This month (January 2023) will see the introduction of new fire safety regulations that specifically relate to high rise buildings with the aim of improving fire safety within these types of buildings.
The duties in these Regulations supplement those imposed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
These new regulations relate to buildings in England that comprise two or more domestic premises (including the residential parts of mixed-use buildings) including blocks of flats (whether purpose-built or converted from another type of building, such as a house or office building), and blocks used for student accommodation.
What changes to fire safety regulations should we expect?
Common areas of multi-occupied residential buildings, the structure, external walls (including cladding and balconies) and individual flat entrance doors must now be assessed within the fire risk assessment for the property but there are other regulations that will be coming into effect, including:
- ban on the use of combustible materials inside and on the external walls of new blocks of flats
- relevant information about fire doors, particularly residents’ flat entrance doors must be provided to residents
- quarterly checks of all fire doors (including self-closing devices) in the common parts
- annual checks of all flat entrance doors (including self-closing devices) that lead onto a building’s common parts
- all new residential buildings over 11m will now have to include a Secure Information Box that will give fire and rescue services access to important details about a building in the event of a fire
With the introduction of these new regulations, the responsible person will need to ensure that their high rise building is fully compliant. It is vital that if you’re the responsible person, you are aware of the importance of these changes and how to adjust the current state of your buildings according to the law. If there is a lack of compliance in already built structures or ones under development do not comply with the new fire safety regulations, this could result in a heavy fine, prosecution and even imprisonment.
One way of ensuring fire safety compliance is by using fire risk management software.
Our fire safety software
Our fire safety software revolutionises how you complete fire risk assessments, allocate jobs, prioritise and complete actions, especially within buildings with multiple occupancies. The software allows you to keep track of various sites and the actions within those sites, all in one place.
Some of the most beneficial features include:
- An interactive dashboard which provides a global view of your fire risk position and overall view of all fire risk assessment actions & assessments, completed and outstanding
- The interactive floorplan feature which allows the assessor to tag assessment findings to a floorplan, pinpointing the precise location and finding image
- The assessor/auditor dashboard which allows you to see at glance the number of fire risk assessments and audits assigned to each individual and where deadlines for completion are overdue
- The ability to attach evidence of completed works, such as certification or ‘before and after’ pictures
- The creation of bespoke fire risk assessment templates to meet your specific requirements
- Automatic creation of NSI and SSAIB BAFE certificates to save on admin time
We’ve basically created our fire safety software to make the whole process of conducting a fire risk assessment much easier and much more efficient. Our software can assist the Responsible Person in ensuring their building(s) is fully compliant with the new fire safety regulations coming into effect in 2023.
