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Conservative MP introduces fire risk transparency bill to parliament
A Conservative MP has introduced a bill to parliament which would require building owners to tell residents about fire safety risks.
Maria Miller, MP for Basingstoke and chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, has introduced a bill to parliament which would require the organisation responsible for fire safety in a high-rise building to hold annual meetings with residents to tell them about these issues.
Ms Miller said residents are concerned there is a “lack of transparency” about who is responsible for fire safety in their buildings, and about the lack of information made available to them.
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Inside Housing has requested fire risk assessments for tower blocks owned by housing associations and councils, but this request has been denied by the majority of housing associations and some councils. The Information Commissioner has criticised social landlords who withhold fire risk assessments.
Ms Miller raised the situation of one of her constituents, who is renting a flat from a leaseholder in a privately owned block. The managing agent of his block refused to send him the block’s fire risk assessment “on the basis that they didn’t routinely make them available to residents”.
When Ms Miller managed to get hold of a copy of the fire risk assessment it revealed a number of fire risks including “serious faults” on the vent control panel, which was identified as a hazard for escape routes if a fire broke out in the building.
Under current legislation the responsible person for a building has to carry out regular fire risk assessments, but there is no timeframe in which these have to be carried out and the person carrying out the assessment does not need any specific qualifications.
Dame Judith Hackitt, who is leading an independent review into building regulations and fire safety, has called for fire risk assessments to be carried out at least annually and for them to be shared with residents.
Never Again campaign
Inside Housing has launched a campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire
Never Again: campaign asks
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
LANDLORDS
- Take immediate action to check cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take prompt, appropriate action to remedy any problems
- Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
GOVERNMENT
- Provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation
- Update and clarify building regulations immediately – with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date from the Grenfell inquiry
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.
