Fire Safety England Regulations – who is the guidance for and what does it cover?
Fire Safety England Regulations – who is the guidance for and what does it cover?
The new Fire Safety (England) Regulations came into force on Monday 23 January 2023. Below is a summary of who the guidance is predominantly aimed at, and what it covers.
Who is the guidance for?
The aim of the guidance is to assist individuals and organisations who are “Responsible Persons”. For the purposes of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Responsible Person is defined as either:
- The employer (in the context of the workplace) and caveated to the extent that the premises are under their control, or,
- In the context of other premises:
- The person who has control of the premises (e.g. as occupier) or;
- The owner, where the person in control of the premises does not have control in connection with the carrying on by that person of a trade, business or other undertaking.
Identifying the “Responsible Person” is important as the regulation imposes certain duties on them.
What does the guidance cover?
The duties imposed on the Responsible Person apply to residential buildings but vary depending on height of the building. For example, specific duties apply to high rise buildings.
The duties can be categorised as follows:
- General duties of the Responsible Person
- Duties of the Responsible Person where the building is over 11 meters in height; and
- Duties of the Responsible Person for high rise buildings of over 18 meters in height.
The guidance also clarifies the nature and extent of the duties on the Responsible Person to provide information to residents of the premises, to carry out fire safety checks of fire doors in communal areas and to fire safety equipment, to provide appropriate wayfinding signage and to prepare and maintain appropriate records of the external wall construction and the design of the premises (including floor plans to be made available to the emergency services).
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