Fire safety standard
The safety of our customers, colleagues and contractors is at the heart of all we do. We are committed to ensuring that arrangements to prevent fires and to protect residents in their homes are delivered consistently to this standard, while meeting all regulation as an absolute minimum and best practice where appropriate.
This is our standard:
1. We have a dedicated Fire Safety Team, working consistently across the whole business.
2. We maintain a legally recognised partnership with one Fire and Rescue Service, known as Primary Authority Scheme. This ensures that we can obtain and apply consistent assurance and advice across all our homes on fire safety matters.
3. We only employ competent third party accredited contractors and assessors to complete work and to provide advice on fire safety requirements. Our in house teams are skilled and trained to undertake the works they perform. We check all accreditation before any work commences. Third party certificated SP205 registered providers help us meet our fire risk assessment responsibilities and have been audited by a UKAS accredited certification body to ensure their competence.
4. We have robust arrangements in place, embedded in working procedure documents, to make sure that the correct fire prevention measures are designed into all new schemes at preconstruction stage, are checked thoroughly during the build and are confirmed to meet current standards before practical completion. Scheme handover arrangements include a detailed check of all fire prevention and protection measures against the Fire Safety Strategy created by the designer.
5. Our Development team commissions a post construction fire report before practical completion on all new build and refurbished blocks with communal areas. We ensure that all recommended actions are completed and signed off before we take handover of the building.
6. We complete an annual Type 3 Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) in all buildings with common areas). They identify and make recommendations on any specific actions required to keep the property safe. We complete a Type 3 Fire Risk Assessment. The Type 3 assessment seeks to inspect a number of individual flats within the block (up to 10%) as well as the common areas. When recommended by the assessor, more invasive FRAs are completed, and all findings are implemented. Blocks which contain 2 or more dwellings (which have external entrances but do not have communal areas) now come under the scope of the Fire Safety Act 2021. We will undertake a type 3 Fire risk assessment every 3 years on these blocks.
7. We carry out an initial FRA on all new blocks with common parts and any blocks with 2 or more dwellings (which have external entrances but do not have communal areas) within the first six weeks of the first resident moving in.
8. All recommended actions arising from FRAs are prioritised as intolerable, high, medium or low. Our timeframes for assessing and completing the work are as follows:
• Intolerable risks. The assessor will phone these through to our Fire Safety Team and they will be dealt with immediately. Intolerable risks occur rarely.
• All high risk actions. The assessor will phone these through to our Fire Safety Team and they will be completed within seven working days. These are actions considered by the assessor as being urgent.
• All medium risk actions are assessed/scoped out within one month and are completed within six months of receipt.
• All low risk actions are assessed/scoped out within one month and are completed within 12 months of receipt.
• We may accelerate the target completion times for a particular property, in discussion with the Fire Risk Assessor, on the rare occasion when a high number of actions increases the overall risk in a scheme.
9. We regularly visit every scheme with a common area to check out and resolve any fire risks and to test any fire equipment. The frequency of the visits will determined by the type of equipment installed. Our standards are:
Equipment and frequency of service/test.
• Fire detection and fire alarms. Tested in line with BS5839, fire risk assessments and fire alarm manufacturers guidance.
Serviced six monthly.
• Domestic alarms. Regular Customer Checks.
• Emergency escape lighting Tested monthly. Serviced annually.
• Dry risers Annual pressure test. Six monthly visual check.
• Smoke control systems. Weekly activation. Annual service.
• Sprinkler systems. Annual inspection and test.
• Fire dampers. Two yearly inspection and test.
• Fire doors (in common areas). Inspection programme - based on risk but not less than annually.
• Fire doors (Flat Front Doors). Inspection programme - based on risk but not less than every 3 years.
10. Our standard is to ensure that all homes have adequate fire and smoke detection. All our homes will have a mains operated or battery powered smoke detection. Mains operated alarms are fitted as standard on all new homes, on voids and when improvements are made to homes. We encourage customers to test their own alarms regularly and to report any maintenance issues. We will promote alarm testing by encouraging customers to check them with us whenever we visit to inspect or carry out repairs to their home. Our colleagues will check for missing or damaged alarms during routine visits to properties. Repairs or replacements to smoke alarms are treated as urgent.
11. We build a culture of fire prevention and awareness in our teams. Fire Management is
everyone’s responsibility and we expect colleagues to act on anything they see, there and then.
12. We ensure colleagues and others working on our behalf are suitably trained. Fire awareness training will be completed by all colleagues on induction and through annual refreshers.
13. We manage and review all fires and false alarm frequency to seek the reasons why they have happened and to prevent any reoccurrence.
14. We aim to provide value for money in delivering fire safety and will have consistent arrangements in place to ensure that relevant costs are service charged to residents.
15. We engage fully with customers in the safety of their homes. We:
• Provide fire safety advice when they move in.
• Listen and take action where necessary on any concerns raised. Any complaints or concerns about health and safety are escalated immediately and reported separately.
• Ensure they are aware of the actions to take if a fire occurs or an alarm is activated.
• Deliver targeted campaigns via social media.
• Promote Home Fire Safety Visits. Our aim is to complete a Home Fire Safety Visit for all people at high risk of fire, such a hoarders.
• Take firm, clear action where we are unable to gain access to complete essential work.
• Ensure leaseholder customers fulfil the conditions of their leases when it comes to fire prevention and detection measures.
16. We manage our performance by regularly reviewing and reporting against a range of Key Performance Targets:
• Fire equipment servicing completed against target dates.
• Fire Risk Assessments completed against target dates.
• The volumes of “work in progress” FRA actions by age and risk level.
17. We review our Fire Safety Operational Procedures annually to ensure that it is relevant and meets ever changing standards and best practice.