UK changes to fire and rescue services attendance policies. What building managers and the responsible person need to know.

Automatic Fire Alarms can create false alarms

Automatic Fire Alarms alert to potential fires. However, many activations are false alarms called Unwanted Fire Signals. These false alarms divert valuable resources from genuine emergencies and can create risks to public safety.

Fire and Rescue Services across the UK are looking to reduce the cost of this waste of resources wherever possible. The Home Office's recent FRS statistics show that 43% of incidents attended in England during the year ending June 2024 were unwanted alarms.¹

London Fire Brigade alone attended 52,000 unwanted alarms from April 2023 to March 2024, most of which were triggered by automatic systems. 99% were false alarms.²

UK Fire Service Attendance Policies Might Have Changed

Every UK Fire and Rescue Service will have its own attendance policy. You should confirm what the attendance policy of your Fire and Rescue Service is.

Some will not respond to fire calls generated by AFA systems in non-domestic, medium, and low-risk premises unless a fire is confirmed via a 999 call or there are visible signs of fire at the location.

Responsibilities of Business Owners and Responsible Persons

In non-domestic premises covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person - typically the employer, owner, or someone with control over the premises - must ensure the safety of occupants in the event of a fire. This includes defining actions to be taken if the automatic fire alarm system activates.

If you are responsible for a commercial building that is covered by these regulations, your obligations and duties include:

1. Fire Risk Assessment

 

Carry out periodic fire risk assessments and manage your premises to reduce the risk of fires, keep people safe and minimise the effects of any fires that do take hold.

 

Ensure you record any changes to your existing fire alarm procedures within your fire risk assessment and communicate them to all staff. You should review and update your fire risk assessment to reflect changes to your local Fire and Rescue Service attendance policy.

 

 

Remember that all fire risk assessments and general fire safety arrangements should be based on evacuation without the need for fire and rescue service intervention. 

 

 

2. Emergency Procedures to Respond to a Fire Alarm

 

 

Develop an emergency plan that includes procedures for investigating automatic fire alarms safely. This should include a process for dealing with alarms during and outside of core working hours. Your plan should enable you to differentiate between unwanted alarms and actual fires.

 

 

Ensure that all employees are aware of what action to take to both prevent a fire and effectively evacuate and alert the Fire and Rescue Services.

 

 

3. Confirmation of Fire

 

 

The changes might mean your local Fire and Rescue Service requires someone at your site to confirm the presence of a fire. For example your local Fire and Rescue Authority policy may require confirmation between 06:00 – 19:00 on any day of the week including weekends and bank holidays. The presence of a fire must be confirmed by calling 999, unless the building is exempt. This confirmation is essential to dispatch emergency resources.

 

 

Unless you have arrangements in place to provide the confirmation at the times required by your local service then your site could be at risk.

 

 

If a caller has good reason to believe that an alarm is sounding because there is a fire, then the Fire and Rescue Service will send a response. A good reason for believing there is a fire includes seeing fire, smoke or smelling burning.

 

 

Multiple detector heads or manual call points actuating alone do not necessarily mean a fire is occurring and, if it is safe to do so, should be investigated and considered alongside other indicators. Confirmation of actuation of a sprinkler flow switch will normally be considered as a good reason to believe there is a fire.

 

 

It is important that the person making the confirmation call is able to explain what the good reasons are as to why they believe a fire has started. This is so the responses to any fires can be subject to consideration if the building is classed as non-exempt from the automatic fire activation policy.

 

 

4. Staff Training

 

 

Ensure all employees or occupants of the building are aware of the new procedures and their role in responding to automatic fire alarms. This includes understanding how to safely evacuate the premises to an assembly point and report a fire, as well as making the 999 call and being prepared to relay the necessary information – such as location of fire, persons reported, or hazards - to the fire incident commander.

 

 

5. Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs)

 

 

Ensure your alarm monitoring company are aware of the nature of the facility or nature of the business currently using the building e.g. a children’s nursery, or food storage warehouse.

 

 

If your premises use an ARC, it is important to coordinate with the provider to ensure they can distinguish between unwanted alarms and confirmed fires. This will help streamline the process of reporting to the local Fire and Rescue Service.

 

 

ARCs or the Fire Service Control may challenge all non-domestic premise AFA calls. If you call 999 about an AFA, be prepared to answer questions about residential occupancies, for example sleeping risks and signs of fire. If an investigation has taken place, and there is a fire or signs of fire (smoke, heat, smell, sound) clearly state to the call handler that this is a confirmed fire call and not just an automatic fire alarm sounding.

 

 

In the event of a confirmed fire, ensure you have a process in place to safely evacuate the building and for a person to call 999 to confirm a fire has broken out. Ensure all employees or people using the premises are aware of your procedure.

 

 

Ensure you provide your alarm monitoring company with the relevant keyholder information. Out of hours, the keyholder should be able to arrive at the building within 20 minutes. If this is not possible then a third-party Security Industry Authority or accredited key holding service should be used.

 

 

6. Maintenance of the Automatic Fire Alarm System

 

 

Ensure your automatic fire alarm is maintained periodically by a qualified third-party British Approvals for Fire Equipment (BAFE) SP101 registered engineer and tested.

 

 

7. Preventing False Alarms

 

Prevention is always better than cure. Avoiding unnecessary fire alarm activations ensures your organisation is not disrupted.

Further guidance on how to avoid unwanted alarms is available by watching this video: NFCC Reducing unwanted alarms in the workplace

By understanding and adapting to these changes and updating your own fire safety policies and procedures, building managers and Responsible Persons can ensure compliance and maintain the safety of their premises.