Fire safety policy

At Magna, we are totally committed to ensuring the safety of our customers, colleagues and others who work with us. Our approach to managing the risk of fire is central to this commitment.

The purpose of this policy is to set out the principles that will shape our fire safety standards and procedures, ensuring that we meet, as a minimum, all legal and regulatory requirements in the way we design, construct, manage, service and maintain our homes.

Scope of this Policy

This policy applies to:

All homes, estates, communal buildings and offices owned and managed by Magna Housing;
All colleagues and those employed by Magna in the design, construction, management and maintenance of our homes;
All managing agents or lessees who manage or maintain homes and estates on our behalf.

The policy specifically covers:

Arrangements for risk assessing properties, undertaking fire risk assessments (FRA) and works arising from FRAs;
Completion and monitoring of person-centred risk assessments on vulnerable people;
Servicing, maintenance and installation of fire detection and protection equipment;
Regular inspections of properties to ensure that communal areas are sterile and that management issues are addressed;
The design, construction and maintenance of our homes;
Communication with customers on fire prevention measures and awareness.

Policy Statement

The safety of our customers, staff and contractors is at the heart of what we do at Magna. We are committed to ensuring that our arrangements to deliver the comprehensive range of fire management activities described in the scope consistently meet legal and regulatory requirements and achieve our Regulator’s Consumer Standard, as an absolute minimum. Where appropriate we will strive to achieve what is considered to be industry best practice.

In delivering this policy objective we are committed to ensuring that all those involved in managing fire safety at Magna demonstrate the appropriate competency levels and, where necessary, third party accreditation.

We are committed to building in a “golden thread” of quality from a fire safety perspective through the early stages of design, through the construction phase into management and maintenance of our homes.

Our customers are at the heart of our fire management arrangements. We will consult with customers on fire related activities, inform them about the outcome of FRAs, ensure awareness, provide advice and listen and respond to any safety related concerns.

The safety of our customers is paramount. We will ensure that resources and funding required to deliver fire safety related works are prioritised, taking into account a risk-based approach to the urgency of the work.

As a core safety service, we will ensure that performance on fire activity is regularly scrutinised to ensure continuous improvement and to ensure that any lessons are embedded.

Our Fire Safety Standard and Procedures

We want to make sure that we are really clear about the standards we are working to when it comes to fire management. We have developed a Fire Safety Standard, which defines what we will do to promote fire safety. The Standard explains who is responsible for delivering the service and details how frequently we expect to carry out specific activities in residents’ homes, in common areas and on estates.

The Standard is supported by clear procedures and instructions to ensure that the services are delivered consistently by our internal teams and by specialist contractors. The Standard and procedures are kept under constant review to ensure they are fit for purpose in a fast-changing environment.

Responsibilities for Fire Safety Management

The Director Customer Operations is the accountable person in relation to all aspects of fire management at Magna and is responsible for the development and review of the Fire Safety Policy and Fire Safety Standard, ensuring that these meet all regulatory requirements and guidance.

The Head of Building Safety and Compliance is responsible for operational delivery of fire management activities, for maintaining accurate fire related property data and is responsible for reporting on fire management in line with governance arrangements. The Head of Building Safety and Compliance is responsible for ensuring that residents are effectively consulted on all aspects of fire safety in their homes and estates.

Governance, Performance Management and Review

This policy, its associated Standard and operational procedures will be monitored and reviewed by the Director of Customer Operations annually. The policy will be considered and approved annually by Board.

A range of performance measures and indicators, relating directly to the Fire Safety Standard, will be agreed and will be reported to managers and directors as appropriate. High level performance indicators will be reported to Board on a regular basis in line with their approved balanced scorecard.

A report on fire management activities, including lessons learned from fire incidents will form part of the quarterly report to the Health and Safety Forum and will be included in the annual report to Board on corporate health and safety.