Fire Safety Legislation Update!

In wake of the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, the fire safety industry has undone a huge legislative transformation, with various campaigns for change being successful. While the use and maintenance of cladding have been a primary focus, we have seen various other updates rolled out across the industry.

But, with the Covid-19 outbreak putting a hold of pretty much everything, announcements of these new rules and regulations for 2020/2021 have been delayed…until now that is!

According to the UK Government, the Phase 2 Hearing of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is now underway again. In October 2019, a report of findings of Phase 1 was published. Since then, two significant pieces of legislation have followed. These are The Fire Safety Bill, which responds to the Public Inquiry Phase 1 report by clarifying the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; and the Building Safety Bill, which responds to the Hackitt review of Building Regulations and fire safety.

The Fire Safety Bill

The Fire Safety Bill came about in 2020. This piece of legislation was created by the Home Office with the aim to improve fire safety standards across England and Wales.

The Fire Safety Bill will see an amendment made to the Fire Safety Order 2005. This will clarify that the ‘responsible person’ or ‘duty-holder’ for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for:
The structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows
Entrance doors to individual flats that lead into common areas.
According to authorities, this objective to empower fire and rescue services to take legal action and hold building owners to account if they are not compliant.

The Building Safety Bill

Another noteworthy update to fire safety legislation was the Building Safety Bill. This was created in response to the Grenfell disaster. The Bill outlines new regulatory regimes for building safety and construction products used to create buildings.
At the centre of this bill is the introduction of the statutory role of ‘Building Safety Manager’. This individual will be responsible for managing fire and structural safety in a building and liaise with residents to ensure all fire safety issues are addressed and can be effectively communicated with all relevant parties.

Twenty4 Fire and Security

Here at Twenty4 Fire and Security, we ensure we are always abreast the latest regulatory changes, making sure we are providing the most advanced fire safety services, solutions and products in line with government expectations. If you are looking for a fire safety partner for your business, contact us and today and we can discuss any of our products and services. These include: