Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

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A decision made 29 October 2012:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2012-0079
Decision Summary Title :	Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-		Date of Decision Summary:	29 October 2012
Decision Summary Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-		Date of Written Report:	29 October 2012
Written Report Author:	Director, Safer Communities Jersey Fire and Rescue Service		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the draft Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-.
Reason(s) for Decision: The draft Regulations designate the premises in respect of which a fire certificate issued under Article 3 of the Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977 is required and set out the circumstances in which persons are considered to form a single household for the purpose of deciding whether a fire certificate is required.
Resource Implications: There are no additional financial or manpower implications arising from this decision.
Action required: The Executive Officer, Home Affairs to request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the draft Regulations to be lodged ‘au Greffe’ for consideration by the States on 11 December 2012.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

DRAFT FIRE PRECAUTIONS (DESIGNATED PREMISES) (JERSEY) REGULATIONS 201-

REPORT

Summary

These draft Regulations introduce amendments to the Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 1979 (‘1979 Regulations’).

These Regulations designate premises in respect of which a fire certificate issued under Article 3 of the Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977 (“the Law”) is required. The revised Regulations will revoke and re-enact, with amendments, the 1979 Regulations.

Within the existing 1979 Regulations are definitions which place limitations and constraints on certain premises, and which because of other legislation or regulation preclude certain premises (which would otherwise be certificated) from the Law. The revised Regulations will include the introduction of a new House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) definition which will better define those premises deemed most at risk and remove some of the confusion and anomalies caused by the existing definitions. The revision will also set out the circumstances where persons are to be regarded as forming a single household for the purpose of ascertaining whether a fire certificate is required for a private dwelling.

The “Hospital” definition has also been amended by removing the words “administered by the States“. Without this amendment, any future development of a “Private Hospital” would exclude it from being designated as a “Hospital” within the confines of the Regulations.

The proposed recommendations for changes to the Regulations will help ensure that the States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service delivers an appropriate level of legislation to Island premises based upon risk and is able to maintain a consistent approach incorporating those premises which currently fall outside of legislation through legal anomalies, by defining them appropriately within the Law.

Background

The Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977 was promulgated on January 1st 1979, and from this came the Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 1979, which came into effect on January 1st 1980.

The Designated Premises Regulations, as amended, identify those premises which require a fire certificate, these are:

The use of premises as:

A hospital
A care or nursing home

As a building that:

Is part of a port or airport; and
Includes an area (not being part of a private club) that is used for the embarkation or disembarkation of passengers from any ship or aircraft.

The use of premises as:

A hostel
A lodging house
A residential school
Tourist accommodation

If and only if, either:

a) (i) Sleeping accommodation is provided in those premises for more than 5 persons, and

(ii) Some sleeping accommodation is provided in those premises above the first floor or below the ground floor; or

b) Sleeping accommodation is provided for more than 40 persons in those premises.

Since promulgation, all of those premises listed above have been certificated.

The definitions within the existing Regulations place limitations and constraints on certain types of premises, as shown above. However, because of legislation administered by other Regulatory authorities, there are certain premises (which would otherwise be certificated) which are excluded from Fire Precautions Law.

These premises are those which we would classify as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), such as:

Staff Accommodation
Converted Houses into Units of Accommodation
Farm Accommodation
Accommodation above Commercial Premises

These types of accommodation have, because of anomalies in law either been exempt from regulation, or have remained undesignated.

This has left certain premises, which effectively have the same criteria as those already designated, such as Lodging Houses and Hostels, without any legislative requirement for fire safety.

This imbalance is not only seen as unsafe for the occupants from a Fire Safety perspective but may also be construed as unfair on those who have to comply with Regulation because their premises are not exempt by definition from Law.

Because of the anomalies indicated above, it is proposed to introduce a new HMO definition to the Regulations. The proposed definition is the same as that identified within the UK Housing Act 2004 and that adopted as part of the UK Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. It will read as follows:

For the purposes of these Regulations, premises are used as a house in multiple occupation if –

(a) the premises comprise a building or part of a building in which –

(i) the living accommodation is occupied by persons who do not form a single household,

(ii) the living accommodation is occupied by those persons as their only or main residence or they are to be treated as so occupying it,

(iii) their occupation of the living accommodation constitutes the only use of that accommodation, and

(iv) two or more of the households who occupy the living accommodation share one or more basic amenities or the living accommodation is lacking in one or more basic amenities;

(b) the premises consist of a converted building which contains one or more units of living accommodation that do not consist of a self-contained flat or flats (whether or not it also contains any such flat or flats), and –

(i) the living accommodation is occupied by persons who do not form a single household,

(ii) the living accommodation is occupied by those persons as their only or main residence or they are to be treated as so occupying it, and

their occupation of the living accommodation constitutes the only use of that accommodation; or

(i) the building work undertaken in connection with the conversion does not does not comply with the requirements of the Building Bye-laws (Jersey) 2007, and

(ii) less than two-thirds of the flats are owner-occupied.

To ensure the proposal for the inclusion of an HMO definition within the Regulations for Designated Premises is not over onerous on business and commerce, the existing parameters relating to numbers of persons for which sleeping accommodation is provided will be the same as the existing Regulations, with a minor amendment to the paragraph to clarify the sleeping provisions as follows:

If and only if, either:

(a) the premises contain, or are used, or are capable of being used, as sleeping accommodation for more than 5 persons, and some or all of that sleeping accommodation is above the first floor or below the ground floor; or

(b) the premises contain sleeping accommodation for more than 40 persons in those premises.

It is also important to note that within the existing Law it identifies that a fire certificate is not required in respect of any house which is being used as a single private dwelling. It is proposed to amend the Law and alter that definition to:

A fire certificate shall not be required in respect of any premises that are used as a single dwelling by a single household.

This was considered for the draft Regulations in relation to a HMO and the circumstances where persons are to be regarded as forming a single household for the purpose of ascertaining whether a fire certificate is required for a single dwelling is clarified as follows:

For the purpose of Article 2(5) of the Law and of paragraph (2) –

(a) persons are to be regarded as not forming a single household unless they are all members of the same family or there exists any of the circumstances set out in Regulation 2;

(b) a person is a member of the same family as another person if –

(i) those persons are married to each other or in a civil partnership with each other, or live together as though husband and wife or civil partners,

(ii) one of them is a relative of the other, or

(iii) one of them is, or is a relative of, one member of a couple and the other is a relative of the other member of the couple;

(c) a “couple” means 2 persons who are married to each other or in a civil partnership with each other, or live together as though husband and wife or civil partners;

(d) “relative” means parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin;

(e) a relationship of the half-blood shall be treated as a relationship of the whole blood; and

(f) the stepchild of a person shall be treated as his or her child.

The existing definition of “hospital”, set out in the Fire Precautions (Designated Premises) (Jersey) Regulations 1979 has been amended, by removing the words “administered by the States”. The full definition currently reads:

“hospital” means any premises administered by the States and used for the reception of, and the provision of nursing for, persons suffering from any sickness, injury or infirmity, whether physical or mental, or for the reception of pregnant women or of women immediately after childbirth;

This definition precludes the Minister from designating any premises, which are not administered by the States, as a hospital, such as a “Private Hospital”. These premises would still require a fire certificate under the current Regulations; however, their designation in Law would be a “Care or Nursing Home”. This is deemed unacceptable as this definition is itself derived from another regulatory authority’s definition and does not define the use of such premises appropriately. The new definition will read:

“hospital” means any premises, other than a care or nursing home, used for the reception of, and the provision of nursing for, persons suffering from any sickness, injury or infirmity, whether physical or mental, or for the reception of pregnant women or of women immediately after childbirth;

Consultation

A consultation on the revised draft of the Regulations, along with the revised draft of the Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977, was undertaken in January 2012. There were no resultant comments referring to the amendments to the 1979 Regulations.

Below is the complete list of the organisations consulted:

Chief Minister’s Department

Comité des Connétables

Health and Safety Department – Social Security

Property Holdings

Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

The Association of Jersey Architects

The Lodging House Association

Jersey Hospitality Association

Planning and Environment Department

Health Protection

Health and Social Services

Population Office

Care Federation (Eileen Crabb Pinewood Care Home)

Economic Development Department

Housing Department

A Scrutiny Hearing on the draft Regulations took place in April 2012. Again, no comments were made by the panel in relation to the amendments to the 1979 Regulations.

Exemption

Although the Regulations, if approved alongside the Appointed Day Act, will come into force on 1st January 2013, the Minister was of the view that this did not allow sufficient time for the occupiers of premises which would require certification for the first time by virtue of these Regulations to make their initial application. Accordingly, Regulation 4 provides that Article 5(1) of the Law, which contains the criminal offences, will not apply to premises which would require certification for the first time until 1st April 2013. This enables applications for certificates to be from 1st April 2013 in relation to such premises without any potential criminal liability arising for failure so to do until 1st April 2013.

Financial and Manpower Statement

Some additional staffing demands are anticipated as a result of these Regulations. These will be met through internal adjustments in duties and responsibilities. Income will be generated as a result of the broadening of the range of premises requiring certification to include houses in multiple occupation. However, this will offset the cost to the Service of carrying out the necessary work to issue the certificates.