Page 48 - the SyI Quarterly 8

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the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Responsible Person is the person in charge
of ensuring the safety of residents in a building from fire, assessing risk and identifying suitable
preventative measures where needed.

The Responsible Person in a purpose-built block of flats with risk issues needs to review their fire risk
assessment to ensure they follow the new NFCC guidance. Security companies have the skills and
expertise to work with them to implement the most appropriate waking watch strategy.

It’s particularly important now as the COVID-19 pandemic means people are spending much more
time at home, so they need to be safe.

What’s the cost?
Research has found that waking watch patrols cost, on average, £137 a month to a flat owner. And the
number of affected buildings continues to rise. In London, 573 blocks now have waking watch patrols,
compared to 286 in March 2020.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced a £30 million Waking Watch Relief Fund in December
2020. This was reopened in May 2021 for one month. Despite the name, this fund does not pay for a
waking watch. It covers the cost of installing an alarm system for buildings over 17.70 metres in height
which have waking watch services in place, paid for by leaseholders.

The fund is mainly for the private sector, but social sector buildings where waking watch costs are, and
alarm costs will be, passed on to leaseholders are also eligible for this funding.

The fund has been criticised for not going far enough to help building owners and residents. There is
also concern that the application process has ended.

Local campaign group Ipswich Cladiators expressed disappointment that, out of the £30m fund, £22m
is for metropolitan areas, leaving a small amount for less-populated towns and cities.

Group founder Alex Dickin said “It doesn’t make sense to have a deadline when clearly this situation is
very fluid, and buildings are going to be ready to apply at different points.
“In my case, by the time the waking watch has finished, we will end up having to pay more than the
cost of the new alarm.”

With funding for alarm systems and removal of cladding taking longer than planned and perhaps
not going far enough, the security industry has a vital role to play in keeping building residents safe.
To avoid another tragedy like Grenfell, a waking watch patrol is essential as the eyes and ears on the
scene, checking for fire and safely evacuating residents.

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