HEALTH & SAFETY
Fire Risk Assessment and Health and Safety Rules
The following rules are in place to comply with legislation and help ensure the health and safety of all residents. Owners need to advise their tenants of the following at every tenancy change and for existing tenants they should be reminded of these annually. It it is the flat owners responsibility to ensure tenants understand all the rules if English is not their first language.
1. Smoking is not allowed in the communal hallways/stairways.
2. Residents must never leave any items in the hallways/stairways/ under stairs cupboard/grounds. Domestic rubbish must be placed in bins provided and recycling where available in areas provided.
3. No resident must plug an appliance or extension lead into any socket in the communal hallway.
4. Communal hallway windows must not be left open.
5. All fire doors including the flat front door must be allowed to close and must never be wedged open. The door and closing mechanism should not be tampered with. If you spot any faults with the door, it must be reported to flatcare@hotmail.co.uk or 01322 424502 if you do not use email.
6. All individual flats must be fitted with a smoke alarm, which should be checked regularly by the resident. Where rented it should be checked annually and before every let.
7. All domestic refuse must be bagged and placed into a communal bin. It must never be left anywhere else.
8. Non-domestic refuse e.g. furniture / beds must never be left in the communal areas/grounds.
9. All gas appliances must be passed as safe annually by an engineer registered on the Gas Safety Register
10. Where there are gas appliances all individual flats should be fitted with a carbon monoxide alarm. It should be checked annually and before every let where the flat is rented. It is a legal requirement to have one in any room that has a solid fuel burner.
11. Where oil is used in cooking this must be allowed to cool down and then disposed of in the refuse and not tipped down the sink
12. A flat front door, hinges, closer and letterbox have to meet the appropriate standard for testing to the appropriate period of fire resistance, normally minimum 30 minutes. There should not be a gap of more than 3mm. Any door replacement must meet this standard and you must get any door change sanctioned by us. Any electric meter cupboard near your front door when in the communal hallway must be kept locked at all times
Guidance
In addition to the above rules the following are guidance issues
1. It is recommended that all flats have a multipurpose fire extinguisher available.
2. It is strongly advised that residents do not cook with open pans full of cooking oil.
Owners who let their flats must ensure tenants are aware of these rules and owners remain responsible for their tenant’s actions. Owners may be charged where tenants breach any rule and any reoccurrence of a breach of any rule, or any one serious breach of rules may lead to the owner having to evict the tenant at the owner’s expense.
Please note that residents and visitors use the communal areas at their own risk. Any property liability issues must be directed to the property insurance provider and not to Flatcare.
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