Wealden District Council

Introduction

Wealden District Council (henceforth “WDC”) takes pride in its high standards for fire safety and acknowledges its legal responsibility to ensure, the health, safety and welfare of its employees at work as well as protecting others who may be affected.

Fire Safety is integral to the success of the Council as a Landlord and this statement outlines the commitment and positive approach to fire safety and outlines our actions to ensure fulfilment of those duties.

There are also statutory duties to report certain prescribed incidents to regulatory bodies. These requirements will be met by our policy and are outlined.

Policy Statement

This Policy establishes the appropriate practices for Fire Safety and incident prevention, management and investigation. WDC is committed to the provision of safe housing and proactive prevention is part of investigation. Managers will support this and ensure that appropriate action has been taken at all times and that:

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 imposes a number of legal duties upon WDC. The Regulations clarify the approach to be taken in relation to fire safety with an onus on risk assessment and managing risks rather than blanket fire precaution.

The duties on the responsible persons, to the extent that they have control over premises is to assess the risks posed by fire to the health and safety of their residents and employees and to anyone else who may be affected by their activities and to eliminate those risks, so far as reasonably practicable, or to otherwise reduce those risks to a tolerable level.

WDC recognise that a specific fire risk management system is required to enable a safe management of its premises and operations. They are committed to ensuring that elements within it are clearly understood and supported by all stakeholders.

WDC are committed to taking all reasonable steps to protect our staff, residents, visitors, guests and contractors and those in the vicinity of our premises from the effects of fire.

WDC are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with all statutory fire safety requirements. This responsibility is shared and delegated with several key staff members whose duties are outlined in the Fire Safety Arrangements and Responsibilities.

This Policy is made available to all staff and interested parties on the Council’s website

Scope

This Policy refers to Fire Safety for all domestic properties including Retirement Living Courts owned and managed by WDC as the responsible persons in control of the said premises.

Not all requirements are applicable across leasehold or shared ownership properties although WDC understands the risks to others presented by fire.

Policy Aims and objectives

Fire is a significant hazard to the safety of both buildings and their occupants.

All buildings and human activity represent some form of fire hazard and risk.

The aim and objectives of WDC is to maintain a safe environment and reduce the risk of fire to tolerable levels in the following ways:

To clearly describe our approach to fire safety risk management to all staff
To engage with qualified and competent contractors to carry out and review Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) on a regular basis
To work in partnership with our incumbent contractors to take action regarding any works that come from the FRAs
To reduce the risk of fire to as low as reasonably practicable, for the safety of all residents, staff, contractors and visitors
To reduce the risk of fire spreading to neighbouring properties, to ensure the properties are as fire safe as possible and to facilitate safe exit from the property, in the event of a fire
To facilitate safe access for emergency services to the property, in the event of a fire
To communicate to tenants and leaseholders the fire safety arrangements within their properties and to work with residents – tenants and

leaseholders – to assist us to address areas of non-compliance

To train all relevant staff on fire safety
To promote continuous learning to ensure our approach to fire safety continues to meet a high standard

The purpose of this policy is to ensure the safety from fire of all relevant persons on, in or in the vicinity of the premises by effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures.

The objectives are:

to safeguard the lives of staff, residents, contractors and others who may be affected by fire in our buildings;
to prevent or reduce the outbreak of fire; and to protect the structure of those domestic buildings under our control.

WDC are committed to ensuring that all the elements within our fire risk management system are clearly understood by relevant staff and contractors.

WDC are committed to taking all reasonable steps to protect our staff, residents, visitors, guests and contractors and those in the vicinity of our premises from the effects of fire. As far as is reasonably practical, we will do all we can to prevent or minimise the probability of causes of fire. However, as can never be certain that fire will never break out, WDC will put systems in place to cope with this eventuality and these systems will be routinely checked.

Roles and Responsibilities

Overview of Responsibilities

Each individual has a responsibility for the safety of themselves and that of others and a role in achieving the standards detailed.

Roles and responsibility are specified as below and for ensuring appropriate standards and practices.

Statutory Responsibility

WDC, as Landlord and owner of the residential premises, is responsible for compliance with all statutory health and safety requirements regarding fire. This landlord responsibility cannot be delegated and rests with the responsible person and the Council.

Under legislation, the legal person or entity that has control of the premises for the purposes of a business or undertaking (such as social housing) is ultimately responsible for fire safety. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 they are known as the Responsible Person.

It is therefore the role of the landlord, to proactively seek evidenced assurance that all legislation relating to fire is being complied with, that the risks associated with fire are identified and managed and that a proper controls and assurance framework is in place.

The duties on the responsible persons, to the extent that they have control over premises is to assess the risks posed by fire to the health and safety of their employees and to anyone else who may be affected by their activities and to eliminate those risks, so far as reasonably practicable, or to otherwise reduce those risks to a tolerable level.

WDC’s Competent Person and Chief Executive are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with all statutory fire safety requirements. This responsibility is shared and delegated to key members of staff whose duties and responsibilities are clearly defined.

(a) The Responsible Person

The Chief Executive is the Responsible Person under the Fire Safety Order.

The Chief Executive will ensure responsibility is assigned and undertaken at all levels within the Housing Service and will take responsibility for ensuring managers undertake their roles to fulfil this policy.

They will ensure allocation of resources for the provision of suitable measures to reduce fire incidents in our residential premises in line with legislation.

The Chief Executive is ultimately responsible for providing the resources and monitoring the results of safety and they will pass authority to Housing Services and Property Services Managers for implementation of this policy.

The Chief Executive is specifically responsible and accountable for the provision of necessary resources as far as reasonably practicable to ensure the safety of tenant/residents from Fire related issues arising from the provision of homes.

Respond to all information and guidance on Fire Safety and suitable controls. They are specifically responsible for:

Ensuring dissemination of relevant information and support on Fire Safety process and management of risks in the provision of the service to their managers.
Investigation/co-ordination of investigation into Fire incidents and recommendations as appropriate to the association.
Joint reporting to Head of Services and Directors after serious incidents relative to Fire safety.

(b) Property Services Team & The Competent Person

The competent person for fire who has the training and responsibility of the fire safety for WDC Housing is the Property Services Manager. In their absence the Property Services Team Leader will deputise.

The Competent Person who is responsible for Repairs, Servicing and Maintenance and manage the Fire Risk programme will lead by example and promote fire safety standards. They are specifically responsible for:

Setting standards for good fire management practice and for maintaining safety standards in inspection, servicing and repairs required to fire systems
Establishing and maintaining records for FRA and action closedown
Ensuring all Contractors employed for Fire assessments or contracted works are appropriately vetted and are competent to work on WDC properties
Responding to any reports in the failure of gas systems and gas practices and for ensuring satisfactory solution and appropriate remedial action is implemented as required

Property Services Team will respond to all information and guidance on Fire Safety and suitable controls. They are specifically responsible for:

Ensuring records of information and integrity of the FRA process.
Monitoring requirements and compliance with best practice for fire safety
Reporting to the Competent Person on serious incidents or data concerns relative to Fire safety.

Property Services Team are responsible for responding to this standard and ensuring that Fire Safety Standards are implemented and achieved. Specifically they must:

Respond to the requirements of this policy and associated procedures and processes.
Respond to all information, guidance, advice provided in relation to Fire safety and inspection.
Ensure that all reporting staff have competence to be able to manage and fulfil roles.
Ensure all reporting staff adheres to all policy and standards relative to their roles and activities of Fire management.
Report and escalate any issues or concerns as soon as possible to the Head of Service.

Property Services Team provides information, assistance and advice to the Head of Service on Fire Safety and suitable controls. They are specifically responsible for:

Providing relevant information and support on Fire Safety and legislation and reviewing management of risks in the provision of the service.
Advising on best practice for safety, standards, and practices and management of Fire as required.
Assisting in investigations into fire incidents and recommendations as appropriate to the association.
Reporting to Head of Service and Directors serious incidents relative to fire safety and actions arising.

(c) All Employees

All staff irrespective of whether they are directly engaged in the Fire Assessment programme or not should take responsibility to observe and report defects in fire safety.

Danger signs such as increased arson risk, storage, evidence of burns or discarded flammable materials etc. must report their concerns immediately to the Housing Services Team if they cannot be managed locally.

Complete relevant Fire Safety training and not act in a fashion that could jeopardise their safety or those of others when executing their role.

(d) Tenants’ Responsibilities

At the point of sign up and upon occupation all tenants of WDC will be provided with information relative to our requirements as a landlord and their roles in assisting us in fulfilling those duties and the consequences for restricting the landlord in statutory duty.

Tenants are responsible through their agreement and must allow the landlord full access to the property for the purposes of relevant fire checks and for fire safety in communal areas.

Tenants are responsible for their own safety inside their properties and the landlord will act accordingly if there are reports of serious detriment and risk to the resident and or others by practices placing persons at risk.

Report any defects or Fire Safety concerns through official WDC processes and not act in a fashion that that could jeopardise their safety or those of others (relevant persons) within the building.

Policy Guidelines

WDC will achieve the following three fire safety objectives: Business continuity, property protection and life safety. The last is identified as its primary objective.

WDC will take steps to:

Assess the risk of fire within its premises regularly Prevent fire
Provide training and information to all key stakeholders including staff and tenants of what to do in the event of a fire occurrence or alarm activation,
Provide adequate means of escape at all times
Provide enhanced fire protection within Retirement Living Court flats to allow safe use of the ‘Delayed Evacuation’ policy
Ensure measures are taken to reduce fire and smoke spread
Provide and maintain where necessary suitable fire systems
Implement contingency arrangement in the event of a critical fire system failure or degradation
Implement a business continuity procedure.

The fire safety management system will be reviewed annually and following an incident where there are significant changes to the buildings, fire risk, key personnel or legislation

Fire Safety Management Supporting Documents

To support this Fire Safety Management Policy there is a suite of fire safety documentation which sets out the responsibilities, arrangements and standards for fire safety is managed within WDC Retirement Living Courts. All of these documents are located on the internal intranet. Copies are also available in paper form within the red Fire Boxes located at the entrance of each Retirement Living Court. The boxes contain a Fire Risk Register, indicating which properties within the building have tenants who will need assistance in evacuation, by colour coding. This register is updated each time there is a change in the building, such as a new tenant, visitor or absent resident. It also holds a copy of the most recent FRA and Fire Safety Log Book.

Each resident receives an initial and then annual welfare assessment, kept remotely on the bespoke Retirement Living IT system, to identify any areas of concern regarding fire safety and these feed into the Fire Risk Register. The Retirement Living Team also hold Fire Safety Guidance for Persons Providing a Service for each building and full details on the Council’s Fire Procedure and Evacuation procedure can be found in the Retirement Living Managers Manual, both hard copy and online.

The Court Managers perform a weekly fire alarm test which is documented, as well as 6 monthly unannounced fire alarm tests, also documented. Smoke detectors in individual flats are tested and documented on a four monthly basis.

Training and Instruction

WDC ensures that all its employees undertake an annual mandatory fire safety training course with an assessment of understanding. Line managers must ensure fire safety training for all new staff is completed as part of their formal induction.

Health & Safety

All staff must follow the WDC Housing Health and Safety Policy at all times and has duty to cooperate in fulfilling these legal obligations.

Fire Risk Assessments

WDC will maintain an up-to-date list of premises which require a FRA and are within their control.

This stock list used for the FRA programme will contain the following fire safety information:

Risk profile for the premises
Date of current assessment and target review date
Evacuation strategy for that type of property
Occupancy & Use (vulnerability/needs of residents)
Building Status – Purpose built / Converted Street Properties /Adapted Buildings
Management Arrangements – If it a Retirement Living Court

Fire Risk Assessments are part of the Fire Strategy and a requirement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

All FRAs will be undertaken by a 3^rd Party Certified competent person. For the purposes of WDC objectives for compliance the current practice is the employment of an external accredited third party, however this Policy establishes the recognition of the requirement for competency in the undertaking.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 does not specify a frequency for undertaking FRAs but best practice dictates these should be carried out every 12 months. If it can be demonstrated that the risk is lower, this interval can be increased on a risk based approach. Due to the higher risk nature and vulnerability of the occupants all Retirement Living Courts will have FRAs undertaken at least annually in line with best practice. However in communal General Needs Blocks, which are considered by their nature of occupants and architype a lower risk, the frequency to the next FRA will be determined following each FRA based on a risk assessment of the building, the findings of the FRA and the ability to address these. No FRA period will exceed two years.

A new FRA will also be undertaken when there have been any significant changes to the building or its use. Following any significant events (e.g. a fire) the fire risk assessment will also be reviewed to see if the emergency plan was effective or to see if there are issues that were not adequately assessed in the FRA.

Review

WDC will undertake regular reviews on its FRAs for quality assurance and for confirmation of management of actions, as well as performance against programme. The key aim is to ensure management of a delivery of suitable and sufficient risk assessments and evaluate the performance and standards of the approved contractors through guidance from a qualified consultant.

In addition to the desk top reviews, site visits take place (subject to Covid-19) to review the findings in the FRA’s against the issues found on site. The aim is for all supplied Retirement Living Court FRAs in a year to be reviewed through a site visit. The site visits are carried out by the Property Services Team and if deemed appropriate, relevant incumbent contractors. The aim for all supplied General Needs blocks FRAs is for site visits to be carried out either by the Property Services Team or the Housing Management Team depending on the results and whether it is to do with the structure of the building, Property Services remit, or to do with tenant management, Housing Management remit.

Once quality assurance checks have taken place the findings will be reviewed to address with contactors at the monthly operational contract meeting. The process is designed for continuous improvement to the fire safety standard across all properties that have communal areas, and to ensure the quality of the finished FRA’s undertaken by the external consultants

In addition, the Property Services Team undertake checks of FRA’s to ensure details are present and correct, including presence of: The correct address, assessment date, review date, surveyors name, contractor QA details, executive summary, action plan, certificate of conformity, photos with actions transposed. Any issues found are reported to the consultant to resolve and arrange for accurate FRA documentation to be resupplied and communicated back for the details to be updated.

Evacuation Standards Outline

Evacuation policies for each building will be specific to that building (and subject to the FRA), however the general principles apply.

Residential accommodation (with common parts):

Retirement Living Courts accommodation to have a ‘delayed evacuation’ policy. Occupants have the option to stay in the building provided they feel it is safe to do so as part of phased evacuation.
General Needs Blocks accommodation to have a ‘simultaneous evacuation’ policy. All occupants to self-evacuate in the event of fire or once the fire alarm sounds

(Note: Residential buildings which are managed or which house vulnerable residents may require bespoke evacuation strategies specific to the premises. Specific vulnerable resident details are held in the red fire box)

Assisted Evacuation

Liaison will take place with the Fire and Rescue Service on how best to record and store information on non-ambulant or disabled residents in residential blocks where higher dependency residents are expected (such as Retirement Living premises). PEEPS (personal emergency evacuation plans) can be considered, however, when involving residents this would contradict the Council’s delayed evacuation policy. It is currently felt that the colour coded Fire Risk Matrix sufficiently highlights those residents with evacuation difficulties and still adheres to the delayed evacuation policy.

Evacuation drills will be carried out in a selected set of residential buildings where persons are employed as a permanent place of work. This will be determined by the FRA, however as a general principle:

Residential premises with alarms will be assessed as to the appropriateness of regular fire drills on an individual basis.
Retirement Living Court fire alarm systems are checked and tested annually across the financial year by WDC incumbent electric contractor
Performance will be monitored to ensure that buildings can be evacuated in a safe and timely manner.

General Fire Precautions & Requirements

All WDC residential communal buildings will be maintained in accordance with current standards and recognised best practice.

All external contractors working on WDC properties will have specific fire safety conditions imposed on them in relation to the works they are doing and the potential impact of fire safety. These control measures includes the blanket ban of use of hot works.

A strict no smoking policy will be maintained in all communal areas.

WDC has a zero-tolerance approach to storage and excessive furnishings in the managed common areas of blocks of flats and residential premises.

Some exceptions may apply to specialised residential buildings; however, this will be assessed during the FRA programme. Regular checks will be carried out by Retirement Living staff.

Mobility scooters are not permitted within WDC premises common areas. Under no circumstances should mobility scooters be stored or charged within common areas.

Under no circumstances should flammable materials be stored in any communal areas other than designated storage rooms.

Where residents have stored medical oxygen in their properties, they are responsible for informing WDC so Local Fire Services can be alerted to the presence of stored oxygen in the premises and appropriate assessments can be made.

Actions from Fire Risk Assessments

WDC will manage any actions arising from FRAs undertaken.

The actions will be logged and appropriate review of the recommendations by a competent person within Property Services Team will be undertaken.

The Property Services Team will determine the suitability of actions and programme in required works and revise the risk assessment to reflect changes made.

All actions will be programmed in accordance with the risk rating and risk.

Accident, Incidents, Alerts, Inspections

WDC recognises from time-to-time fires will occur resulting in the potential to cause a serious life risk situation.

We will investigate as appropriate and liaise with all affected parties. All such instances will be communicated to the Head of Service and appropriate teams.

Managed Properties

Where we manage properties which are not owned by WDC, the ‘Responsible

Person’ is set out in the terms of the management agreement. If we are not the

‘Responsible Person’, we still have responsibility to seek assurance that the ‘Responsible Person’ for that property is meeting all legislative requirements, and where there is any doubt will take on the Responsible Person role.

Fire Risk Assessment & Contract Management

WDC will approach Fire safety with a robust contract management process and arrangements.

WDC will ensure that:

All Contractors appointed to manage and service our Fire Programme are competent and accredited by current registrations.
Have references and experience which can be validated.
All contracted engineers/assessors will have evidence of their qualifications and accreditations and FRA Qualifications checked to validate proficiency to work at our properties.

Compliance

References to Fire Safety Standards and Management are contained in:

The Housing Act 2004
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Building Regulations : Approved Document B: Fire Safety( Vol1 & Vol 2 )
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988
Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 The Safety Signs and Signal Regulations 1996 § Other guidance and good practice:
Fire Safety in purpose-built blocks of flats (CLG)
National Fire Safety protocol (LACORS)
Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings. Code of practice BS9991: 2015

WDC acknowledges and accepts the responsibilities under the applicable regulations and legislation and further understands that failure to properly discharge these responsibilities may result in:

Prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Prosecution under Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Prosecution under the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 imposes a number of legal duties. The Regulations clarify the approach to be taken in relation to fire safety with an onus on risk assessment rather than fire precaution.

Policy Review

This Policy will be reviewed biannually by the Housing Management Team or at a change in legislation or plant / equipment / practices.