Fire safety during construction: contributing to the BSI PAS 9970 consultation

Construction sites are among the most challenging environments in which to manage fire risk — so the new PAS 9970 standards are a welcome step towards managing it more consistently. I was pleased to contribute comments to the BSI public consultation on PAS 9970-1 and PAS 9970-2, drawing directly on what I see on live projects.

What PAS 9970 sets out to do

The two parts tackle two sides of the same problem. One addresses how fire safety is organised and managed across the site as a whole — the coordination, responsibilities and arrangements that hold everything together. The other sets clearer expectations for the temporary fire detection and alarm systems relied upon during the construction phase, before the permanent systems are in place.

Why construction-phase fire safety is uniquely difficult

On a live site, almost nothing stays still. The layout changes week to week, the number of people on site rises and falls, and the materials being stored and worked with shift constantly. A fire safety plan written once at the start and filed away simply cannot keep up. Construction fire safety has to be living and coordinated — reviewed and adjusted as the project moves through its phases, so the controls always match the actual conditions on the ground.

Why standards like this matter

Clearer, shared standards raise the floor for the whole industry. Instead of every project improvising its own approach, teams can work to a consistent, recognised benchmark — which makes fire safety easier to plan, easier to audit, and ultimately more effective. Reviewing the drafts and feeding back from real-world experience is a small way to help get them right.

I will be following the consultation closely, and look forward to seeing how the final versions develop.

How we support construction projects

At Lion Risk Management Solutions we help developers, principal contractors and project teams manage fire safety through the construction phase — from fire strategies and RAMS and construction phase plans to practical, on-site fire safety arrangements that keep pace with the work. If you are planning or running a project in London and want fire safety handled properly from the outset, please get in touch.