Fire practice

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order is one of the biggest shake-ups of fire safety in buildings for decades. Its heaviest impact will be felt by building owners and occupiers who now face the heavy responsibility of managing regular risk assessments to ensure their property complies with the law.

The RRO will also affect the work of fire safety engineers within building services consultancies. While design criteria for fire and security aren’t directly affected by the RRO, consideration will have to be given to how risk assessments will be carried out in a particular building – and who will be doing the work.

Paul Scott, director of fire and risk engineering at FaberMaunsell, says: “Designers will have to consider the quality of the fire safety management system or the availability of trained staff when deciding on what fire safety technology and techniques to use in a building. If we make assumptions about a particular escape route or, for example, that a particular staircase will be available for exit in a fire, then we must ensure that our assumptions in design are borne out in reality.”

Fire engineering experts also have to ensure that clients understand how the RRO will affect the flexibility of design, especially in commercial office space. Scott explains: “If you are trying to design a building as a commercial operation, the client needs flexibility. We have to be aware that they will bring in different tenants, and we won’t know what kind of business they are carrying on. For example, it could be a greater fire risk than original assumptions, or perhaps a group of workers who are under greater security risk.

“Clients have to be aware now that the rules on fire safety mean that this kind of flexibility may be reduced or that new fire safety measures will have to be introduced which could cost them down the line.”

Greater understanding

The issue of client education is important. Peter Bressington, director of Arup and a specialist in fire engineering, says: “I think that building operators will need to understand far more about fire safety than they do now. It won’t simply be left to a fire safety officer to carry out these checks. Some government guidance on the RRO has been issued (see box, right, Helping hand) which is good, but I still think there needs to be more training.”

For larger building operators, the building services consultancies are offering advice and practical services. Bressington confirms that this is a growing area of business for them:

“We have done and are carrying out some risk assessments for corporate clients. We have set up a standard procedure for the organisation so that they can carry out their own risk assessment. We also offer training for people, and have set up an intranet site to manage information and communication on fire safety. They can then run it themselves, and we go back every couple of years to ensure that it’s running smoothly.”

Neil Pennell of Land Securities says that his organisation is using professionals to ensure that their properties are correctly assessed and operating safely. “The main onus will be on the operational perspective. There is certainly a greater level of responsibility. We would employ a professional to carry out the assessment, in the same way that we use health and safety experts to carry out those necessary checks.”

Concern for smaller firms

For the larger property companies therefore, the RRO will be adding another series of checks and assessments, but these organisations are large enough to buy in expertise. Peter Bressington points out: “From our point of view, our services would be expensive for smaller businesses. There is a concern that even if the costs can be kept low, small businesses may be reluctant to pay for a professional risk assessment.”

This is why the RRO has raised some concerns over the ‘middle ground’ of properties – those that are not managed by large developers, but by smaller businesses who may not want or have the funds to spend money on professional help.

Peter Bressington says that there should be more government guidance made available on the RRO, and that the perception of the new legislation needs to be improved. He believes, though, that occupants in buildings benefit from having a greater understanding of safety issues.

“My experience of talking to people is that they want information about building safety and security, and feel better for having it. The RRO could be viewed by business as yet more red tape, but on the other hand, if this can be communicated in the right way, it could be very successful.”

The new RRO provides an opportunity for fire engineering and security experts to offer their know-how to building owners. While the larger consultants are serving the largest clients, there is clearly a market for those who can serve medium-sized organisations who find themselves facing much higher levels of responsibility and liability.