Government Prioritises Fire Risk Assessments on Most Dangerous Buildings

Posted by The Property Institute on 25th May 2022 -

The Government has launched a risk prioritisation tool to encourage building owners and managers to review fire risk assessments (FRAs) on their most dangerous buildings.

The Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool takes responsible persons through a series of specific questions, which are each carefully scored to assist them to determine the priority of their buildings for the purpose of reviewing their fire risk assessments. The tool does this by allocating each building to one of five priority tiers.

The Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool is part of the risk-based guidance package and will be beneficial for building owners to show due diligence, and assist in establishing in any proceedings, that obligations under the FSO (as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021) are being met.

The new Tool has been launched after the Fire Safety Act said it will now force building owners to consider the external walls and balconies in periodic fire risk assessments.

Each block will be given a priority rating, with the worst rating indicating to owners that an FRA must be carried out immediately.

The Tool is part of the package of risk-based guidance that when complied with, will help a responsible person show that they have undertaken appropriate steps towards establishing compliance with the FSO. These steps will then need to be followed up in accordance with the priority rating given to the building.

The aim is to support the responsible person to identify what steps they need to take and how they could prioritise their buildings to update their fire risk assessment to include external walls. The use of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool, together with this guidance, will be beneficial to responsible persons to show due diligence, and assist in establishing in any proceedings, that they are meeting their obligations under the FSO (as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021).

The use of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool is also not a mandatory requirement, and it is not necessary to use the tool before reviewing or updating a fire risk assessment.

For more information and access to the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool can be found here: https://bpt.homeoffice.gov.uk/.