Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Annual statement of assurance 2024 - 2025

Strategic Goal 2: We will improve fire safety in the buildings people live and work in

This goal is focused on our statutory duties to enforce fire safety regulations.

In 2024/25 our key objectives were to:

  • Complete 2,000 fire safety audits, targeting high risk buildings
  • Complete 1,500 business safety checks on business premises
  • Promote fire safety in our communities through business engagement and networks
  • Proactively work with building owners to reduce call outs to false alarms and people marooned in lifts

Our focus for improvements included:

  • Working with regional partners to support the implementation of a new Building Safety Regulator
  • Embedding changes in our ways of working in response to new responsibilities imposed by the Building Safety Act 2022

During the year:

  • We successfully prosecuted one business for compliance breaches under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
  • We completed 1,113 fire safety audits
  • We carried out 1,545 business safety checks
  • We have continued to work alongside our partners as part of the Joint Audit and Inspection Team to inspect fire safety compliance in high-risk residential buildings
  • We completed 640 statutory building consultations with a further 155 follow up consultations
  • We responded to 317 statutory consultations on licensing applications with other licensing authorities
  • We conducted 27 shadow inspections in support of staff who are training as Fire Safety Advisers
  • We attended 171 incidents involving persons trapped in lifts, which is a 7% decrease on 2023/24

We also experienced an increase of 1.5% in the number of incidents which were classified as Unwanted Fire Signals (UwFS). This reflects a national trend and can be attributed to several reasons. We continue to work proactively with building managers to understand and address the causes of such incidents.

Other Highlights

Our Protection activity is focused on keeping people safe in buildings that are regulated under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and the Building Safety Act 2022. This statutory legislation relates to non-domestic premises which includes business premises, hospitals and care homes, high-rise buildings and student accommodation blocks.

Business education and engagement

As part of our statutory duty to educate and advise businesses, our business support team have used a range of activities and methods to engage with local businesses to provide guidance, support and advice on fire safety matters.

Following serious fires, the team undertake business reassurance and engagement (BRaE) activities to provide reassurance and support to local businesses, including fire risk assessments, business continuity guidance and information on keeping their premises safe from fire. In 2024/25 the team undertook 14 BRaE initiatives, leading to 113 direct engagements with local businesses.

During 2024 we launched our Diverse Interactions through Business Support (DIBS) initiative targeting small independent business owners (many from minority communities) to offer tailored fire safety advice and to support compliance. Over 3 events across the county, 107 businesses were offered support and information packs to assist with completing a Fire Risk Assessment.

We have continued to support business owners through a mixture of online workshops, local authority initiatives (Pubwatch), partnership events and direct enquiries. This has resulted in 404 engagements being delivered. We continue to provide advice to companies who have business premises within more than one fire and rescue service area through the Primary Authority Scheme.

During the life cycle of the 2022-25 CRMP, Nottinghamshire has seen an increase in the development of high-rise residential buildings. This has created an increase in fire alarm systems and provision. National Fire Chiefs Council guidance has also placed greater emphasis on buildings that are deemed to be of higher risk, requiring enhancements in fire alarm provision. These changes have contributed to an increase in the number of unwanted fire signals.

We continue to work with large organisations to reduce these unwanted fire signals with regular contact meetings and reports to identify trends and areas for improvement. These relationships have led to improved contractor procedures and redesign of equipment installations where necessary to meet our objective.

Fire Safety Inspections

Our Protection department is responsible for auditing and inspecting non- domestic premises as part of our statutory duty.

We work with landlords, business owners and those with responsibility for the management of non-domestic premises to ensure that they comply with fire safety regulations designed to keep the public safe from fire. Our inspectors provide advice, educate and, where necessary, issue advisory and statutory enforcement notices to make sure buildings are managed and maintained in line with the law. We have increased the size of the inspections team to ensure that we can meet increasing demand and keep our communities safe.

To ensure the public has trust in our fire safety inspectors we adhere to the NFCC Competence Framework for Fire Safety Regulators. This requires staff working on higher risk buildings to have additional professional accreditation through a robust and thorough application process with the Institution of Fire Engineers. Two Fire Safety Inspectors achieved membership to the Auditors Register in 2024 and we continue to support further applications.

We continue to develop the skills of the specialist staff within our teams to help ensure that we are prepared to meet the challenges that new legislation will bring in the future. This includes the development of staff in fire engineering, smoke control, sprinkler systems, external wall cladding and fire door safety checks. We have continued to develop and support operational managers who are now trained to inspect business premises in accordance with national competency standards. This increased capacity has allowed the service to audit lower risk business premises to ensure that they comply with the relevant fire safety legislation.

Consultations

We have continued to fulfil our duty as a statutory consultee for fire safety in new developments as part of the building control process.

Our work has continued to improve fire safety standards across the county in non-domestic premises as we engage and consult with other regulators including Environmental Health, Health and Safety Executive, Nottinghamshire Police, Care Quality Commission, Ofsted and The Food Standards Agency.

We form part of the consultation process for all planning applications, including those aligned to the development of Battery Energy Storage Sites (BESS) across our county.

Collaboration

Since the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 became law in January 2023, we have provided support to businesses regarding the implementation of the new legislation. The legislation has been implemented to improve the safety in high rise residential buildings and provide safety critical information about the buildings to the fire & rescue service.

We are also supporting the new Building Safety Regulator in their work to implement new regulations designed to ensure new and existing high rise residential buildings keep their residents and visitors safe from fire.

The service is supporting this regional response by working in collaboration with our colleagues in Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service and the Building Safety Regulator, which is part of the Health and Safety Executive, in a collaborative approach to the implementation of the new regulations.

We actively support the National Fire Sprinkler Network and British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association to help promote and provide guidance on the installation or retrofitting of sprinkler systems. We have seen the publication of 4 “Sprinkler Saves” reports for premises in Nottinghamshire which are shared with local MP’s, National Fire Chiefs Council & All-Party Parliamentary Group (Fire & Rescue) to raise awareness and produce evidence of their effectiveness. We continue to advocate for their installation within student accommodation and other premises.

The team has developed collaboration opportunities with the Police, providing fire safety input to their Designing Out Crime team and working closely with Licensing Officers to ensure landlords are meeting their legal duties in Nottinghamshire.

To help improve standards within the UK built environment we file reports with CROSS (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures) and other relevant groups to highlight significant fire safety challenges. During 2024/25 we have had number of reports published to share learning with the wider sector.