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Fire door safety campaigners demand public register of Responsible Persons

Fire door safety campaigners demand public register of Responsible Persons

In the shadow of the Grenfell Tower devastation, Fire Door Safety Week campaigners are renewing their call for a publicly available national register of Responsible Persons for fire safety in rented accommodation.
 
The register would require the name of the individual who has legal responsibility for fire safety in a building to be registered on a national database. Their name and contact details would be prominently displayed in the building to help tenants report any concerns.

In turn, the Responsible Person should sign a formal acknowledgement of duty of care and meet a mandatory minimum level of competence, said the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), organisers of the annual Fire Door Safety Week campaign.
 
Hannah Mansell, spokesperson for Fire Door Safety Week, who is also BWF Technical Manager, chair of the Passive Fire Protection Forum and a trustee of the Children’s Burns Trust, says:
 
“When we start digging, the identity of the Responsible Person is often a mystery. It can become very complex trying to identify who it is, especially in organisations that own or manage vast housing stock.

"Although the Fire Safety Order took effect over 10 years ago, our research shows that tenants don’t know who to report fire safety concerns to. Even worse, when we surveyed those who are responsible for fire safety, half of them didn’t even know or were unclear about their role.
 
“Under the Fire Safety Order, Responsible Persons have to ensure that a regular fire risk assessment (FRA) is carried out by a competent person and is documented.

"The FRA should examine all aspects of fire safety management, including active and passive fire protection measures, signage, means of escape and the specific fire plan procedures. 

"Their responsibilities also include acting on improvement advice and creating the emergency fire plan for the building, the key to this is arming the occupants with the knowledge of what to do in an emergency.”

The call for a register of Responsible Persons was first made following the inquest into the death of Sophie Rosser, 23, who died in 2012 following a fire in her block of flats in London. At her inquest, the Coroner was frustrated in her attempts to allocate the blame to any particular person or organisation.
 
Research last year confirmed the BWF’s fears that little has been done to address this problem. More than half of all tenants had no idea who the Responsible Person was for the building where they lived and even more worryingly, two thirds of low income households renting flats had never been given the emergency fire plan information.
 
Fire Door Safety Week, now in its fifth year, will run from 25th September to 1st October.

www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk
 

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