Fire Safety Regulations are made to provide information, legal requirements, rules in aid of managing the complex safety system. These are often seeing amendments and adaptations as a result of research, incident and inquiry.
In 2022 a set of regulations were introduced under article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in order to apply the number of recommendations made to government in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. This requiring a change in law & enforcement.
Its these regulations that have now made it a legal requirement for responsible persons of high-rise flats to provide constructional & existing fire safety details to Fire & rescue services for aiding effective operation responses.
These regulations also have made it a legal requirement of responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings (High-rise), as well as those above 11 metres in height to provide these vital additional safety measures.
These required details & actions are:
Floor/Constructional plans: Digital up-to-date building floor plan provided to the local Fire & Rescue Service. Hard copy details including key firefighting equipment identified.
External Wall Systems & Materials: Local Fire & Rescue Service informed of the design and materials of the high-rise buildings external wall system. Any changes in materials must be also documented and informed. Information must be provided in relation to the level of risk that the design & materials possess as well as any actions taken to mitigate the issue.
Lifts & other key firefighting equipment: Monthly checks on the operational status of lifts intended for use by firefighters and evacuation lifts in the building. Functionality and usage when it comes to key items of firefighting equipment should also be checked. Any reports of damaged equipment or defective lifts should be reported to the local Fire & Rescue service as soon as possible, if the damage or function cannot be fixed within 24hrs. Outcomes of checks should be made available to residents.
Information boxes: Information boxes should be installed. The contents should include the name and contact details of the responsible person as well as hard copies of the buildings floor plans.
Wayfinding signage: Installation of signage visible from low points or potentially smoky conditions. These must identify flat and floor numbers in stairwells of relevant buildings.
Fire doors: Annual checks of flat entrance doors as well as quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts.
Multi-occupied residential buildings with 2 or more sets of domestic premises, responsible individuals are required to:
Fire Safety instruction for residents: Fire safety instructions should be provided for their residents, which should contain information on how to report a fire and any other instruction that outlines the steps to take if a fire has occurred. This must be based on the evacuation strategy for the given building.
Fire door information: Provide residents with informative instruction relating to the importance of the fire doors within fire safety systems.
So why did additional Fire Door Maintenance regulation demand increase?
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement as from the 23rd of January 2023 for responsible individuals for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with heights over 11 metres, to take some additional measures.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report highlighted that “Fire doors play an essential role in preventing or obstructing the spread of smoke & toxic gasses as well as limiting damage to the effective compartmentation of buildings.” This statement was based on the evidence that the fire doors in the Grenfell Tower did not act the way that they should, unsuccessful in their ability to prevent smoke and gases from spreading.
With this statement highlighting the lack of regularity in fire door checks & their compromised fire resisting capabilities, it was made apparent that new measures needed to be implemented. 23rd of January 2023 saw the enforcement of the following actions from responsible persons of these multi-occupational buildings:
- They must undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors (Including Door Closers & other self-closing devices) in the common parts.
- They must undertake, with the responsible individual to take the best approach, checks of flat entrance doors (Including Door Closers & other self-closing devices) that lead into the building’s common parts. The 'best approach' refers to the ability to communicate & agree a suitable date for the residents so that you are guaranteed access.
These checks must be in depth and documented by a responsible person(s) that is competent in spotting the non-conformances in fire doors.
There are many aspects that the responsible person should consider such as:
Amendments: Ensure that any door replacements are fire resisting as well as all the elements that compose the door.
Apertures: Gaps in the form of glazing & air transfer grilles. Fire stopping & intumescent glazing systems or intumescent air transfer grilles.
Gaps & Seals: Gaps around the door frame should be 3-4mm. No loose screws in hinges. The bottom gap should be no greater than 8mm and if it is a fire & smoke door, the gap should be no more than 3mm.
Door Closer: Door closers should be fully functioning. Should not be hard to pass the smoke seals.
Operation: The whole door assembly should close correctly and easily around all 4 sides.
Visible damage: There is no visible damage, wear & tear.
Regulation 10 in summary:
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement from 23 January 2023 that all responsible persons for multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 meters in height to:
- Carry out quarterly checks of all fire doors (including door closers & self-closing devices) in the common parts.
- Carry out, with the best approach, annual checks on all flat entrance doors (including door closers & self-closing devices) The responsible person should agree a date for the residents to ensure access is guaranteed.
The regulations also have a further requirement that the residents must be provided with information regarding the fire doors & the buildings safety, with this in place residents can both monitor their door as well as take actions towards maintaining the doors fire resisting capability (i.e. not propping open doors, non-compliant actions and amendments to door, reporting damages and the consequences of leaving these un-reported)