Compliance with fire safety regulations, including passive fire protection (PFP), is a legal requirement for commercial building owners, managers, letting companies, and any “responsible person” the legislation views as having control of the building.
But achieving compliance can be a challenge, as that legislation is complex.
This is why we have developed a clear, five-step plan, below, to set out the fundamental requirements of compliance, and how to go about attaining it.
Step 1: develop a fire exit strategy
An overall fire exit strategy is required for every commercial building to be compliant. But what does “fire exit strategy” mean?
The Order gives some insight into this. Under Article 14, it states that “routes to emergency exits from premises and the exits themselves are kept clear at all times”, and that “emergency routes and exits must lead as directly as possible to a place of safety”.
Fire exit doors, illuminated signage, and emergency lighting are also in scope.
The fire exit strategy is therefore basically the plan of how and where in the building these elements will work with each other to ensure that a seamless “means of escape” is available from every part of the building, and to every occupant.
Clearly, the more routes, doors, departments, corridors, and occupants a building has, the more involved this strategy becomes. In practice it’s often not feasible or cost-effective for the responsible person to tackle it themselves, and so help must be sought.
Step 2: get a fire risk assessment
Once the fire exit strategy has been defined, a fire risk assessment is the next step.
This is a thorough inspection of the building to ensure the fire exit strategy is correct for that building and its occupancy, and to assess any potential non-compliance and areas for improvement.
The legislation defines the key requirements of a fire risk assessment as:
- Identify fire hazards
- Identify assets or people at risk
- Evaluate, remove or reduce the identified risks
- Record your findings, create an emergency plan, and provide suitable training
- Review and update the fire risk assessment regularly
Point 3 is critical here, as it covers not just active fire protection and suppression systems, but PFP – the fire-resistant compartmentation and separation that must be built into the building’s walls, partitions, ceilings, and other structures, to prevent or slow the spread of fire and toxic gases.
Equally, point 5 is not to be overlooked: fire protection assessments are not a one-off exercise and are notpermanently valid. They must be carried out regularly, and, where issues are found, should be supplemented by a more detailed fire protection survey.
Step 3: carry out remedial works
Based on the findings of the fire risk assessment and fire protection survey, remedial work must then be carried out if necessary.
Typically, PFP is a key focus for these works, including compartmentation, the fitting of compliant fire doors, and ensuring fire-proof materials such as intumescent paints and coatings are used wherever appropriate.
For future refurbishment or even minor building modifications, remedial works should also be front of mind, as something as simple as drilling a wall to pass cables through can compromise the building’s PFP, necessitating a breach fix to reinstate it and keep you on the right side of the law.
Step 4: get certified
To be compliant, PFP should be certified by an approved and qualified assessor, with accreditation such as BM Trada’s Q-Mark scheme.
This isn’t just a formality. The assessor will look specifically for compliance across all areas of PFP, in a very exacting process designed to identify fine detail as well as more obvious issues that can prevent certification being achieved.
A fire door, for example, that is in all other respects compliant but wasn’t fitted by someone competent to do so, is then non-compliant, as we explored in a recent post.
Step 5: maintain your protection
Everyday wear and tear, modifications, and refurbishments can all render previously compliant PFP non-compliant, so it’s important to carry out fire protection maintenance whenever necessary.
Fire doors are an obvious candidate, as they are often in daily use, and can require inspection more frequently than the six-monthly interval recommended by BS9999, as we recently explained in this post.
However, other types of PFP are very much in scope too, with walls and partitions particularly subject to degradation.
Through both planned and reactive routine fire protection surveys and maintenance, it is possible to greatly lessen the need to completely replace existing PFP, and thus reduce the financial burden of compliance.
So what’s your next step?
For more information on the five key steps to fire safety compliance, and how we can help you stay on top of them efficiently and cost-effectively, get in touch.
