Industry Viewfinder: Revisiting the approach to Fire Safety in Social Housing INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER
Revisiting the approach to Fire Safety in Social Housing
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fire Safety is the highest priority in social housing, and housing fires are preventable more oſten than not. Despite this, fires in UK housing are no thing of the past – with the Grenfell Tower fire affecting the national consciousness perhaps more than any other. Housing associations and private landlords have a legal – and moral –
obligation to ensure that every resident is safe, and there has been a push in the last decade to reassess the safety of their stock, and complete vital building safety works such as cladding remediation, fire compartmentation, sprinklers and fire doors. Despite this, in 2021, four years aſter the Grenfell Tower Fire, Housing
Management & Maintenance discovered a range of potentially lethal shortcomings in fire safety were a constant issue. One in five (22%) of failed fire risk assessments took three months to a year to be addressed, and 16% of our respondents had been in a position where it would be uncomfortable to report fire safety issues or malpractice to a superior or relevant authority. Since that study, policy and reviews have progressed. Two years aſter our last
study, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has revealed widespread failings across over 1,600 witness statements and more than 300 public hearings, and the Fire Safety
Regulations 2022 – realising some of the measures from the Hackitt Review into the fire – has introduced new duties under the Fire Safety Order for building owners or managers. Now, in 2023, Housing Management & Maintenance conducts a further
study to see if the industry has made progress in the last two years, if fire safety measures have improved, if housing professionals feel equipped to carry out the standards required, and if not, what is preventing them from doing so. In this study, Housing Management & Maintenance reveals that, while
there has been some improvement – with the average frequency of fire risk assessments being conducted almost tripling – there were still over one in 10 respondents who only conducted them every two years or more, and 4% who never do, almost a quarter (23%) who only partially, slightly or don’t at all understand fire safety regulations, 14% – down just 3% from the last study – who have been, or are currently in, a position where it would be uncomfortable to report fire safety issues, and a fiſth of respondents reported that 10-100% of their housing still has unsafe cladding installed. Compounded by at least 7%, and up to 27%, of respondents yet to take
action on measures applicable to their properties in recent legislation, Housing Management & Maintenance provides data that help explain such failings among the still too high minority.
“It has been reported that many housing professionals at some point in their career have been put in a position where it would be uncomfortable to report fire safety issues or malpractice to a superior or relevant authority, or that their voices would not be heard in the matter. Which of the following options best suits your experience of this?”
24 | HMMAugust/September 2023 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
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