WOBO thanks IFSEC GLOBAL for the links to the article by Ron Alalouff.

Ron Alalouff highlights some of the main provisions of the new edition of simultaneous evacuation guidance for purpose-built blocks of flats, published by the National Fire Chiefs’ Council.  

The guidance seeks to encourage building owners and managers to install common fire alarms or alternative technologies, to reduce the dependence on waking watches in buildings where fire safety remediation is required.

The guidance is primarily designed to apply to buildings that pose a significant and immediate risk to residents’ safety that cannot support a stay put strategy, and where making an immediate change to the evacuation strategy – by implementing short term interim measures – is the only alternative to immediately prohibiting the occupation of the building.

In support of the previous edition of the guidance, the government made available over £30m to install alarms (later increased to over £60m) and replace costly waking watch measures in all residential buildings in England where a waking watch is in place at cost to leaseholders. Over 300 buildings have benefited from the fund, and over 200 of these buildings have now installed a common alarm system.

Fire risk assessment

The fire risk assessment should be undertaken by a competent person to ensure a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks, and the identification of the fire precautions which are required to ensure the building is safe. The fire risk assessment must be reviewed and updated to reflect the risk posed by a combustible external wall system and/or other significant failings in the general fire precautions. Additional guidance on this type of risk assessment can be found in PAS 9980. Such assessments should only be carried out by a competent fire engineer or other competent building professional.  Read more ….

New simultaneous evacuation guidance for purpose-built blocks of flats