The New Fire Safety Guidance that UK Commercial Property Owners Need to Know
On October 1 2023, new fire safety guidance will come into force in the UK, with the aim of making homes and businesses that are regulated by the ‘Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005’ – or ‘FSO’ – safer for those using them.
The FSO is the UK government’s leading piece of legislation that defines the fire safety requirements for buildings in England and Wales. It applies to all workplaces and any common areas within buildings that have two or more domestic premises.
What’s more, it puts legal responsibilities and duties on what it calls a designated ‘Responsible Person (RP)’ – either within a business, or a landlord – to carry out fire risk assessments and stick to any new or old guidance.
This latest update was initially announced at the end of March 2023 and is another example of how RPs across all sectors should be striving to stay on top of the newest developments in this important legal and regulatory area.
The new guidance: in focus
The newest guidance is in fact a third Phase of FSO amendments and reforms from the Home Office. The first came as a reworking of the ‘Fire Safety Act 2021’, Phase 2 was an update to the ‘Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022’ in January this year, and the official line from the UK government is that these latest reforms (as Phase 3) will further ‘strengthen fire safety in all FSO regulated premises’.
This will be done by:
- improving cooperation and coordination between Responsible Persons (RPs).
- increasing requirements in relation to the recording and sharing of fire safety information thus creating a continual record throughout a building’s lifespan.
- making it easier for enforcement authorities to take action against non-compliance.
- ensuring residents have access to comprehensive information about fire safety in their building.
As of May 2023, the government has yet to enforce these new requirements and has promised to roll out more guidance, support and information for RPs to use ‘in the coming months.
Homes and businesses must stay compliant
To return to a key point, it is hugely important for those responsible for fire safety to keep on top of developments such as these recent new Phases, but equally to ensure that how they’re managing this meets the existing criteria. Whether it’s simply having the right fire safety equipment for homes and businesses in place, knowing which team member indeed has a responsibility in this area or simply rolling out an effective fire risk assessment, nothing should be overlooked.
As such, if you are a business and/or rental property owner with concerns about any of this, a smart move might be to look to hiring an expert third-party to cover this area, or to at least provide insights and guidance about the best approaches and steps to take to achieve complete fire safety.
