“These requirements apply to all non-domestic premises, such as where people work, visit or stay, including workplaces, and the non-domestic parts of multi-occupied residential buildings (e.g. communal corridors, stairways, plant rooms). The requirements do not apply within individual domestic premises.”
Taken from
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...r-section-156-of-the-building-safety-act-2022
Now you know as much as I do.
When new regulations are introduced it’s always a bit of an unknown, trying to understand how they will be interpreted and enforced. The “intention” of the regulations is always helpful with enforcement officers trying to follow the spirit of the changes until there have been a few successful prosecutions which give further clarity.
What you really need to ask yourself is “do you want to try and argue that these regulations don’t apply to you and your clients don’t deserve the same protection that would apply in any other public space?”
I would gently suggest that you should do your risk assessment because you want to be safe and then write down your thoughts. There are loads of free resources from fire brigades posted on the internet to help you with the process. Having had a small fire (a light exploded and caught fire) that needed the fire brigade, I know that they have always taken a dim view of businesses that cannot prove that they have carefully considered how to manage the risks of fire - even if they don’t have a legal obligation to produce a written document.
Fire brigades always investigate if they are called out. That’s quite an important part of their work. And if you ever need to claim on your insurance you’ll need a fire brigade report clearing you of responsibility for the fire. That’s hard to do without even a risk assessment to show you’d exercised reasonable care.
There are lots of companies that can prepare a risk assessment for a modest fee. It will save you the hassle of preparing your own, I’m qualified to undertake my own risk assessment but I still paid for a professional report because it’s good to have another opinion. He picked up that I didn’t have a log to show I was checking my emergency lighting, so now I make a note in my diary as part of my routine.
