New Article 21A of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005

[AdrianO]

S156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 has amended the FSO 2005 as of 1 October.

I am interested in how people are addressing the new requirement at 21A 3(A) to:

"give residents of the domestic premises comprehensible and relevant information about the relevant fire safety matters. 

The fire safety matter at 3(A) is "the risks to residents of the domestic premises identified by the risk assessment"

I work with an organisation that provides supported housing and many of the tenants are vulnerable or have learning disabilities.  I am concerned that a serious finding in an FRA that increased the assessed risk to say, substantial would cause undue alarm and concern to such residents if it is communicated to them.

I'd welcome thoughts on this new legal requirement. Building Safety Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) 

[AnthonyB]

You would have to present the information in a way that is tailored to their vulnerabilities/disabilities, simplified as required. If they were not deemed as having suitable capacity under MCA 2005 then I suppose you would only have to inform those with legal responsibility/guardianship.

Until some better guidance comes out this is the best I can think of!

[Jonny Roberts]

Item 21A (1) states "This article applies in relation to a building containing two or more sets of domestic premises."

A typical supported house (comprising bedrooms rather than self-contained flats) is a single domestic premises, so article 21A does not apply to this type of property. 

 

[AnthonyB]

But not all supported housing is a single dwelling - I have been to several that are:

- Purpose Built Flats

- HMO's

- Sheltered Housing