New Fire Law Safety
Any changes to fire safety law are going to have a significant impact on the events business and other high foot-fall operations.
Demands for changes to the law, particularly with regard to public safety come and go but the usual test of whether the government actually tends to legislate is whether it appears in the Queen’s speech. Last year the Government accepted the findings of the Hackitt report that looked into the Grenfell fire. The Queen’s Speech for the opening of this parliament outlined that fire safety will be made a key priority in 2020, with new measures also set to be brought forward to improve building safety.
The proposed Bill highlighted the concerns of Dame Judith Hackitt’s review, which found the “current regulatory system is not fit for purpose in relation to high-rise and complex buildings”. Currently the Bill’s provisions would only cover England, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland remaining independent from any changes.
Of course the devil will be in the detail and there will be a consultative phase but the concern for the events business is what is meant by ‘complex buildings’. Fire safety law was comprehensively reviewed and greatly simplified with the introduction of the Regulatory (Fire Safety) Order in 2005 and the Home Office produced specific guidance for events. Even so there are still some inconsistencies not least with British Standard 9999 which followed and was updated in 2017.
Would this new law fit around existing law or replace it?
The various event industry committees and forums that cover fire safety will need to track progress of this proposed legislation carefully to ensure that the new law fully takes into account the industry’s needs and is fit for purpose.
