Fire safety: new duties for responsible persons come into force
From 23 January 2023, responsible persons will be required to comply with additional responsibilities introduced under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
These new regulations, which specifically relate to England only, are another important step in implementing the recommendations made to the government following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, aiming to save lives and prevent similar disasters occurring.
Most of the requirements set out in the Regulations are imposed on the responsible person (RP). If, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order), you are an RP (or a person who has some responsibilities) on whom the Fire Safety Order imposes various duties in relation to fire safety in a residential building, such as a block of flats or student accommodation, you will have responsibilities under the Regulations. The Regulations require RPs in multi-occupied residential buildings to take specific actions, depending on the height of the building – some provisions apply regardless of height, more are needed once a building reaches 11 metres, and further requirements are introduced when a building reaches 18 metres (or seven storeys) or more.
The Fire Safety Order applies to all premises, including workplaces and the common parts of all multi-occupied residential buildings. It already requires responsible persons where necessary to take certain steps to ensure the safety of residents.
Who is the responsible person?
The RP is the person who is responsible for the safety of themselves and others who use a regulated premises. This is normally a building owner, or in residential properties, any other person in control of the premises.
The RP is the person on whom most of the duties set out in the Fire Safety Order are imposed. As the term ‘responsible person’ has a legal definition, it is not open to building owners, enforcing authorities or others to choose to ‘make’ someone the responsible person, nor can the responsibility for compliance with either the Fire Safety Order or the Fire Safety (England) Regulations be delegated to others (though the responsible person will normally need to engage other parties, such as contractors, to assist them in compliance).
Under certain circumstances, duties can also fall on individuals other than the responsible person if any of the requirements of the Fire Safety Order relate to matters within their control. In such circumstances, the responsible person will still also retain their duties under the Fire Safety Order. For all practical purposes, in the case of a block of flats, the responsible person will be the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a business. This will, typically, be the freeholder or the managing agents for the block, or, for example, a residents’ management company. If any part of the building is a workplace, the employer of persons employed to work in that workplace will be a responsible person.
New duties
Under the new Regulations, in high-rise residential buildings, responsible persons have several new duties as of 23 January. They include:
- To provide their local Fire and Rescue Service with up-to-date electronic building floor plans and to 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.
- To provide to their local Fire and Rescue Service information about the design and materials of a high-rise building’s external wall system and to inform the Fire and Rescue Service of any material changes to these walls. They will also be required to provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure gives rise to and any mitigating steps taken.
- To 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, and to record the outcome of checks and make them available to residents.
- To 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.
- To install wayfinding signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identifies flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.
These new duties are explained in more detail in International Workplace’s guide to the regulations, Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 – a responsible person’s guide, which details which duties apply according to the height of the building.
The guide, available to download now, also addresses when and to which buildings the Regulations apply.
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