Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold part of the information you have requested.
Please see below the answer to your request.
Questions and final response:
Question 1 – The number of low, medium and high-rise residential buildings in your area (or your current/best estimate of them) covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005?
Within the ECFRS Area, we have the following:
Purpose Built Flats 1-3 Storeys 1514
Purpose Built Flats 4-5 Storeys 263
Purpose Built Flats 6-9 Storeys 87
Purpose Built Flats over 10 Storeys 60
Question 2 – The total number of deficiency and/or enforcement notices served to the owners of these buildings relating to means of escape (Articles 14(2)(b) & 15 (1)(b)), since July 2021 to the date of this FOI?
This data is included in the data on the Gov.uk site fire-statistics-data-tables-fire1204-010922.xlsx (live.com), FS6 and FS8 Raw tab is where this information is held, select the year, relevant fire service, articles etc to display the data for Essex. The data shown is up to date to End of March 2022.
Fifteen Notices of Deficiencies have been issued since July 2021.
The Enforcement Register can be found on the National Fire Chiefs Council site Microsoft Power BI, you can adjust the date range to see all enforcements issued within the range and which premises that they have been issued to and for which article.
One Enforcement notice has been issued since July 2021 for the specific articles relating to the specified buildings in your request.
Question 3 –The number of deficiency and/or enforcement notices served to the owners of these buildings specifically relating to the identification of vulnerable and disabled residents, and planning for their escape (Articles 14(2)(b) & 15 (1)(b)), since July 2021 to the date of this FOI?
We have issued fifteen Deficiency letters in relation to the identification of vulnerable and disabled residents, and planning for their escape (Articles 14(2)(b) & 15 (1)(b)).
Question 4 –Copies of the notices referred to in (3)?
Please find copies of the fifteen Deficiency notices issued by ECFRS since July 2021.
Question 5 – The fire authority's current policy covering the evacuation of disabled people from multi-occupancy buildings during a fire?
The current fire safety legislation in England and Wales – the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 –requiring that employers or organisations providing services to the public take responsibility for ensuring that all people, including disabled people, can leave the building they control safely in the event of a fire.
The Fire Risk Assessment that is produced by the Responsible Person will be asked to consider the arrangements for their specific building and evacuation procedures, these procedures include provision for all occupiers to evacuate safely.
Where appropriate the responsible person may have created a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP).
We will, wherever possible and safe to do so, follow the information and guidance in any PEEP that we are provided with by the Responsible Person.
ECFRS have Site Specific Risk Plans for multi occupancy buildings within Essex, these plans include a section that asks for the details of the evacuation procedure in place for the specific premise.
These plans are regularly updated and are available to our employees to provide familiarisation with these types of buildings and in the event of an incident, these plans are an essential part of our operational strategy.
The guidance for recording of evacuation information is that it would be recorded within the Site Specific Risk Plan (SSRP) for the property – noting that we only record SSRP information that have scored 3 or above in Provision of Operational Risk Information System (PORIS) scoring.