The Home Office has introduced an important piece of work being conducted to improve its understanding of the people currently conducting fire risk assessments and will use the findings of the survey to inform policy development work by the UK and devolved governments.
Please note the Home Office has stated while there has been a good response so far, they would like to ensure that the summer holiday season does not prevent people from having time to add their views and experiences. The decision has been made to keep the survey open for a further month and will remain open until 23:59 on 1 September 2023.
Information from the Home Office
"As you may be aware, there is considerable work underway to strengthen the building and fire safety regulatory systems, not least through the changes being brought about by the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, and the Building Safety Act 2022."
"These changes will have a significant impact on the fire risk assessor sector, and with that in mind, we are keen to gain a better understanding of capacity and capability within the sector. We are also working with the sector to consider issues about professionalization within the fire risk assessor industry and your answers to these questions will very much help to support this work."
Fire risk assessments
"We therefore invite anyone who undertakes fire risk assessments (either for a professional fee or for buildings they or their employers manage) to complete the survey."
"The survey will ask questions about your pathway into conducting fire risk assessments, any training and continuous professional development you have done, and the types of buildings you fire risk assess. We will use the findings of the survey to inform policy development work by the UK and devolved governments."
Survey focus
"We understand that members of several professional bodies involved in fire risk assessment who took part in a survey in spring 2022, may see some similar questions, but this survey focuses more on assessors’ career paths and professional development activities available to them."
"Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone else you know who undertakes fire risk assessments, as the more responses we get, the better the picture will be that we can build up the fire risk assessment workforce."
Completion and Feedback
"The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete, depending on how much you want to tell us, and will remain open until 23:59 on Monday 31st July 2023 (now extended to 23:59 on 1 September 2023)."
"If you need to exit the survey and return at a later date, please select the ‘save and continue later’ button at the bottom of any page so that you can request an email with a personalized secure link that will enable you to return to complete the rest of the survey later."
Conducted by
"The survey is being conducted by the Home Office by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR. Participation in this survey is completely voluntary, your answers will be kept confidential, and no individual or organization will be identified in any reporting."
"You will not be asked to provide your name or that of your employer. We may also share anonymized aggregate results with devolved administrations and professional bodies who are supporting us in conducting this survey and the industry professionalization work mentioned above."
Responsible Persons and Fire Safety Survey
The Home Office would also like to draw attention to a survey of Responsible Persons being conducted. The survey aims to explore how recent fire safety legislation has affected those individuals.
Please feel free to pass this link to anyone users know within, or beyond, their organization who is an owner, employer, or occupier of a premises under the Fire Safety Order in England.