Home Office seeking to externally commission new updates to Fire Safety Order guidance documents

As part of its overhaul of guidance on The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 – the Fire Safety Order (FSO) – the Home Office is seeking to externally commission new guides and updates to existing guidance documents.

According to the FIA, the guidance in this requirement, which is the third tranche of its programme, will be needed by Q3 of 2022 when the fire safety provisions in the Building Safety Bill (BSB) may be enacted. 

Five new guides are required, including: 

1. A brief explainer on fire doors that captures any regulatory changes
2. A summary of the sanctions available for breaches of the FSO
3. An implementation guide for the primary fire safety changes planned through the BSB 
4. A comprehensive overarching fire risk assessment guide
5. An overlap guide explaining the difference between a Responsible Person and an Accountable Person under the BSB.  

The Home Office is also looking to rationalise and update all of the premises specific guides on GOV.UK as well as the Specialised Housing and Means of Escape for Disabled People guides. 

The final element will be the requirement to update all the guides published in Tranche 2 of the programme to make sure they include the fire safety changes made through the BSB. All guides must be consistent with the FSO at the time of publication. 

All these guides must be accessible and provide details for the Responsible Person, fire risk assessor or enforcing authority on how to discharge their duties.  

For further details on the new guidance, click here.

The Future of Fire Safety: download the eBook

Is the fire protection industry adapting to the post-Grenfell reality fast enough? At FIREX International 2019, Europe's only dedicated fire safety event, some of the world's leading fire safety experts covered this theme. This eBook covers the key insights from those discussions on the developments shaping the profession, with topics including:

• Grenfell Inquiry must yield “bedrock change” – and soon
• After Grenfell: Jonathan O’Neill OBE on how austerity and policy “on the hoof” are hampering progress
• Hackitt’s Golden Thread: Fire, facilities and building safety
• Fire safety community has to “get on board” with technological changes

Get your copy