Fire safety legislation

The RRO applies to almost all buildings, places and structures other than individual dwellings – namely, family homes and individual flats in a block; the shared common areas in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), blocks of flats and maisonettes are covered by the RRO.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 (FSA) received Royal Assent a year before the BSA. It clarified that, where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises, the RRO applies to:

• the building’s structure and external walls (including windows, balconies, cladding, insulation and fixings) and any common parts; and
• all doors between the domestic premises and common parts such as flat entrance doors (or any other relevant door).

The consolidation of fire safety laws together with the more recent legislative changes (see our briefings on the FSA and Fire Safety (England) Regulations) were very welcome developments in the evolution of fire safety in England. Government statistics published earlier this year (see here), for the year ending September 2022, inform us that fire and rescue services in England attended 16% more incidents compared with the previous 12 month period. The increase can, in part, be attributed to last year’s hot summer. However, with UK summers becoming warmer, the issue is one that will need careful management.

Dutyholders

The RRO requires a ‘responsible person’ (RP) to provide and maintain satisfactory fire precautions. Article 3 of the RRO explains the meaning of the RP; where the premises is not a workplace, the RP is the occupier or owner of the premises. It is the job of the RP to make sure that certain duties are carried out, and that action is taken to both prevent fires and prevent injury or death if a fire actually occurs.

The BSA has created two new dutyholders whose roles relate to the ‘in-occupation’ phase of a high-rise building (HRB) in England – the ‘accountable person’ (AP) and ‘principal accountable person' (PAP). The AP is likely to be the person with an obligation to repair any parts of the common parts of the building, typically the landlord, but possibly a management company. Those who own or are responsible for managing an HRB will need to appoint a PAP.

For more information on the duties of APs and the PAP, see our recent briefings The new framework for HRBs takes shape, HRBs: new duties concerning building information and Act Now: Registration of Higher Risk Buildings.

The policymakers and regulators

Getting to grips with new regulatory requirements involves not just understanding the law but also how to implement it in day-to-day situations, and this is where official guidance is invaluable.

BSA policy is developed the by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whilst fire safety falls within the remit of the Home Office. Fire safety in the workplace is also governed by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Work & Pensions. It is important to grasp how government guidance fits together and how it dovetails with industry and sector guidance.

As far as enforcing authorities are concerned, local fire and rescue authorities remain the primary enforcing body for the RRO, and the enforcing body in relation to non-occupied buildings on construction sites will be the HSE.