The criminal negligence of local government: the abject failure of central government and the abdication of justice by the judicial system, is an affront to both British democracy and the rule of law.
Why have there been no prosecutions and why have those alleged guilty been allowed the opportunity to potentially conceal evidence and relocate abroad?
It is now eight (8) long months since 71 residents of Grenfell Tower in West London died either from being burned alive or by inhaling deadly hydrogen cyanide fumes from the combustion of external cladding panels containing a known fire-accelerant, polymer foam – an extraordinarily dangerous material that rapidly spreads fire and produces a deadly toxic gas in the process.
Polymer foams (made from isocyanates) have been banned from use in buildings in many countries for years – but are still freely used in Britain by building professionals and consultants in full knowledge of the potential fatal consequences.
Those professionals include architects, surveyors, building inspectors, contractors, council officials, manufacturers and suppliers who would all have known the inherent risks in specifying, supplying and installing such hazardous materials. They would have been well aware of the documented deaths that have previously occurred throughout the world which have been directly attributable to the use of polymer foams in or on buildings.
It now appears certain that despite such incontrovertible evidence of the inherent danger, certain consultants and/or suppliers deliberately ignored that evidence and approved the use of a fire-accelerant that caused the deaths of 71 people.
The urgent question now is: why has no one been prosecuted for what is clear gross criminal negligence, after eight months?
The authorities must be aware that those alleged to have been responsible for the multiple deaths in Grenfell Tower, will now have had the opportunity to permanently leave the United Kingdom and escape justice. It is a travesty that brings the entire British judicial system into disrepute. Meanwhile, at this time of writing, thousands of innocent people remain at high risk of being burned alive or suffocated by toxic fumes in apartment and office buildings, hospitals, schools and public buildings, in Britain, as the government sits on its hands.
Exposure to asbestos roof panels can take 50 years to kill whilst cyanide gas can suffocate and kill in just 50 seconds. A paradigm shift in health and safety regulations backed by stringent legislation is urgently overdue. As are prosecutions and the application of justice.
