Fire Risk Assessment for Flats BS 9792:2025 Ready

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that fire risk assessments must include external walls, including cladding, insulation, and balcony construction. Many blocks have combustible materials that were compliant when installed but now present unacceptable risks. External wall fires can spread rapidly, bypass internal compartmentation, and compromise evacuation strategies. Buildings over 11 metres face particular scrutiny, and insurers increasingly require external wall assessments before providing cover.

Fire doors are your building’s primary defence, containing fire and smoke within compartments to protect escape routes and give residents time to evacuate safely. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduced mandatory quarterly inspections of communal fire doors and annual inspections of flat entrance doors in buildings over 11 metres. Self-closing devices are now required on all flat entrance doors under the Fire Safety Act 2021. Defective fire doors are the single most common enforcement issue—responsible for over 10,000 enforcement actions last year alone.

Compartmentation divides buildings into fire-resistant sections, preventing fire and smoke spread between flats and protecting escape routes. Breaches commonly occur at service penetrations (pipes, cables, ventilation), within ceiling and wall voids, around meter cupboards, at structural joints, and where modifications have been made without proper fire stopping. In blocks relying on stay-put evacuation, compromised compartmentation can turn a contained flat fire into a building-wide emergency, endangering residents who remain in their homes expecting the fire to be contained.

Escape routes in residential blocks must be kept clear, adequately lit, and free from fire hazards at all times. Common issues include storage in corridors and stairwells, bicycles and pushchairs blocking routes, combustible materials increasing fire load, failed or inadequate emergency lighting, missing or incorrect fire safety signage, locked or obstructed final exits, and accumulation of rubbish. These issues are often the result of poor management practices rather than building deficiencies, making ongoing compliance as important as the initial assessment.

The correct evacuation strategy is fundamental to resident safety, yet many blocks operate the wrong strategy for their building type. Purpose-built blocks with adequate compartmentation typically use “stay put,” where only affected residents evacuate while others remain safely in their flats. Converted buildings, those with compromised compartmentation, or buildings with communal alarm systems often require “simultaneous evacuation” where everyone leaves immediately. Using the wrong strategy can either cause unnecessary evacuation panic or leave residents in danger when they should be leaving. New Residential PEEP regulations from April 2026 add further complexity for high-rise buildings.

Residents must understand what to do in a fire emergency—yet many blocks fail to provide clear, accurate information. Regulation 9 of the Fire Safety Order requires Responsible Persons to provide comprehensible fire safety information to all residents. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 strengthened requirements for buildings over 11 metres, mandating information about evacuation strategy, fire doors, and building fire safety measures. For high-rise buildings, Section 156 of the Building Safety Act requires maintaining a “golden thread” of building safety information. Many blocks still display outdated notices with incorrect evacuation advice.