High rise fire safety in Scotland

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation exercise to gather information and views on proposed actions to strengthen fire safety for people who live in high rise buildings.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 the Scottish Government began a review of the fire safety regime for high rise domestic buildings in Scotland. A report was published in December 2018 which made six recommendations covering the following areas:

• Introducing specific guidance aimed at all residents of high rise domestic buildings
• Introducing guidance on fire safety in purpose built blocks of flats
• Introducing specific fire risk assessment guidance
• A position on the storage, removal and enforced prohibition of combustible materials in common areas
• A fire safety campaign related to common areas
• Introducing guidance on fire safety in specialised housing

The consultation documents include the proposed fire safety guidance for existing high rise domestic buildings covering various aspects of risk management including;

• Assessing the risk to persons
• Preventing fires
• Physical fire safety measures and
• Ongoing control

Also included are an example fire action notice, example fire safety advice for residents and a fire risk assessment template

You can view the proposed guidance and respond to the consultation via the Scottish Government’s website at: https://consult.gov.scot/fire-and-rescue/fire-safety-consultation-2019/

Please speak to your normal PIB Risk management contact or get in touch using [email protected]  if you have any questions about fire safety or would like to arrange a fire risk assessment for your premises.