The misunderstood importance of Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010

The primary objective of Regulation 38 is to ensure that the individual responsible for the management of a building possesses adequate information regarding fire safety measures to effectively manage the building’s safety. This should be passed over at handover of the building, following construction or works.

Compliance with Regulation 38 is achieved when the responsible individual has access to all necessary information to facilitate the following actions:

1. Comprehend and Implement the Building’s Fire Safety Strategy: The responsible individual must fully grasp and execute the fire safety strategy established for the building.
2. Maintain Fire Safety Systems: The responsible individual is obligated to maintain any fire safety systems installed within the building.
3. Conduct a Comprehensive Fire Risk Assessment: The responsible individual must conduct a thorough fire risk assessment of the building to comply with Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (fire safety) Order 2005 as amended.

Regulation 38 places a specific responsibility on the individual undertaking the construction work to provide fire safety information to the responsible person no later than the following dates:

1. If the building, proposed building, or extension to which the work relates is not occupied during the construction process, the date of completion of the work or the date of occupation of the building or extension, whichever is earlier.
2. In all other circumstances, the date of completion of the work.

Furthermore, the responsible individual must provide the individual undertaking the work with a notice acknowledging receipt of the fire safety information. This notice should confirm that the provided information is sufficient to enable the individual to comprehend, operate, and maintain the building (including its fire safety systems) effectively after the completion of the construction work.

On a number of recent projects we have worked on, we have found that the regulation 38 information was seriously lacking the detail required to enable the responsible person to effectively manage the building. When the principal contractor was challenged for additional information from their appointed 3rd party accredited contractors, it was obvious that some of this information had not been produced, when possible, during the works, which is clearly a requirement of the 3rd party certification schemes they belong to.

Is regulation 38 information being checked robustly enough?
At Robson Frankham as part of our Independent Fire Safety Assurance team we work with our clients through the detailed design of RIBA stage 4 and throughout construction to hand over. We have developed a robust system of checking Regulation 38 information to make sure buildings can be run safely for their users and occupants.

We work with our clients to outline what we expect within the Regulation 38 information, at the very early stages of works, so all parties are aware of what is expected of them. This is crucial, as when this is not done, far too often there is pressure being applied in the later stages to approve elements of work where there is inadequate evidence on compliance so buildings can be handed over.