The Importance of Fire Safety Measures in Your Block

Darren Bagnall of Flat Living Insurance discusses the importance of having adequate fire safety measures in your block.

January 2023 saw the introduction of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order.

The new regulations (drawn up in response to the findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report) detail additional responsibilities for the Responsible Persons of multi-occupied residential buildings in England, designed to bolster the safety of leaseholders across the country.

Here we’ll be detailing the new responsibilities as well as providing a reminder of the other vital safety measures that should be in place to ensure the wellbeing of your residents and the security of their investments when it comes to fire safety.

Fire Risk Assessments

One would hope this would go without saying, but fire hazards can have devastating consequences in any building- let alone one housing multiple families, all their belongings and likely their largest financial investment. As the Responsible Person for a block of flats, resident safety must be at the top of your list morally, and also legally.

Fire risk assessments are a legal requirement of anyone who manages a residential or workplace building in the UK. This could be a freeholder, managing agent or RMC, and the legal responsibility lands with them regardless of who actually conducts the assessment or subsequent reviews.

An assessment involves the review of a building and its fire risks- the findings of which must be recorded in written form if more than 5 people regularly occupy the building.

A ‘competent person’ must attend the building and assess its fire risk- making recommendations to make the building safer if necessary.

The law says the assessment must be ‘suitable and sufficient’ for the building, and an assessor will consider:

• How likely a fire is to start.
• What the consequences would be if a fire did start.
• What needs to be done in the building to minimise the risk of fire starting and/or spreading.

What Does a Fire Risk Assessment Cover? 

The assessment looks at what ‘general fire precautions’ are currently in place in the building’s common areas such as stairwells, hallways and entrance halls. The complexity of the assessment will depend on the size and usage of the building.

In all cases, the assessor will look at measures in place to:

• Reduce the risk of a fire starting e.g. ‘no smoking’ signs or regular electrical safety checks.
• Reduce the risk of fire spreading e.g. fire doors.
• Alert people about a fire in the building e.g. working smoke alarms.
• Enable people to escape from the building e.g. clear escape routes and safety lighting.
• Tell people what to do if a fire starts e.g. a displayed emergency plan.
• Reduce the harm caused if a fire starts e.g. fire extinguishers or sprinklers.

The general fire precautions must protect:

• People who are allowed to be in the building.
• People near the building, who may be at risk if a fire started.

Who is Responsible for Carrying Out a Fire Risk Assessment? 

The law simply states that the assessments should be carried out by a ‘competent person’ but that the requirement to fulfil the law lies with the building’s ‘Responsible Party’ e.g. a director, managing agent or freeholder.

In other words, as the person looking after a building, you don’t need to become a fire risk expert and do the job yourself, but you must do your due diligence when employing someone else to do it for you.

There are no parameters set by the Government to outline what constitutes a ‘competent person’ but there is some guidance available with a little digging.

While the law simply states that they must be competent enough to complete a ‘suitable and sufficient’ assessment of your particular building, it’s only with reference to leading industry bodies that some clarity is provided:

The Leasehold Advisory Service states that “if you don’t have the expertise or time to do a fire risk assessment yourself, you should appoint a specialist to do it for you…if you live in a large or complex building it is recommended that you get a professional to carry out the assessment.”

They go on to refer to The National Fire Chiefs Council who state that “No matter who carries out your fire risk assessment, duty holders retain responsibility for ensuring that the assessment fulfils the requirements of the law. If you have duties under Fire Safety law, you are not expected to be an expert in assessing and controlling fire safety risks, but even when employing a contractor to help with an assessment or additional safety measures, reasonable checks should be made to ensure that the contractor is competent to properly undertake the work.”

As well as making it clear that you should feel confident in approaching your local Fire and Rescue Authority for guidance (although it’s worth noting that they can’t carry out assessments or reviews for you), they also provide a handy download from the Fire Risk Assessment Competency Council that outlines a set of criteria which can be used to judge whether or not a person is deemed ‘competent’ in their eyes.

What Does ‘Regular’ Mean?

The law also states that assessments should be reviewed ‘regularly’, but there is no real outline for the regularity required…

Sometimes, your ‘competent person’ may make suggestions re timescales for review within their assessment report but, as a general rule and according to The Leasehold Advisory Service and The Local Government Association, assessments should be reviewed if:

• There is reason to believe the current assessment for the block is no longer valid.
• There have been any significant changes within the block such as major works.

For purpose-built blocks that are less than 20 years old and up to 3 storeys above ground level:

• Re-assessments should be carried out every 2 years if no significant changes have occurred.
• A full re-assessment should be carried out every 4 years if no significant changes have occurred.

Older buildings or with more than 3 storeys:

• Re-assessments should be carried out every year even if no significant changes have occurred.
• A full re-assessment should be carried out every 3 years even if no significant changes have occurred.

For buildings considered extremely high risk, a full re-assessment on an annual basis is advised.

Your New Responsibilities

As mentioned in the introduction, as of the 23rd of January 2023, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 were brought into effect under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order.

1. Updated assessments to include structure, external walls and flat entrance doors:

Section one of the Fire Safety Act amends the Fire Safety Order to clarify that fire risk assessments for all multi-occupied residential buildings should be updated to include structure, external walls and flat entrance doors. These assessments should be updated as soon as is practicable.

• Providing information to residents:

Responsible Persons of multi-occupied residential buildings in England with two or more sets of domestic premises and which have common parts, will also need to provide residents with instructions including:

• How to report a fire.
• A reminder of what the evacuation strategy is for that building.
• Any other instruction that tells residents what they must do once a fire has occurred, based on the building’s evacuation strategy.
• Information on the vital importance of fire doors to a building’s fire safety.

This information should be clearly displayed in the building’s communal areas (such as the lobby or any conspicuous part of the building) as well as being shared directly with residents when they move into the building. This information will need to be updated and provided again (in both the communal area and to residents) when a document is updated and must also be re-provided to residents on an annual basis regardless of any changes.

• Fire door checks:

The new regulations also make it a requirement for Responsible Persons of all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 meters in height to:

• Undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors (including self-closing devices) in the common parts.
• Undertake, on a best endeavour basis, annual checks of all flat entrance doors (including self-closing devices) that lead onto a building’s common parts.

The Responsible Person’s checks should include consideration of:

• Whether there has been any alteration or damage to a door’s glazing apertures or air transfer grille
• If there are any gaps around the door frame and that seals and hinges are fitted correctly
• Whether the door closer shuts the door
• Whether the door closes correctly around the whole frame
• Whether there is no visible damage (either deliberate or from wear and tear) to the door or door closer

The Government notes suggest that “if any issues are identified from these checks, it might be appropriate to undertake more detailed checks of doors (or the self-closing device)…This could include engaging a specialist.”

Flat Living Insurance provides specialist insurance policies for blocks of flats and apartments. For more information or a quote, please contact a member of the Flat Living Insurance team on 0333 577 2044.