The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have made amendments to the Fire Safety Order. The amendments place additional responsibilities on those responsible for buildings made up of two or more domestic premises.
They require information to be sent to the local fire and rescue service. This information can help with operational tactical plans should a fire or other emergency break out in the building.
The regulations include additional and more specific requirements for those responsible for high-rise residential buildings.
The Responsible Person could be:
- A landlord
- A management company
- An owner or
- Anyone who has control, or a degree of control, over the communal areas or outer shell of a building
Under the new regulations, which come into effect on 23 January 2023, the designated Responsible Person needs to be aware of what they must do at the building to comply. This will depend on the height of the building.
What do Responsible Persons need to do?
Hopefully you will have the points relevant to your building already covered, but please read through the summary below to check and make sure!
Consider if your current arrangements comply with all the new Regulations, and if they fall short in any areas consider taking steps to bring them up to the level required.
What you need to do next is to prepare and share the additional information required, with us, through the relevant online form/s:
The information must be shared with us.
Do you have these points covered?
Any multi-occupied residential building:
If you are the Responsible Person for a multi-occupied, residential building, of two or more sets of domestic premises, the Regulations require you to:
- Provide fire safety instructions: You must provide relevant fire safety instructions to your residents on how to report a fire and what they must do once a fire has occurred – you may find this: Home Office fact sheet: Information to Residents helps!
- Provide information on fire doors: You must provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors as a fire safety measure. You may find: Fire Door Campaign helpful.
Multi-occupied residential buildings over 11m in height:
As well as the above points, there are also some additional provisions that apply if you are the Responsible Person for a multi-occupied residential building over 11m in height:
Fire door checks:
- You must undertake best endeavours to carry out annual checks of entrance doors to each flat/domestic residence.
- You must undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common area.
You may find this Home Office Fact sheet: Fire Doors (regulation 10) helpful.
High-rise residential buildings (more than 18m tall, or seven-storeys or more):
If you are the Responsible Person for a residential building more than 18m tall, there are several additional provisions which apply to you – this may be helpful Home Office fact sheet: Regulations Overview.
Building plans
You must provide us with up-to-date floor plans of the building by electronic means.
You may find: Home Office fact sheet: Floor Plans and Building Plan (regulation 6) useful.
Plans should be emailed to the Protection Team (ideally in PDF form):
You must also place a hard copy of these plans, as well as a single page building plan which identifies key firefighting equipment, in a secure information box on site.
External wall systems:
You must provide us with information about the design and materials of the high-rise building’s external wall system and let us know of any material changes to these walls.
You are also required to provide information on the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure gives rise to, and any mitigating steps taken.
Please use this form to share the information with us.
You may find: Home Office fact sheet: Design and Materials of External Walls (regulation 5) useful.
Lifts and other key firefighting equipment:
You must undertake monthly checks on
- The operation of lifts intended for use by firefighters
- Evacuation lifts in your building
- The functionality of other key pieces of firefighting equipment
You must record the outcome of your checks and make them available to residents.
If a fault is identified in a lift or piece of firefighting equipment, and cannot be fixed within 24 hours, you are required to report the defect to us as soon as possible after detection.
Once fixed you must let us know as soon as possible.
You may find: Home Office fact sheet: Lifts and Essential Fire-fighting Equipment (regulation 7) useful.
- Please use this form to share the fault information with us.
- Please use this form to share the repair information with us.
Secure information boxes:
You must install and maintain a secure information box in your building.
This box must contain the name and contact details of the responsible person and hard copies of the building floor plans.
You may find: Home Office fact sheet: Secure Information Box (regulation 4) useful.
Wayfinding signage:
You must install signage which identifies flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings, and can be seen in low light or smoky conditions.
You may find: Home Office fact sheet: Wayfinding Signage (regulation 8) useful.
Where can I obtain more information?
If you are a Responsible Person, and would like more information on what the Regulations mean to you, our Protection Team can help.
Our team of officers who work across Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes can offer advice on steps you can take to ensure your building meets the standards required under the new Regulations.
They can be contacted by email at: firesafetyenquiries@bucksfire.gov.uk
