It is worth noting that RPs cannot force a resident to engage in the PEEP process.
What do the Regulations require?
RPs (usually the building owner or manager) will be required to use reasonable endeavours to identify which relevant residents require a PEEP and then offer them one. It is for the RP to determine what is reasonable. Reasonable endeavours may include reviewing new tenant applications, visiting new tenants, calling tenants over a certain age to check concerns, contacting all residents, including questions in tenant surveys, resident meetings, and collating information from staff or contractors visiting homes for other reasons.
It is worth noting that RPs cannot force a resident to engage in the PEEP process. Therefore, whilst the Regulations will expect RPs to make reasonable efforts to identify relevant residents (not just those who self-identify), RPs will need to proactively encourage the exploration of the PEEP process with residents in a creative, but not forceful manner.
If the resident agrees to a PEEP, the RP will be required to offer a person-centred fire risk assessment (PCFRA), which can be prepared by trained staff through conversations with the resident or their representative. This must then be completed if the resident agreed and the RP must then facilitate conversations with the resident to ascertain the resident’s particular risks and identify how their fire safety/evacuation can be improved. The PCFRA can be incorporated into wider risk assessments that RPs may already complete so long as it includes the requirements in the Regulations for the PCFRA.
The RP must then implement reasonable and proportionate measures to mitigate the risks identified during the PCFRA. In deciding whether a measure is reasonable and proportionate the RP will need to consider the feasibility and the impact of a proposed safety measure, taking into account factors such as the degree of risk to the relevant resident and others, the likely effectiveness of the mitigation, its practicality, and the potential benefit to the safety of all building occupants, and cost (discussed further below).
Both the guidance and the toolkit provide examples of what may and may not be reasonable and proportionate. This is likely to be updated regularly as the government is asking RPs who find other solutions to share details of those so that they can be shared more widely. Current examples include additional fire drills and information about evacuation, fire safety checks and advice on reducing the likelihood of a fire (by RPs and fire services), upgrading fire doors, additional/alternative alarms, fire-resistant furniture/bedding/clothing, connection to remote monitoring systems, in-flat misters/sprinklers, or offering (but not forcing) relocation. Most examples focus on making the resident safer in their own home/alerting them to a fire, rather than evacuation, as this can be difficult to practically achieve ahead of fire service arrival where a resident has significant mobility issues.
At present, fire safety legislation only makes RPs responsible for fire risk in communal parts of residential buildings. The government guidance explains that in the near future the legislation will be extended to include the fire safety risks within the relevant resident’s domestic premises. Because of this, the government recommends that the inside of domestic premises should be considered as part of PCFRAs now.
Additionally, if the RP and resident agree, the information collected as part of the PCFRA should be used to prepare a written emergency evacuation statement to highlight what a resident should do in the event of a fire. If the resident provides their explicit consent to information being shared, that information can be shared with the relevant fire and rescue authority to assist in preparing any operational response in the unfortunate event of an evacuation being necessary. Government guidance indicates that only the absolutely necessary information should be shared with the fire and rescue services, and that the consent of the resident must be obtained beforehand, and in accordance with data protection legislation.
Finally, a building emergency evacuation plan needs to be prepared covering the whole building that aligns with the building’s fire risk assessment. This must be shared with the local fire and rescue authority and placed in any secure information box. This must detail the evacuation strategy, whether there are residents with PCFRAs/emergency evacuation statements, and any other arrangements for evacuating the building.
The completion of such risk assessments, emergency evacuation statements, and building emergency evacuation plans is not a task which should only be completed once. These Regulations, and indeed the government’s guidance on the same, places an ongoing duty on RPs to review these documents. The government guidance suggests that proactive conversations with residents should occur when a resident moves in, and annually, in addition to whenever a resident may request support.