FIRE SAFETY PROVISIONS IN EXISTING BUILDINGS

In all properties other than private dwellings it is necessary for a ‘responsible person’ to conduct a fire safety risk assessment and to maintain fire precautions. They will then be required to keep the fire assessment under review and provide information and training to employees.

The responsible person will usually be the employer. However, in a residential or commercial building with common parts it would be a landlord. A person with obligations for maintenance or health and safety will also be a responsible person. So in multi-let buildings there is likely to be more than one responsible person and the owner, tenants and managing agents will have to co-operate.

Enforcement
The fire authority will usually be the enforcing authority, and they will carry out spot checks on premises. They have powers under the Regulations to issue three types of notices:

The onus is on the responsible person to prove that he or she did everything reasonable to comply. Penalties range from a fine of up to £5,000 in the magistrates court to an unlimited fine and up to two years’ imprisonment.

What will be the impact of these new regulations on works controlled under the Building Regulations?
It is a Building Regulation requirement that any alterations to an existing building must not make the fire safety provisions any worse than before. However, the new Regulatory (Fire Safety) Regulations go much further than this. The fire safety provisions in existing building must be formally assessed by the responsible person to determine their adequacy, and alterations will need to be carried out if deemed necessary. it will not be a defence to argue that the situation has not been made worse.

Further information
For further information, please visit the DCLG (formerly ODPM). Fire Safety guides are also available online at the DCLG, click here.