Reporting on Phase 1 of its work, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry
recommended that the owner of every high-rise residential building
should be required by law to prepare a Personal Emergency
Evacuation Plan (PEEP) for all residents whose ability to
self-evacuate might be compromised. A list of residents with PEEPs
should be required to be kept in the premises information box for
use by the Fire and Rescue Service. The Home Office consulted on
the proposed implementation of these recommendations in the summer
of 2021; it published its response to the consultation on 18 May
2022.
In its response, the Home Office concluded that it would not be
appropriate to implement the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations as
proposed. The response found that, while there is considerable
support for measures to improve the fire safety of residents who
are unable to self-evacuate in an emergency situation, there were
widespread concern that PEEPs were not a practicable, proportional
or necessary response in all high-rise buildings.
On 22 June, the Home Office consulted on more limited proposals
under the title Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing
(EEIS). These proposals do not apply to all high-rise
buildings, but only those with simultaneous evacuation strategies
(i.e. where stay-out does not apply). In such buildings, the
Responsible Person (RP) would be expected to ask residents to
identify themselves if in need of support with evacuation. A
home visit by the Fire and Rescue Service would be arranged for all
those who self-identify as in need of support, and a fire risk
assessment made, together with measures to mitigate this risk where
possible, which could include support in the event of evacuation.
The consultation paper argues that some PEEPs may be needed but
they would be rare.
ARCH will be submitting a response to the consultation and would
welcome views from member authorities and tenants on the new
proposals. Please send comments to Matthew Warburton (matthew.warburton@arch-housing.org.uk)
by Friday 5 August to enable the response to be completed by the
consultation deadline of Wednesday 10 August.