ECA and FSA welcome new Fire Safety Regulations

ECA and the Fire and Security Association (FSA) have welcomed the new Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

ECA Technical Director, Mike Smith says, “Although it has taken some time since the tragic fire at Grenfell in 2017 to introduce new legislation and guidance, relating to fire safety in residential buildings, ECA and FSA welcome the introduction of these new regulations and supporting guidance.

“These provide much-needed detail and impose duties on responsible persons for buildings which have two or more sets of domestic premises, and contain common parts through which residents would need to evacuate. We are also pleased to see more stringent requirements for buildings over 11m in height and high rise buildings.”

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require responsible persons for high rise residential buildings to:

• Provide local fire services with up-to-date electronic floor plans and to put a hard copy in a secure information box on site.
• Provide local fire services information about the design and materials of the building’s external wall system, and to inform them of changes to these materials.
• Provide information about the level of risk the external wall structure gives rise to, and mitigating steps taken.
• Undertake monthly checks on the operation of lifts and the functionality of other pieces of firefighting equipment, informing the fire service of faults as soon as possible if it cannot be fixed within 24 hours – the outcome of checks should be made available to residents.
• Install and maintain a secure information box containing the name and contact details of the responsible person.
• Install way-finding signage visible in low light or smoky conditions identifying flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.

In residential buildings with storeys over 11m in height, responsible persons will be required to:

• Undertake annual checks of flat entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts.

In all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, responsible persons will be required to:

• Provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents, including instructions on how to report a fire what to do once a fire has occurred, based on the evacuation strategy for the building.
• Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.