Fire safety regulations

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 sets out what you need to do to make premises safe from fire. It covers all non-domestic premises including:

• offices and shops
• communal parts of apartment blocks or houses in multiple occupations (HMOs)
• places of worship
• schools and libraries
• public buildings
• hotels and guest houses 
• care homes

You must carry out a Fire Risk Assessment

Under the order, a Responsible Person is required to make sure the regulations are met. A Responsible Person is anyone who has some control over all or part of the premises, or certain systems within it. This may be the employer, occupier or owner of the premises.

The Responsible Person must carry out a fire risk assessment and put in place the necessary fire safety measures for the premises.

Making your premises safe

The government have published a series of practical advice guides to meet the fire safety requirements for small and medium premises and the requirements of the Responsible Person to comply with the fire safety legislation.

Download the short guide to making your premises safe from fire:

• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (English) (PDF, 510KB)
• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (Chinese) (PDF, 905KB)
• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (Punjabi) (PDF, 769KB)
• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (Turkish) (PDF, 2.57MB)
• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (Polish) (PDF, 289KB)
• Short guide to making your premises safe from fire (Gujarati) (PDF, 2.07MB).

The government also has a range of advice on fire safety for different businesses and premises, which are all available as free downloads.

The Responsible Person must make a fire safety risk assessment with an emergency evacuation plan for all people who might be in a premise, including people with disabilities.

The Equality Act 2010 requires companies to provide for people with disabilities, and The Disability Equality Duty (DED) requires companies to promote the equality of people with disabilities actively. 

For fire safety purposes, this means all companies must have a sufficient evacuation plan which will meet the needs of anyone with a disability. Failure to do so could be seen as discrimination.

Download the Government's Means of Fire Escape for Disabled People (PDF, 896KB) for advice on how to incorporate the needs of disabled people in your fire safety assessment.

Read about the Fire Safety Act 2021 and Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. 

The Fire and Rescue Service is responsible for enforcing fire safety regulations

Our Protection Officers carry out regular premises inspections to make sure they meet the required safety standards.

Protection Officers have legal powers which give them the right to enter a premise and require you to produce relevant documents for fire safety. 

Inspections follow our Enforcement Policy Statement. Our Enforcement Policy Statement is being reviewed and will be available shortly.

All notices served under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 by Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service will be recorded on a Public Register in accordance with the Environmental and Safety Information Act 1988. The register is available for view by following the link NFCC Enforcement Register. A hard copy of the register is available for public inspection by prior arrangement, at a convenient time, at our offices at Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich IP1 2BX.

Information relating to notices served will be available on the register within 14 days of the 21 day statutory appeal period. Where an appeal is made, a notice will not be recorded on the register until a decision on the appeal is final. In cases where the notice is overturned no entry will be made.

Enforcement Notices

If a premises does not meet the requirements of the Fire Safety Order 2005, we can issue one of three notices.

Alterations Notice (Article 29)

An alterations notice is issued if any major alterations to the premises will cause a serious risk to the people who use it.

Enforcement Notice (Article 30)

An enforcement notice is issued if the premises and it's fire safety measures do not comply with any provision of the Fire Safety Order

Prohibition Notice (Article 31)

A prohibition notice is issued if there is a serious risk of fire and we need to prohibit or restrict the use of all, or parts of the premises.

Appeal an enforcement notice

You can appeal an enforcement notice under Article 35 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. There will be instructions on how to appeal attached to your notice

We would like to resolve any issues you have with an enforcement notice without engaging in a legal process. You should contact us on 01473 260 588 to discuss your concerns before beginning an appeals process.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) requires the Responsible Person (RP) of multi-occupied residential buildings of over 18 metres or 7 storeys in height, to provide their local FRS with information of the following :-

• Up-to-date building and floor plans.
• Information on the External Wall System (EWS).
• Any defective lifts or equipment to that cannot be repaired within 24hrs.

Please use the links below to provide the information or to report a fault.

Building Floor Plans

The Responsible Person (RP) of high-rise residential buildings, must provide Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service with up-to-date floor plans, showing key firefighting equipment.

Information must be provided in electronic form and emailed to: FireProtectionDutyOfficer@suffolk.gov.uk

External Wall Report

• EWS design and materials
• Level of risk
• Any mitigating steps taken

From 1 October 2023, new fire safety legislation comes into effect which will impose new duties on businesses and buildings owners.

The Fire Safety Order is the primary fire safety legislation in England and Wales, and it applies to all non-domestic premises as well as the communal parts of residential buildings. Changes to this legislation have been introduced through the Building Safety Act 2022 and represent the next phase of the governments fire safety reform programme.

The main changes introduced by the legislation are:

Written fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements

The previous requirement to have a written fire risk assessment only applied in certain circumstances (e.g. where the responsible person employees five or more persons). This will no longer be the case, and if you are a responsible person, then you will need to record both your fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangement in full, regardless of the size or purpose of the business or premises.

Enhanced requirements for cooperation and coordination

In premises where there is more than one responsible person, for example in multi-occupied premises or buildings where the occupier and building owner are different entities, there are increased requirements for cooperation and coordination between responsible persons.

Provision of information to residents

In residential buildings with two or more domestic premises (e.g. blocks of flats) then the responsible owner must provide residents with information on the risks from fire within their building and the fire safety measures provided to keep them safe. This requirement expands upon legislation introduced earlier this year that required responsible persons to provide residents with information on emergency procedures and the importance of fire doors.

Overview of the forthcoming changes to the Fire Safety Order (Downloadable Version) (vimeo.com)

For further information on all the changes to legislation and what you need to do to comply, the Government has published guidance which is available on the Government's website. The changes in legislation are also known as Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, and they are in addition to The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) and the Fire Safety Act 2021 (legislation.gov.uk) which commenced last summer.

To find out more about Fire Safety Regulations, contact our Business Support service on:

Phone: 01473 260588

Email: fire.businesssupport@suffolk.gov.uk

Office hours: 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Friday.