The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2022/547 |
2022 No. 547
Fire Precautions, England
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
Made 17th May 2022
Laid before Parliament 18th May 2022
Coming into force 23th January 2023
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by article 24(1) of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 20051.
In accordance with article 24(4) of that Order the Secretary of State has consulted such persons or bodies of persons as appeared to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.
Citation, commencement, extent and application
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 23rd January 2023.
(3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales but apply in England only.
(4) These Regulations do not apply in relation to domestic premises within the House of Commons, the House of Lords or to military premises.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“Approved Document B” means Approved Document B (Fire Safety), supporting requirements B1 to B5 of Part B of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 20102;
“high-rise residential building” has the meaning given in regulation 3;
“lift for use by firefighters” means any lift located within a firefighting shaft, and any passenger lift which has an override switch that enables the fire and rescue service to take control of the lift;
“local fire and rescue authority” means the fire and rescue authority in whose area the building is situated;
“military premises” means—
(a) military barracks,
(b) a building occupied solely for the purposes of the armed forces, or
(c) a building occupied solely for the purposes of any visiting force or an international headquarters or defence organisation designated for the purposes of the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 19643;
“secure information box” means a box of the description in regulation 4.
(2) Other expressions in these Regulations which are listed in Appendix A to Approved Document B are to be interpreted in accordance with the meaning given to those expressions in that Appendix.
Meaning of high-rise residential building
3.—(1) In these Regulations “high-rise residential building” means a building containing two or more sets of domestic premises that—
(a)
(a) is at least 18 metres above ground level; or
(b)
(b) has at least seven storeys.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)—
(a)
(a) the height of a building is to be measured to the height to the top storey in accordance with Appendix D to Approved Document B;
(b)
(b) when determining the number of storeys a building has—
(i) any storey which is below ground level is to be ignored,
(ii) any mezzanine floor is a storey if its internal floor area is at least 50% of the internal floor area of the largest storey in the building which is not below ground level, and
(iii) a storey is treated as below ground level if any part of the finished surface of the ceiling of the storey is below the ground level immediately adjacent to that part of the building.
Secure information box
4.—(1) The responsible person in relation to a high-rise residential building must install and maintain a secure information box in or on the building.
(2) The secure information box must be—
(a)
(a) positioned at a location in or on the building which is readily accessible to the fire and rescue authority;
(b)
(b) capable of containing the documents required to be placed in it by these Regulations;
(c)
(c) reasonably secure from unauthorised access and vandalism.
(3) The responsible person must ensure that the following information is contained within the secure information box—
(a)
(a) the name, address and telephone number within the United Kingdom of the responsible person;
(b)
(b) the name and contact information of such other persons within the United Kingdom who are provided with the facilities to and are permitted to access the building as the responsible person considers appropriate;
(c)
(c) such documents as are required to be placed in it by these Regulations.
(4) The responsible person must provide the local fire and rescue authority with anything required to enable it to access the secure information box and must provide anything additional required as soon as reasonably practicable if there are any changes to those requirements.
(5) The responsible person must inspect the secure information box at least annually and ensure that it continues to meet the requirements in paragraph (2).
Design and materials of external walls
5.—(1) The responsible person in relation to a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building, including details of the materials from which they are constructed.
(2) The record prepared under paragraph (1) must include details of the level of risk identified in the risk assessment required under article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 that the design and materials of the external walls give rise to and any mitigating steps that have been taken in respect of that risk.
(3) The responsible person must prepare a revised record under paragraph (1) if there are any significant changes to the external walls of the building.
Floor plans and building plan
6.—(1) The responsible person in relation to a high-rise residential building must prepare a plan for each floor of the high-rise residential building.
(2) The floor plans must, together, identify the location of all lifts and identify if the lift is one for use by firefighters or an evacuation lift, and the key fire-fighting equipment in the whole building.
(3) If the plans for two or more floors of a high-rise residential building would be the same in all material respects, the responsible person may comply with the obligation under paragraph (1) in relation to those floors by preparing a single plan that clearly indicates the floors to which the plan relates.
(4) The responsible person must also prepare a single-page building plan identifying the following—
(a)
(a) the environs of the building;
(b)
(b) details of the use of the building, for example for commercial or residential purposes;
(c)
(c) access for fire and rescue appliances;
(d)
(d) the dimensions of the building;
(e)
(e) information on the number of storeys of the building and the number of basement levels (if any);
(f)
(f) information regarding the presence of maisonettes or scissor section flats;
(g)
(g) inlets for dry-rising mains;
(h)
(h) inlets for wet-rising mains;
(i)
(i) the location of shut-off controls for any sprinklers;
(j)
(j) access points for the building;
(k)
(k) the location of the secure information box;
(l)
(l) the location of the controls for any smoke control system;
(m)
(m) the location of any firefighting shaft;
(n)
(n) the location of main stairways in the building;
(o)
(o) the...
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