Public Consultation on the Draft Fire Safety Guide for Building Owners and Operators - Guide for Persons having Control under Section 18(2) Fire Services Acts 1981 & 2003

This draft code of practice has been developed as a result of the recommendations contained in Fire Safety in Ireland (2018) – the report of the Fire Safety Task Force, which was set up by the then Minister following the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017.

This draft document has been prepared in response to a specific recommendation in the Task Force report. It is proposed that the code of practice be issued under Section 18A of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003.

Section 18(2) of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003 places a duty on persons having control over all types of premises other than a dwelling house occupied as a single dwelling. This duty is focused on the requirement to make reasonable provisions for occupant safety. It is expected that this Guide will be of assistance to building owners and operators in providing standard guidance and advise on the range of duties with respect to fire safety. Heretofore, there has been no general national standard guidance for building owners and operators; it is expected that provision of this Guide will introduce a recognised national approach which will assist in this regard.

This code of practice will provide a framework for the on-going management and maintenance of buildings with respect to fire safety. It will provide for clarity and consistency of approach, nationally in making reasonable provisions for occupant safety. It will compliment and provide updated guidance to the existing suite of guidance documents published by the Department. These guidance documents relate to specific building occupancies eg: flats, places of assembly and continue to offer relevant guidance.

All correspondence regarding this public consultation should be sent to the following e-mail address: firesafetypublicconsultation@housing.gov.ie by close of business on 19th April 2022.

All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007-2014. Submissions are also subject to Data Protection legislation.

Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission and it will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

Please note that submissions received may be made available on the Department’s website, unless otherwise requested. In any event, all submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection legislation. See also the Privacy Statement.