Fire Safety Regulations 2022 and High-Rise premises

Additional fire safety regulation in multi-occupied residential premises including high-rise flats

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 commence on 23 January 2023, introducing additional requirements for responsible persons of multi-occupied residential buildings, particularly in high-rise buildings.

Does it apply to me?

The Regulations apply to all buildings in England that comprise two or more domestic premises, but the exact requirements will depend on the height of your building.
A detailed breakdown of your fire safety responsibilities under these Regulations can be found in the Home Office’s guidance document below:

• Check your fire safety responsibilities under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

What do I need to do?

This will depend to some extent on the height of your building, but will include:

Provide residents with fire safety information

You will need to display fire safety information in a conspicuous part of the building, covering the building’s evacuation strategy, instructions on how to report a fire and any other relevant emergency instruction. This information, along with information relating to the appropriate use of fire doors, must also be provided directly to new residents when they move in and be reissued every 12 months, or in the event of any material changes.

If your building is at least 11m in height you will also need to:

Carry out fire door checks

• Every 3 months checks of the fire doors in communal areas of the building should be carried out and recorded.
• Every 12 months checks of the fire doors at the entrances to individual domestic premises should be carried out and recorded.

If your building is at least 18m, or seven storeys in height you must do all of the above, and also include the below:

Additional and more detailed guidance is available from the following link: Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: Fire door guidance – GOV.UK

Prepare records relating to the design of the external wall system

You will need to prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building, including details of the materials from which they are constructed. You must provide this record to us by electronic means, see the section on sharing information below.

Provide a secure information box

You will need to ensure that a secure information box is provided to ensure that relevant information is readily available and accessible to the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS).

Good practice guidance can be found in the Code of Practice on the provision of Premises Information Boxes (PICs) in Residential Buildings.

Prepare a plan for each floor of the building

In order to facilitate effective firefighting operations you will need to ensure that plans of the building are available in an emergency.

Carry out monthly checks of essential firefighting equipment

You must undertake monthly routine checks of all lifts that are intended for use by firefighters or for the evacuation of disabled people in the event of a fire.

You must also undertake monthly checks of any rising mains; smoke control systems; fire suppression systems; fire alarms; evacuation alert systems, and; automatic door opening or closing systems.

Provide clear wayfinding signage

You will need to ensure that clear signage is provided to assist fire and rescue service crews with orientation in the event of a fire.

Guidance on the provision of these signs can be found in the Approved Document B, Volume 1 of the Building Regulations, 15.13.

How to submit your information / Sharing Information

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service are using Building Passport’s free Information Exchange platform to streamline and simplify our data collection in line with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. It could save the owners and responsible persons for the premises from having to deal with a number of back-and-forth emails and avoids manual tasks such as inputting data into spreadsheets, concerns regarding email file sizes and shifting files between drop-boxes. Our dedicated information sharing website page is now live. https://info-exchange.buildingpassport.com/login

Alternatively, to assist you in submitting your building’s information, we have developed an easy-to-use online Microsoft Form to complete.

Persons responsible for buildings of at least 18m or 7 storeys are required to share the following information with their local FRS:

• Details of the construction of the external walls
• Floor and building plans
• Information on known faults with key firefighting equipment

This can be shared with us by filling out the appropriate form(s) (see below) and emailing them to fireprotection@northantsfire.gov.uk

• External wall information
• Fault reporting
• Fault rectification reporting

If you are unable to use the provided templates, please contact Fire Protection in order to discuss how best to proceed.