The Home Office announced today that limitless fines will be handed out to anyone caught breaching fire safety regulations or obstructing or impersonating a fire inspector.
These new measures, announced as part of the government’s response to the Fire Safety Consultation, will come into force as part of the legislation in the Building Safety Bill.
This Bill will also create the first national Building Safety Regulator and overhaul the way buildings in scope of the new regime are designed, built and managed when occupied.
The measures will include a requirement for fire risk assessments to be recorded for each building and improve how fire safety information is handed over throughout the lifetime of a building.
New stringent fire measures
- improve the quality of fire risk assessments and competence of those who complete them
- ensure vital fire safety information is preserved over the lifespan of all regulated buildings
- improve cooperation and coordination amongst people responsible for fire safety and making it easier to identify who they are
- strengthen enforcement action, with anyone impersonating or obstructing a fire inspector facing unlimited fines
- strengthen guidance issued under the Fire Safety Order so that failure to follow it may be considered in court proceedings as evidence of a breach or of compliance
- improve the engagement between Building Control Bodies and Fire Authorities in reviewing plans for building work
- require all new flats above 11 metres tall to install premises information boxes
The Fire Safety Consultation took place last year to inform government work on improving fire safety.
The Home Office intends, subject to the Fire Safety Bill receiving Royal Assent, to lay regulations before the second anniversary of the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 Report which will deliver on the Inquiry’s recommendations.
