Warning government-endorsed fire safety guide could lead to ‘unnecessary tragedy’ issued in 2011

The guidance, which was commissioned by government and was a key text for social landlords, has been subject to controversy since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 largely because of its advice around PEEPs and strong support for the “stay put” principle.

In April this year, the LGA withdrew the guidance from its website saying that “changes in government policy and regulation mean that it is now out of date”.

The Home Office later republished the guide with the section on PEEPs greyed out and is currently working on a new version expected to appear later this year.

The family of Sakina Afrasehabi, a disabled woman who lived on the 18th floor of Grenfell Tower and died in the fire alongside her sister Fatima, had previously threatened legal action over the plan to republish the guidance as part of a campaign on the issue of PEEPs.

Mr Todd said he could not remember seeing Ms Grant’s letter but accepted that he must have done as he was copied into emails from the LGA requesting that his consultancy, CS Todd & Associates, draft a response.

The response insisting that it was not “reasonable and practical” to recommend evacuation plans for disabled people “by way of default in all blocks of flats”.

To do so “would place a significant burden on those managing blocks of flats to continuously update the information”, it said.

Mr Todd agreed today that the reluctance was mostly based on practical concerns from landlords.

He said the issue was “absolutely” discussed with officials at the DCLG (now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), who were copied in to the email chain.

The inquiry was also shown comments from the Chief Fire Officers Association’s (CFOA) response to a consultation on a draft version of the guide.

Answering a consultation question about whether the guidance dealt adequately with disabled people needing evacuation help in a fire, the CFOA said: “To ignore and eliminate advice on disabled access and evacuation is a fundamental error of the document and is recommended that it must be included.”

Yesterday, Mr Todd told the inquiry that legal obligations to make provision for safe evacuation of residents were understood by the industry not to apply to disabled people in blocks of flats.

In its phase one report, the inquiry recommended that “the owner and manager of every residential high-rise be legally required to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised”.

Government is still wrestling with the issue of how to implement this recommendation amid industry concerns about the practicalities.

After the first phase of the inquiry, chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick recommended they be required for all high rises, but the government did not initially follow this recommended. This followed an industry response group led by the Fire Industry Association, of which Mr Todd is a director, warning that doing so would be “totally impracticable” in a behind closed doors meeting.

RBKC has accepted it did not provide PEEPs for any residents and the fire was described by lawyers acting for survivors and bereaved as a “landmark act of discrimination” against disabled and vulnerable people.

The inquiry continues.