Published 23 January 2023
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 come into force today
The new Fire Safety (England) Regulations take effect from today, 23 January 2023. NFCC welcomed the introduction of the new Regulations, which make it a requirement for responsible persons of high-rise residential buildings to provide information on their building/s to their local fire and rescue service. A high-rise residential building is defined as a building containing two or more sets of domestic premises and is at least 18 metres tall or has at least seven storeys.
Gavin Tomlinson, NFCC Protection and Business Safety Scrutiny Committee Chair said: “The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 are an important step towards implementing the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. These changes, along with with the changes introduced under the Fire Safety Act 2021, and the changes that are to come following the Building Safety Act 2022, will improve fire safety and reduce risk in our built environment.
“The Regulations introduce new legal requirements of responsible persons for multi-occupied residential buildings. NFCC is urging responsible persons to ensure their buildings comply with the regulations that come into force today.”
The information that responsible persons must share with fire and rescue services includes details of the construction of the external walls, floor and buildings plans, and information on known faults with key firefighting equipment. This information must be shared via electronic means. Details on how to share this information can be found on each individual fire and rescue services’ website.
NFCC has launched a set of website pages about the Regulations, including publishing a list of dedicated links to each fire and rescue services’ information sharing page and a link to the Fire England website, which allows you to search by building post code for the local fire and rescue service.