Editorial: The Grenfell Tower horror is a reminder that Health and Safety has value, and is not just red tape

There were parallels between the fate of people in the Grenfell Tower inferno of 2017 in London and those trapped high in the the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

​In both cases some victims either considered jumping, as they stood by windows amid ever encroaching flames and heat, or they actually jumped. It was a horrifying outcome for people who waited to be rescued but never were, and instead slowly began to realise the hopelessness of their situation.

The disastrous fire at Grenfell, unlike the World Trade Centre, wasn’t deliberate, thank goodness, but negligence led to the tragedy.

The building had 300 people in it, many of the flats illegally sublet. Such cramped housing conditions and poorly recorded tenancies are inevitable in an already densely populated UK that has seen seven million net immigrants come in over 20 years.

One of the worst findings in yesterday’s Grenfell Inquiry report was that cladding fire dangers had been known for 25 years. It also found “systematic dishonesty” in the cladding business. A manufacturer, Arconic, “deliberately concealed” the danger of the cladding used in Grenfell Tower. Kingspan, a buildings material company that is well known in Northern Ireland through its sports sponsorships, was said to have concealed the limitations of its product.

Those responsible for social housing Kensington and Chelsea showed indifference to safety. Meanwhile, firefighters were not properly prepared either for high rise or cladding fires.

The consideration over prosecutions is thorough, and needs to be. Meanwhile there are lessons to be learned about the importance of the sometimes mocked notion of health and safety, about profiteering at the expense of safety, and about the need to train and get value from public servants, not just jump to every demand for better pay and easier employment terms.