Fire Safety
Latest
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Latest issue of the Home Office’s fire safety reform programme bulletin (published 22nd February 2024), which is for anyone
who is interested in keeping updated on any changes to fire safety legislation and
guidance.- Fire Safety
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The joint Fire Industry Association (FIA), Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), Facade Special Interest Group (SIG), has released this comprehensive document to provide guidance on 'proportionality and risk when carrying out FRAEWs to PAS 9980'.
In line with PAS 9980 recommendations, this paper addresses crucial aspects of risk acceptability and proportionality of remedial measures, offering insights into the decision-making process regarding remedial actions.
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With their ability to enable more people of all ages and abilities to cycle, or to cycle further, e-cycles are an important element of the government’s ambition for active travel to make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of the transport sector.
While most e-cycles are very safe, as with all products using lithium batteries, there is a risk of fire, particularly for counterfeit, damaged or poorly modified e-cycles and batteries, or when the incorrect charger is used.
Lithium battery fires can be particularly dangerous and hard to extinguish. The new guidance, applicable to England, Scotland and Wales, published on 1st February by the Department of Transport, is aimed at helping limit the risk of fire.
Access the gudiance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/battery-safety-for-e-cycle-users/battery-safety-for-e-cycle-users
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Ensuring that tenants live in good quality, safe homes is a fundamental responsibility of all social housing landlords (landlords). As part of meeting that responsibility, building safety remains a key priority, including ensuring that tenants living in multi-occupied, medium and high-rise buildings are safe from fire safety risks.
In August 2023, private registered providers (PRPs) and local authority registered providers (LARPs) were asked to submit data to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) and the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on the fire safety remediation of 11 metre plus buildings that they were responsible for.
On 16 November 2023, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning outlined in Parliament, in a Building Safety Update, that landlords will be expected to provide quarterly updates on progress on Fire Safety Remediation for all 11 metre plus buildings. A second survey of providers commenced in December 2023.
The survey is to help provide an overview of whether landlords:
- are meeting their obligations under the Fire Safety (Regulatory) Order 2005 for assessing fire safety risks associated with the relevant parts of those buildings;
- understand any risks they identify and how they should be addressed, particularly in relation to external wall systems (EWS) and;
- have plans in place to remediate buildings they have identified as having life critical fire safety risks in a timely manner.
It is for boards and councillors to understand landlords’ legal obligations in relation to managing the safety of buildings and seek assurance that they are being met, and that any identified risks are being well managed and promptly remedied. Ensuring organisations have robust systems and processes, underpinned by accurate and up to date data on fire safety and its management, is a key aspect of ensuring that tenants are safe in their homes.
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On 19 February, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published a statement on the government’s long-term plan for housing.
The statement included an update on BSR’s plans to publish the new guidance on second staircases:
"The Building Safety Regulator will publish the new guidance on second staircases before the end of March, making clear the need for a second staircase in new multi-occupancy residential buildings that have a top occupied storey above 18 metres, and confirming that evacuation lifts will not be called for as a matter of course, providing housebuilders with the clarity they need to progress developments
The revised statutory guidance, known as Approved Document B, represents general guidance: it will not be exhaustive, and the design of each high-rise building will continue to receive individual scrutiny from experts, now via the Building Safety Regulator. The fire safety design for any higher risk buildings above 18 metres will be subject to review at Planning Gateway One by fire safety professionals, and by a multi-disciplinary team at Gateway Two, who must be satisfied that the final fire safety provisions are appropriate to the requirements of each individual building."