Sector Resources: England and Wales

External Fire Spread – What is the Risk and what Does it Mean for the Safety of Residents

A guide to PAS 9980:2022 Fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats.

Aimed specifically at the safety of existing blocks of flats, its purpose is to provide a methodology and framework for conducting appraisals of the fire risk posed by combustible external wall construction and cladding. These differ from assessments carried out under the EWS1 scheme, which is to inform valuation and therefore lending decisions, and their focus is risk-based professional judgement. They represent a shift from compliance-based assessments, which have tended to be founded on generic prescriptive requirements.

 

RC59 – Fire Safety When Charging Electric Vehicles

This document has been developed through the RISCAuthority and published by the Fire Protection Association (FPA).

This document aims to provide practical guidance to insurers and their clients on fire hazards and appropriate control measures associated with the charging of electric vehicles, bicycles and similar devices in public places; on commercial and industrial premises; and within or in the vicinity of residential premises such as blocks of flats, care homes and sheltered accommodation.

Personal Emergency Evacuation General Residential Premises

Assessment of evacuation procedures from a personal level, to ensure the safe escape of any individual from fire, is a critical component of any fire risk assessment – it represents a key part of a founding principle – the preservation of life. Evacuation procedures, with the associated provision of safe routes of escape to a place of ultimate safety, must therefore be inherent and a clear part of any building’s fire safety strategy.

This guide and check-list has been prepared primarily to assist fire risk assessors. It has no formal or legal status. It has been developed within the fire sector industry in the absence of other guidance using the format of a check list. The questions, which may be selected as appropriate by the competent fire risk assessor, are designed to assist individual fire risk assessors as an aide-memoire.

The idea of the check-list is to set out questions which can then be interpreted by the fire risk assessor and used in discussions with their clients to explore and determine what actions, if any, appear appropriate for the building under assessment. Questions selected should have recorded answers.

Electrical Safety First best practice guide: Electrical installation condition reporting

The aim of this Guide is to provide practical guidance for skilled persons competent in electrical inspection and testing on the use of the Classification Codes that need to be attributed to each observation recorded during the periodic inspection and testing of an electrical installation for the benefit of the person ordering the report.

The guidance is limited to the range of observations that are likely to be associated with domestic and similar electrical installations. It takes into account the publication of BS 7671: 2018.

Every electrical installation deteriorates with use and time. Therefore, if the safety of the users is not to be put at risk, it is important that every installation is periodically inspected and tested by a competent person. Indeed, it is recommended in BS 7671: 2018 that every electrical installation is subjected to periodic inspection and testing (Regulation 135.1 refers).

The inspection and testing should be carried out at appropriate intervals in order to determine what, if anything, needs to be done to maintain the installation in a safe and serviceable condition.

Code of Practice for the Provision of Premises Information Boxes in Residential Buildings

This code of practice has been prepared jointly by the Fire Industry Association (FIA) and the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) with the assistance of the other organisations set out in the Acknowledgements section. The code of practice is intended to support new legislation and guidance proposed to be introduced by the Government in response to the recommendations in the Phase 1 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

The report recommended that premises information boxes (PIBs) should be provided in all high-rise residential buildings. The report also recommended that the contents of PIBs should include various information that will be of value to firefighters during an emergency.