Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
Regulations
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023.
The Regulations that apply to England only have been introduced under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order).
These Regulations seek to improve fire safety of high-rise residential buildings by implementing most of the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in its Phase 1 report.
These Regulations apply in England and require that the Responsible Person of a multi-occupied residential building take specific action depending on the height of the building.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
The new regulations under article 24 are an important step forward in the implementation of the recommendations made in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report which require a change in the law.
Buildings affected by the regulations
The regulations under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) apply to the following buildings in England.
- High-rise residential buildings
- Residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height
- All multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises
Any building containing two or more sets of domestic premises, e.g., a block of flats. This is likely to include approximately 1.7m residential properties in England and Wales.
The FSA commenced on 16 May 2022. This means that RPs should now (if they have not already done so) consider when to review their fire risk assessments, to ensure these take account of any risk from the external wall. It is important that RPs are directed to, and consider the more detailed guidance from the Home Office about when and how to go about this.
A new Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool has been made available. The prioritisation tool is an online tool designed to support Responsible Persons to develop a prioritisation strategy for updating their fire risk assessments, following commencement. The prioritisation tool can be accessed within The Fire Safety Act commencement guidance, available here.
Responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings which are above 11 metres in height, and in high-rise buildings need to provide additional safety measures.
In residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height, responsible persons are required to:
- Undertake annual checks of flat entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts
Responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises including high-rise residential buildings are required to:
- Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety
- Provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instruction which sets out what a resident must do once a fire has occurred, based on the evacuation strategy for the building
