According to research carried out by Zutec, a third of UK tenants haven’t seen fire safety certificates and information. Maria Hudson, Group CMO at the company, explains why landlords and operations teams need to take building information action to ensure occupant safety and compliance.
Maria Hudson, Group CMO, Zutec
For tenants, fire safety often relies on others taking the right actions and stepping up to their responsibilities. Landlords failing to display detailed certificates and information in a building could result in devastating and potentially lethal consequences.
The importance of putting up fire safety information and certificates in a building lends itself to tenants knowing what actions to take in the event of a fire and, crucially, where the nearest exits and fire extinguishers are. Without this information, they could be in danger.
The risk to life and property is evident in our latest research, which found a third of 2,000 UK tenants surveyed had not seen any fire safety information or certificates in their homes or buildings. It’s an incredibly concerning statistic.
Clearly there’s an urgent need for landlords or building operation’s teams to ensure that the correct and most up-to-date fire safety information is available to all their tenants. Not only that, but they should also double-check that a fire risk assessment has been carried out on their property, which will identify potential hazards and either remove them or reduce their impact.
Moving forward, there are several actions landlords or operation’s teams can take to improve fire safety protocol in their built assets.
A good starting point is a full audit and risk assessment of their property portfolio, checking that correct fire information exists and is prominently displayed or accessible. Not only is this a legal requirement, but it will also put tenants’ minds at ease, making them feel safer in their homes.
Landlords can also take steps towards ensuring that there is nothing combustible inside their property, as well as reminding tenants to keep stairs and doorways clear so that they can easily reach fire escapes.
Accessible fire escapes are crucial to fire safety. It is important that tenants know where these are so that they can exit the building quickly should the worst happen. It is down to the landlord or asset owner to provide this information.
The only way tenant safety can be prioritised, however, is if landlords take action to display the relevant certificates. This is important as the documentation provides vital legal information that certifies the building as safe.
It is their responsibility and I hope that, in the future, landlords will do their utmost to ensure tenants have the correct fire information.
Once again, digital technology comes to the aid of asset owners. Fundamentally, the management of data in a digital format ensures the information is not just there, but it’s up to date and can be reviewed and updated when important documentation is due to expert.
It should also be managed through a Common Data Environment (CDE) to make crucial information easily available and accessible with the building safety regulator and tenants.
Here and now, there’s no excuse not to invest in these time-saving and potentially life-saving digital tools, which can aid and improve fire safety compliance, especially as the supporting software now allows checks to be recorded, providing imagery and video for visual proof.
It also improves internal communication between departments, resulting in faster decision-making and problem-solving to deliver higher-quality, better-informed outcomes.
These digital platforms are now mainstream and their subscription models mean they are affordable at scale, meaning that asset owners and developers, whatever their size can harness their potential.
Ultimately, it’s about achieve the safest, securest and most comfortable environment for residents. Fire safety is a non-negotiable, and those who don’t act now to ride the wave of change will soon find themselves dashed against the rocks of regulation.
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
