The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 — A Plain-English Guide

Background

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 are secondary legislation under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. They implement many of the Phase 1 Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations.

Who do they apply to?

They apply to all multi-occupied residential buildings in England, but with escalating duties by height:

• All blocks (any height) — flat entrance door fire safety information for residents
• Buildings over 11m — quarterly fire door checks in communal areas; at-least-annual best-endeavours checks on flat entrance doors
• High-rise residential buildings (over 18m or at least 7 storeys) — additional duties: electronic information for the fire and rescue service, wayfinding signage, lift checks, secure information box, external wall information

Regulation 9 — Fire safety instructions for residents

You must display and give residents (and update annually) instructions on:

• The evacuation strategy for the building (stay-put or simultaneous)
• How to report a fire to the fire and rescue service
• What residents must do once a fire has occurred

(The importance of fire doors and how to report door faults is a separate duty under regulation 10(1)–(3) — covered below.)

Regulation 4 — Secure information box (high-rise residential buildings)

A secure information box (the industry often says “premises information box”), accessible to firefighters, containing building plans and contact details for the Responsible Person. This is one of the most under-implemented regulations — many high-rise residential buildings still do not have one.

Regulation 8 — Wayfinding signage (high-rise residential buildings)

Floor and flat identification must be clearly marked on each landing in stairways and lift lobbies, visible in low-level lighting or by torch. Photoluminescent signage is a common way to meet this.

Regulation 10 — Fire doors

This is the headline regulation:

• Quarterly checks on all communal area fire doors and self-closing devices
• At-least-annual checks, on a best-endeavours basis, on every flat entrance door that opens onto a common area

The Responsible Person must make sure the checks happen — the Government guidance is clear that no specialist is needed (caretakers, agents or maintenance staff can do them). The steps taken on flat entrance doors must be recorded (regulation 10(5)); recording communal checks the same way is best practice and what enforcing authorities expect to see.

Penalties

Failure to comply is a criminal offence under Article 32 of the Fire Safety Order. Magistrates can issue unlimited fines; serious cases go to Crown Court with the possibility of custody.

Practical implementation

Most managing agents we work with implement the regulations via:

1. A baseline survey of every door (FDIS-qualified)
2. A digital asset register and QR-tagging
3. A quarterly inspection round (porter or contractor)
4. An annual full survey by a competent third party (MetroFire or equivalent)

The record-keeping duty most blocks miss

Regulation 10(5) is explicit: the Responsible Person must keep a record of the steps taken to comply with the flat entrance door duty — including, where access to a flat was not granted in a 12-month period, the steps taken to try to gain access. A refused-access letter trail is not an admission of failure; it is exactly the evidence the regulation asks for. Keep the same discipline for communal door checks: an enforcing authority that finds quarterly checks with no record will treat them as checks that did not happen.

The resident information duty applies below 11 metres too

A detail that catches many Responsible Persons out: the fire door information duties in regulation 10(1) to 10(3) apply to any building with two or more sets of domestic premises and common parts residents would evacuate through — there is no 11-metre threshold on this part. Residents must be told that fire doors should be kept shut when not in use, that self-closing devices must not be tampered with, and that faults or damage should be reported immediately. New residents get this as soon as reasonably practicable; all residents get it again within each 12-month period. The 11-metre threshold applies to the checking duties in 10(4) and 10(6), not to resident information.

A quarterly communal door check, in practice

What a competent quarterly check actually looks at, door by door:

• The door closes fully and latches from any opening angle, without slamming or sticking
• The self-closing device is fitted, secure and actually closes the door
• Intumescent and smoke seals are present, continuous, undamaged and not painted over
• Perimeter gaps look consistent and sensible; daylight at the frame is a red flag
• Glazing is intact and beads are secure
• No wedges, hooks, disconnected closers or other hold-open improvisations
• Signage is present and legible on both faces (good practice, not a Regulation 10 item)
• Any damage, alteration or new hardware since the last check is noted for follow-up

Log each door against a unique reference, date the check, and track defects to closure. If a check raises doubt about whether a door would actually perform, that is the trigger for a full survey by a qualified inspector — see our fire door survey service.

If your block is over 11m and you do not have a quarterly check log for your communal fire doors — and an annual check programme for flat entrance doors — you are non-compliant today. Talk to us.