What the change means
'Right Response' is looking at how we respond when we receive alerts from automatic fire alarms in non-domestic buildings.
Most people will not notice any difference in the way we respond to automatic fire alarms.
Public safety is our priority, and we are confident that our proposals balance a response that will keep people safe while using our resources in the most efficient way.
We are not proposing to change our response to people’s homes. Whether you have an automatic fire alarm or a smoke alarm, we will attend as soon as we’re alerted.
For non-domestic buildings, we will always respond to confirmed signs of fire. Where people are not at a heightened risk, for example while they are not sleeping, we are proposing to not automatically attend at certain times, unless a sign of fire is confirmed.
This would mean that we can keep our resources available for when they are most needed.
'Responsible Persons'
If you are a responsible person of a building that is not in the exemption list, there are some things that you may need to do depending on each option, which you can see below.
If your automatic alarm sounds, you may need to confirm that there is a fire by calling 999 before we attend. You may wish to consider how you do this outside of usual working hours or when there are fewer people in the building.
You should review your fire risk assessment and make sure it's up to date. There is information on how to do this on the business safety pages of our website.