood, was killed when a wall collapsed during a fire in Tooley Street at Cotton’s Wharf (near where London Dungeon’s currently is). He was supervising the fighting of the fire and saw that a wall was in danger of falling. He went himself to warn his men and was killed when the wall collapsed. It took two days for his body to be recovered. The two men he went to save were ironically unhurt. The loss of the most senior fire officer in the London Fire Brigade caused disruption to the brigade for some time and certainly effected the result at that particular fire as it did in the King’s Cross fire.

Staying with the King’s Cross fire, the London Underground were also strongly criticised for their attitude toward fires. Complacent because there had never been a fatal fire on the Underground, staff had been given little or no training to deal with fires or evacuation. As so often happens, the publication of the findings of the enquiry led to resignations of senior management in  London Underground and to the introduction of new fire safety regulations.

While events like the King’s Cross fire are tragic positive things do come from them. It is frustrating that it takes such an event to highlight problems that are obvious risks.

It is part of the risk management process which in turn forms the first part of Business Continuity Management to identify and eliminate, reduce or otherwise manage the hazards of an organisation.