If you are a landlord of either commercial or domestic properties, the law regarding fire safety applies to you and it has certain conditions that you must meet. For instance, when it comes to flats, the building must be designed and constructed so that there are appropriate provisions for the early warning of fire, and appropriate means of escape in case of fire, from the building to a place of safety outside. They must be capable of being safely and effectively used at all material times.
What this means is that you need to conduct a landlord fire risk assessment to ensure, among other things, that there are sufficient means for giving early warning of fire to residents and that all people are able to escape to somewhere safe without any outside help. The escape routes have to be sufficient in number and protected from the effects of fire and smoke. Escape routes also have to be sufficiently signposted and lit. There also have to be appropriate provisions in place to support a “stay put” evacuation strategy.
Most Fires Begin In The Individual Flats
Most fires in buildings containing flats begin in one of the flats themselves, and the main cause is overloaded electrical sockets. This means that there needs to be sufficient electrical sockets to support the various things that we use today such as TV, table lamps, DVD players, CD players, WiFi, laptops, and so on.
Another danger is chip pans when resident forgets to turn off the hob, so a fire risk assessment must include provision of a heat alarm in the kitchens. In short, the fire risk assessment must include all those things that can cause a fire.
Your landlord fire risk assessment must also include the front doors to each individual flat. These must be fire doors, and they should have thumb turn locks. This enables people to escape a flat in an emergency if they cannot find the key to hand. The front doors should also have a suitable self-closing device fitted.
There are lots of other things that you are responsible for as a landlord. At UK-Fire Risk Assessments, we can help you by carrying out your risk assessments for you.