Fire Safety Regulations to Come into Force 1st October 2023

As part of the third phase of the Home Office’s fire safety reform programme a series of new fire safety guidance and regulations will come into force in England on the 1^st of October 2023.

The new regulations follow the first two phases which were the Fire Safety Act 2021 (phase 1) and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (phase 2). This set of regulations will make amendments to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order 2005) and will come in the form of section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 and will affect all buildings regulated by the Act.

Generally phase 3 will strengthen fire safety by:

• Improving cooperation and coordination between Responsible Persons.
• Increasing requirements regarding recording and sharing of fire safety information, creating a complete and continuous record for the lifespan of a specific buildings.
• Ensuring that enforcement authorities are able to take action against non-compliance.
• Providing residents of buildings with access to information about the fire safety in their buildings

The government intends to support Responsible Persons by publishing further guidance.

The Home Office highlights that currently they are not commencing a requirement for Responsible Persons to ensure that anyone they appoint to do a fire risk assessment is competent.

If you have any questions or would like support with managing issues at your workplace, please speak to your usual contact or get in touch using the form below.