As of 23rd January 2023, there are new fire safety regulations for certain buildings. How many of these new rules apply to you will depend on the type of building you own, manage, or occupy.
As some – if not all – of these new regulations are likely to impact you, here’s what you need to know to reduce your fire hazards and legal risks…
The new regulations will apply to all buildings in England that have people living in them. This includes:
Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, all residential buildings must now:
You’ll need to include an evacuation plan and outline how they can report a fire.
You’ll need to explain to occupiers how and why fire doors are necessary to keep them safe.
The higher the building, the greater the responsibilities.
If you own or manage a residential building that’s over 11 metres high, you must also carry out regular fire door checks. This means checking flat entrance fire doors once a year and checking communal fire doors every quarter.
And if your building is over 18 metres high, you will need to:
These boxes should contain the contact details of your responsible fire safety person.
This includes your building plans, the design and materials of your external walls, and fire equipment.
Make sure all information about the design and materials is up to date.
If there are any defects, you should report this to the fire & rescue service if you can’t fix them within 24 hours.
You should make sure your building has clear markings of floor and flat (if applicable) numbers throughout. This is to make floors and exit routes easy to find and identify in low light and/or smoke.
Your building should have a ‘responsible person’ nominated for fire safety.
This might be the owner of the building, employers, or people with control of the premises. If you don’t already have a responsible person for your building, you’ll need to nominate one.
Fire safety is a big responsibility for a person. That’s why so many businesses nominate Peninsula to do it.
And time is of the essence now the regulations are in effect. You may need to amend your fire assessments to make sure they reflect the new rules. And you’ll need to update the fire safety documents you send out to occupiers.
To save you the time and stress of doing a fire risk assessment yourself, Peninsula can do it for you.
Just tell us a time that works for you and health & safety experts will come in person to guide you through essential safety practices. They’ll help you to reduce and eliminate hazards in your building.
The law’s already changed, so don’t delay. Give us a call on 0800 158 2312 to tackle your fire risks now.
Gavin Scarr Hall, Director of Health and Safety
(Last updated )
Gavin Scarr Hall, Director of Health and Safety
(Last updated )
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