Fire safety law has changed

Fire safety legislation is changing. This is an overview of the forthcoming
changes to the fire safety order.

The fire safety order is the primary fire safety legislation in England and
Wales and it applies to all non-domestic premises as well as the communal parts
of residential buildings.

It requires responsible persons to manage the risk of fire to ensure people who use their building are safe.

Following the Grenfell tower fire the government committed to reforming building safety and has introduced new legislation in support of this.

The fire safety act 2021 confirmed that external walls and flat entrance doors were within scope of the fire safety order.

In early 2023 the fire safety England regulations introduced new requirements to residential buildings intended to protect both residents and responding firefighters.

The building safety act provides a framework from much wider reform and in England has established the role of the accountable person who will have overall responsibility for safety in high risk residential premises, and from the 1st of October 2023 new legislation will take effect which will strengthen fire safety in all fire safety order regulated premises.

This video will cover the main changes to the legislation including, increased
requirements to record fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements, enhanced requirements for cooperation and coordination between responsible persons, and ensuring residents have access to fire safety information on their building.
Increased requirements to record fire risk assessments.

It is a requirement of the fire safety order that you complete a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. The fire risk assessment will identify the risks from fire, what measures are in place and how to mitigate those risks.

While it is important that individuals appointed to undertake fire risk assessments are competent to do so this, it will not become a specific legal requirement until a later date. However from October 2023 you must identify any person who was involved in completing or reviewing them.

Whilst there has always been best practice to have a written fire risk assessment the requirement to do so only applied in certain circumstances and did not require the whole assessment to be recorded just the significant findings.

From October 2023 you must record your fire risk assessment in full regardless of the type of building or the size of the business. There will be many premises affected by this change including small independent businesses such as small shops and takeaways, holiday lets and small blocks of flats.

In recognition of the small premises that are most likely to be affected by this change the government has published a new suite of fire safety guides that includes an example fire safety checklist.

Fire safety arrangements

From October 2023 you must also have a written record of your fire safety arrangements. These arrangements set out how you you are managing fire safety on  an ongoing basis.
This may take the form of a fire safety policy.

Cooperation and coordination

Cooperation and coordination between responsible persons. Many buildings will
have more than one responsible person. For example; a building which is occupied
by multiple businesses or buildings here the occupier doesn't own the premises and the landlord retains certain responsibilities with regards to fire safety.

If this applies to you, there is already a requirement to cooperate with each other in order to comply with your respective duties. However, in practice this does not always happen and it is often unclear who is responsible for a particular aspect of fire safety and this can lead to issues being overlooked or not addressed.

From October 2023 you will be required to share information with all other responsible persons within the building and keep a record of that information. You must inform the other responsible persons of your name UK address and the parts of the premises you are responsible for. 

Having a clear record of who is responsible for the different fire safety measures will encourage cooperation to create a safer environment. It will also assist Fire and
Rescue Services should they need to enforce on fire safety related matters in the premises.

Whether a business ceases trading, moves out and is replaced by another or a
building is sold to a new owner, this can lead to disruption of the Fire Safety
Management of the premises. From October 2023 you will be required to share your
fire risk assessment with the incoming responsible person where applicable. The
contact details of other responsible persons for the building will also need to be provided, along with information related to any works carried out under the building regulations.
In high-risk buildings there will also be an accountable person. In some buildings this will be the same as the responsible person.

The accountable person has overall responsibility for building safety and
must consider the risk of structural failure as well as spread of fire in the same way. Responsible persons must cooperate with each other, they will also be required to cooperate with the accountable person.

Ensuring residents have access to shared fire safety information

On the 23rd of January 2023 the fire safety England regulations made it a
requirement for responsible persons to provide information to residents on what
to do in the events of a fire and on the importance of fire doors.

From October 2023 the fire safety order will expand this requirement and responsible persons will also be required to share the following information with residents. 
Any risks to residents identified in the fire risk assessment, measures provided for the safety of occupants, the name and UK address of the responsible person, the identity of any person who was involved in the creating or reviewing of the fire risk assessment, the identity of any persons nominated to implement firefighting measures, any risks to residents identified by other responsible persons within the building.

With this information residents will be able to identify and raise concerns about fire safety in their building so issues can be addressed. Not only should residents be safer but they should feel safer too.

What else do you need to know?

As a responsible person, to help you comply with your duties under the fire safety order the government has published a series of guidance documents. If you choose not to follow this guidance you should be able to clearly evidence the reason for not doing so. This evidence may be considered by fire and Rescue Services and in the event of a prosecution, the court.

The government has also increased the maximum level of fines for certain offenses such as; failing to comply with the requirements of an inspector. If you require more information on these changes, the government has published further guidance which can be found on their website.

We hope you've found this video useful.

Thank you for watching.