P27-28 Fire & CO Alarms:Layout 1 23/06/2021 18:01 Page 27 Fire & COAlarms
Fire Safety Bill becomes law
Neil Baldwin, managing director of ESP, leading supplier of fire protection products through the electrical wholesale channel, takes a look at the Fire Safety Bill, which has recently passed through the parliamentary process to become law.
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n March 2020, the Home Office introduced the new Fire Safety Bill, in an effort to improve fire safety in buildings
in England and Wales. The Bill is part of a series of changes to fire safety and building safety the Government has taken following the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The Bill passed through the parliamentary process to become law on 29 April 2021 to become the Fire Safety Act 2021.
Current fire safety legislation The Fire Safety Act amends the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which brought together different pieces of fire legislation. The Fire Safety Order 2005 applied to all non- domestic premises, including communal areas of residential buildings with multiple homes. It designated those in control of premises as the responsible person for fire safety and they have a duty to undertake assessments and manage risks. The Order is enforced by Fire and Rescue Authorities.
ewnews.co.uk
What is the Fire Safety Act 2021? Set to amend the Fire Safety Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021 has been designed to “ensure that people feel safe in their homes, and a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower fire never happens again” in England. The Home Office has set out clarification as to who is accountable for reducing the risk of fires – the duty-holder/building owner for multi- occupied, residential buildings. They must manage the risk of fire for:
l The structure and external walls of the building (e.g., cladding, balconies and windows)
l Entrance doors to individual flats that open into communal areas
The fire risk assessment for a building/premises
will therefore be required to cover both of these two areas. At a Barbour EHS webinar in March, Matthew Canham from the National Fire Chiefs Council highlighted the Bill is likely to affect
around 1.7m residential properties in England and Wales, with a significant impact on workload for fire risk assessors needing access to balconies, doors etc., as well as the overall construction/refurbishment processes.
In summary, the Fire Safety Act: l Amends the Fire Safety Order 2005 to
require all Responsible Persons to assess, manage and reduce the fire risks posed by the structure and external walls of the buildings for which they are responsible (including cladding, balconies and windows) and individual doors opening onto common parts of the building.
l Applies to all multi-occupied residential buildings and is not dependent on the height of the building; and
l Allows the Fire and Rescue Service to enforce against non–compliance in relation to the external walls and the individual doors opening onto the common parts of the premises.
lContinued over July 2021 electrical wholesaler | 27
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