Why is the legislation changing?

The Building Safety Act 2022 (Section 156 in particular) amends the Fire Safety Order to place enhanced duties on Responsible Persons to ensure a greater control over fire safety in applicable buildings. This not only covers a requirement to have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (FRA) carried out by a competent assessor, but also the recording of the assessment's findings, its required actions and the information that must be passed on to persons using that building - e.g., workers, volunteers, residents, Accountable Persons and future Responisble Persons.

Recording your fire risk assessment (FRA)

Previously, it was typically only situations in which there were 5 employees or more that required a recorded FRA - this is no longer the case. Any premises that comes under the Fire Safety Order MUST have a recorded FRA, regardless of the number of employees, its size, its operations, etc.

If you employ or contract someone to carry out your FRA you must record their details and the company they work for (if applicable) to ensure enforcement authorities can identify those individuals.

Which buildings does this apply to?

These requirements apply to:

• • ALL non-domestic premises (workplaces and where people visit or stay)

  • Non-domestic parts of multi-occupied residential buildings (communal corridors, stairways, plant rooms)

The requirements do not apply within an individual domestic premises.

Am I a Responsible Person?

There are different ways of catergorising a Responsible Person for a workplace under the following:

You are the employer and the workplace is to any extent under your control, for example:

• you run the company

• it is a family-owned business

• you are self-employed

You may be the Responsible Person if:

1. You are not the employer but have some degree of control over the premises (where there isn’t a traditional employer / employee relationship or where volunteers are involved), for example:

• village hall

• scout hut

• charity shop

• place of worship

2. You own a commercial premises and it is not legally under someone else’s control, for example it is derelict.

There are different ways of catergorising a Responsible Person for a residential premises under the following:

• you own the building (only in relation to the non-domestic parts)

• you have control over the premises

Recording your fire risk assessment and other information

You must now record the FRA in full, including all the findings and the fire safety arrangements for your premises in all circumstances. You should make available as much information as possible about fire safety in your premises.

Cooperation and coordination between Responsible Persons

It is important that you work with other Repsonsible Persons in the premises to help facilitate a cohesive approach to fire safety throughout the entire building.

Cooperation with Accountable Persons

Under the Building Safety Act 2022 you must identify the Accountable Person nominated in higher risk residential buildings that are at least 18m or 7 storeys in height, with 2 or more residential units. You will then need to cooperate with them to enable them to perform their duties as required, for example, sharing your FRA.

Provision of information to new Responsible Persons

This new duty ensures that all relevant fire safety information is shared with incoming Responsible Persons to provide a continual record of fire safety information throughout a building's lifetime. This can include scenarios where you cease trading, sell your business or freehold, or if you are taken over by a new Repsonsible Person.

Provision of information to residents

People should feel safe where they live and alongside the requirements of the Fire Safety (England) Regulation 2022 the duty to provide information to your residents (if applicable) has been enhanced.

Further information

The information above has been extracted from Government guidance. The full guidance is available here.