Fire Safety in your Home
It is important to know the exit routes in your property and whether the fire safety policy in your home is to stay put or evacuate.
You can reduce the risk of fire in your home by doing the following:
- Install fire safety alarms and test them every week and change the batteries every year
- Keep the exits from your home clear and keep keys for doors and windows within easy reach
- Keep communal areas, corridors and staircases clear of items such as bikes, scooters, garden furniture and large plant pots so that everyone gets to leave the building easily
- No barbeques are allowed in communal areas or on balconies
- Don’t leave candles unattended when lit
- Fires often start in the kitchen. Keep an eye on your cooking and don’t leave children unattended
- Don’t smoke in bed
- Close doors at night to prevent the spread of fire
- Don’t overload electrical sockets
- Switch off and unplug items when not in use, especially if you are going away
Visit the London Fire Brigade’s website for more information
Evacuation Assistance
A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) is used to document how people will be evacuated when they have difficulty responding to a fire alarm or escaping from a building unaided, in the event of an emergency. If you need assistance to evacuate your building you may need a PEEP. Please fill in our Evacuation Assistance Form and our Health & Safety Team will get back to you.
Smoke Detectors & Fire Alarms
We recommend that you install the following alarms:
- Smoke alarms on the ceiling on each floor of your home
- A heat alarm in the kitchen
- A Carbon Monoxide alarm in the kitchen
Test the alarms every week and change the batteries every year. We suggest writing the date on the battery so you don’t forget when it needs to be changed.
Visit the London Fire Brigade’s website for more information.
Fire Risk Assessments
We carry our Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) for all buildings with communal areas. An FRA is an inspection to help us understand what the potential risks may be and to ensure that we can take the necessary actions to keep you safe in your home.
As a registered provider of social housing, it is a legal requirement that we do a FRA. We employ an experienced, qualified, independent specialist to carry out the inspections for us. They then produce a report (the FRA) with all the information they have gathered and a number of recommendations for us to do. We then put in place a plan to carry out the recommendations to improve the safety of your home.
In 2018, the Hackitt Report was published looking into building regulations and fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire, and calling for a new regulatory regime on fire safety. The Social Housing Green Paper was also published in 2018, which called for increased transparency in the social housing sector.
We are committing to making our business more transparent. We are happy to provide a shortened version of the most recent fire risk assessment relevant to your home on request. Please email compliance@sbhg.co.uk. We will provide this to you electronically within ten working days of your request.
If you live in a building with cladding on it that needs to be removed we will provide the fire risk assessment as part of the section 20 consultation on this.
Your Responsibilities
You have a responsibility to:
- Ensure communal areas are kept free of rubbish and personal property
- Allow access for inspections
- Alert us of any concerns regarding fire safety – for example fire alarm panel beeping
- Not smoke in communal areas – and maintain a general awareness of fire safety
- Allow us access - if requested - to complete necessary safety checks
If you fail to do so, we may have to take legal action to gain access. You may be liable for court costs.
Stay Put Policy
If your building has a Stay Put policy, in the event of a fire, you must follow this procedure:
- If a fire starts in your flat, get everyone out, close the doors behind you and leave the building. When you are safe, call 999.
- If a fire starts in a communal area, leave the building using the safest route and call 999.
- If a fire starts in another flat, stay put unless your flat is being affected by fire or smoke. There is fire protection provided in the building and the floors, walls and doors of each flat.
When you stay put, you reduce the risk of entering a smoky corridor unnecessarily and possibly being overwhelmed by smoke.
Staying put also means firefighters can tackle the fire safely and quickly without being delayed by residents coming down the stairways.
Visit the London Fire Brigade’s website for more information
Fire Door Inspections
To learn more about Fire Door Inspections, click here
About Shepherds Bush Housing Association
Part of The Guinness Partnership, we have more than 5000 homes, throughout nine boroughs in west London