The BSI PAS 9980 document is an agreed best practice for the production of a Fire Risk Assessment of External Walls (FRAEW) for residential buildings.

The PAS 9980 document does not replace or change the EWS1 form, but a PAS 9980 compliant report can be used as the justification to explain an EWS1 decision. The EWS1 form exists to inform valuation of multi-occupancy residential buildings with cladding whilst a FRAEW carried out under the PAS serves to inform the Fire Risk Assessment of a residential building.

FRAEW are required when a Fire Risk Assessor needs more information about the external wall system of a building that they are assessing. Legally, external walls and their attachments must be considered within the Fire Risk Assessment of any multi-occupied building.

There are certain buildings that will not require a FRAEW, if it is clear that ‘risk to life from fire spread over external walls is not such as to warrant an FRAEW’. Some examples are:

• Buildings where the external wall construction is traditional masonry
• Buildings with an existing report
• Buildings that pre-date mid-1960

Here at SFI, we carry out FRAEW under the PAS 9980 document to ensure building owners meet their obligations under the Fire Safety Act 2021. Contact us today to find out more.

You can download a copy of the PAS 9980 from BSI here.