Briefing update
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduce new duties under the Fire Safety Order for building owners or managers.
It is expected that these new regulations will come into force in late January 2023. As with any new regulations coming into force, it will take time to fully understand and implement.
This is the first Ligtas update for the new regulations. To ensure that you remain up to date, please sign up for our newsletter below.
Update for responsible persons
In high-rise residential buildings, responsible persons will be required to:
Building Plans:
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.
External Wall Systems:
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. Also, they will be required to provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure give rise to and any mitigating steps that are taken.
Lifts and other Key Fire-Fighting Equipment:
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.
Information Boxes:
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.
Wayfinding Signage:
to install signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identify flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.
Residential buildings
In residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height, responsible persons will be required to:
Fire Doors:
undertake annual checks of flat entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts.
Multi-occupied residential buildings
In all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, responsible persons will be required to:
Fire Safety Instructions:
provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instructions which set out what a resident must do once a fire has occurred based on the evacuation strategy for the building.
Fire Door Information:
provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.
NOTE - The regulations are not intended to capture maisonettes, where two flats exist within a converted house and there are no “common parts” through which an individual would evacuate in the event of a fire.
Links to detailed info: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022
