Background
The Fire Safety Act 2021 (the Act) received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021 and commenced on 16 May 2022. The Act amends the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order).
The Act clarifies that responsible persons for multi-occupied residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows, and entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts.
What are the new changes?
The new Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 come into force on 23 January 2023 and affect to a varying degree all premises containing two or more dwellings.
Duties imposed are based on building height as below:
In all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises with common areas, responsible persons will be required to:
- Provide residents with fire safety instructions
- Make sure that these instructions are shared with their residents in a form that residents can reasonably be expected to understand.
In residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height, responsible persons will also, in addition to the above, be required to provide the following:
Fire Safety Instructions
- Provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instruction which sets out what a resident must do once a fire has occurred based on the evacuation strategy for the building
Fire Door Information
- Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety
Fire Doors
- Undertake annual checks of flat entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts
Additional requirements
In high-rise residential buildings with storeys over 18 metres in height (or 7 storeys), responsible persons will also, in addition to the above, be required to provide the following:
Building Plans
- Provide their local Fire and Rescue Service with up-to-date electronic building floor plans
- Place a hard copy of these plans, alongside a single-page building plan which identifies key firefighting equipment, in a secure information box on site.
External Wall Systems
- Provide to their local Fire and Rescue Service information about the design and materials of a high-rise building’s external wall system
- Inform the Fire and Rescue Service of any material changes to these walls.
- Also, they will be required to provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure give rise to and any mitigating steps taken.
Lifts and other Key Fire-Fighting Equipment
- Undertake monthly checks on the operation of lifts intended for use by firefighters and evacuation lifts in their building and check the functionality of other key pieces of firefighting equipment
- They will also be required to report any defective lifts or equipment to their local Fire and Rescue Service as soon as possible after detection if the fault cannot be fixed within 24 hours
- Record the outcome of checks and make them available to residents.
Information Boxes
- Install and maintain a secure information box in their building
- This box must contain the name and contact details of the Responsible Person and hard copies of the building floor plans.
Wayfinding Signage
- Install signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identify flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.
How can Ligtas support our organisation?
If you have any questions, or require fire safety risk assessments and services, please contact our team of trusted professionals at 02922 800 000 or enquiries@ligtas.co.uk
Where can I find out more information?
A range of fact sheets with greater detail on each requirement can be found here
Download the PDF. Call or email Ligtas to discuss any questions you have.
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