599.Paragraph 1 amends the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (“the 1974 Act”) by inserting section 51B. Section 51B complements, in relation to occupied regulated buildings and relevant HMOs, provision made by article 47(1) of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (“FSO”).
600.Article 47(1) of the FSO disapplies provisions of the 1974 Act, and provisions made under that Act, insofar as those provisions relate to matters in relation to which requirements are or could be imposed by the FSO. For example, regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (made under the 1974 Act) requires employers to undertake risk assessments of workplaces. Such risk assessments do not cover fire safety matters because article 9 of the FSO requires the employer to carry out a fire risk assessment.
601.To the extent that the FSO continues to apply to regulated buildings and relevant HMOs (see paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 to this Act), article 47 will continue to disapply provision made by or under the 1974 Act.
602.Section 51B will continue to disapply, in relation to regulated buildings and relevant HMOs, provisions of the 1974 Act insofar as they relate to any matter in relation to which requirements were or could have been imposed by or under the FSO as the FSO had effect just before it was partially disapplied by paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 to this Act. Therefore, the existing disapplication of the 1974 Act and provisions made under it will be maintained in relation to regulated buildings and relevant HMOs.
603.Paragraphs 3 to 4 of this Schedule make consequential amendments to sections 24 and 24ZA of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 in respect of special measures managers, to ensure that a section 24 manager cannot be appointed to exercise functions that are exercisable by a special measures manager, and to provide that a special measures manager can make an application for the appointment of a section 24 manager.
604.Paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Schedule amend sections 2 and 4 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 in the light of the definition of building safety authority set out in section 122 of the Act and in particular the reference in section 122(8) to the area of a fire and rescue authority in Wales being interpreted in accordance with Part 1 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. This would allow the current effect of section 122 to be retained should changes be made to the areas of fire and rescue authorities by orders made under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
605.Paragraph 8 of this Schedule amends section 18B (8) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 to prevent a fire and rescue authority from charging for exercising its functions as an enforcing authority under the Act.
606.Paragraphs 9 to 12 of this Schedule amend the FSO to avoid unnecessary duplication between the FSO and the Act. Paragraph 10 inserts new article 7A into the FSO. Article 7A (1) provides that, except where paragraph (4) or (5) applies, the main provisions of the FSO that impose duties on responsible persons do not apply to occupied regulated buildings or relevant HMOs.
607.Paragraph (4) makes provision for the continued application of the FSO to the extent that the premises are a workplace, or that work is otherwise taking place there (for instance, by self-employed people). While most of the buildings covered by the Act are not normally workplaces, some of them are (e.g. if a caretaker or concierge is employed on the premises), and any of them could temporarily have work undertaken in them, for example when contractors or tradespeople are working on the premises. Workplaces and work activities give rise to different types of fire risk and the need for different mitigation measures compared to purely residential premises, and these specific work-related risks will remain covered by the FSO.
608.For example, assume that a caretaker works in the common parts of a block of flats. Those common parts are their workplace. While the Act applies to the block as a whole and its residents, the work of the caretaker including, for example, any flammable substances used during their work remain governed by the FSO. Their employer still has to conduct a risk assessment and take appropriate fire safety measures under the FSO. That employer might be the principal accountable person, in which case it should be possible to incorporate the FSO risk assessment and the Act fire risk assessment into the same document. But where the employer is a third party, they will have to conduct their own risk assessment under the FSO to discharge their responsibilities to their staff and other “relevant persons” (defined in article 2 of the FSO). Where premises are not a workplace, but work is taking place in, on or to the premises, the FSO will continue to apply to that extent.
609.Paragraph (3) of new article 7A disapplies articles 37 and 38 of the FSO from buildings in scope of the Act except where paragraph (5) applies. Articles 37 and 38 deal with firefighting on the premises and the protection of firefighters; these issues can be covered as appropriate in regulations under sections 32, 33, 84 and 85 of the Act.
610.The FSO continues to apply to premises, such as commercial premises, within an occupied regulated building for which no accountable person is responsible under regulations made under section 16 of the Act (paragraph (5)). Such commercial areas include offices or shops that are within an occupied regulated building (as opposed to being, for example, non-residential parts (see section 4) above or below a regulated building).
611.Paragraph 11 of this Schedule amends article 21A of the FSO so that it only applies to England. This article deals with the provision of information to residents of certain residential buildings. Under the Act similar requirements may be made, for example under section 49 (duty of accountable person to give information and documents to other persons).
612.Paragraph 12 of this Schedule amends article 22A of the FSO. Article 22A requires an outgoing responsible person (e.g. someone who is selling their interest in a property) to provide specified information about fire safety to the incoming responsible person. The amendment provides that this includes information about the identity of any accountable persons for the building under the Act. This requirement is likely to be particularly relevant, for example, in mixed use buildings such as those with flats above shops or other commercial premises.
Schedule 3 - Minor and consequential amendments