PCFRA Management in Dwellant: Overview, Legislation and Setup
Overview
A Person Centred Fire Risk Assessment (PCFRA) is a specialist, individualised fire safety assessment that focuses on a specific resident's ability to evacuate a building safely in the event of a fire or emergency. Unlike a standard Fire Risk Assessment (FRA), which evaluates the building as a whole, a PCFRA considers the unique physical, cognitive, behavioural, or support-related needs of an individual resident that may affect their ability to self-evacuate.
The PCFRA process is underpinned by the following key legislation:
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - Requires the Responsible Person to carry out a fire risk assessment and take into account any persons who may be especially at risk (Article 9(7) (b)).
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 - Strengthened fire safety requirements for multi-occupied residential buildings, including obligations around resident communication and evacuation information.
- Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 - In force from 6 April 2026, these regulations require Responsible Persons to proactively identify residents who may struggle to evacuate unassisted and formally offer them a PCFRA. These apply to qualifying high-rise and multi-residential buildings.
- BS 9792:2025 - The British Standard for fire risk assessments, introducing structured, person centred methodology and an emphasis on individual resident risk.
Where a PCFRA identifies that a resident requires additional support to evacuate, a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) must be created - a documented, personalised plan recording what the resident should do in the event of a fire, what assistance they need, and who will provide it.
Important: The PCFRA process must always be conducted with empathy and in a non-judgemental manner. You will be gathering very personal and sensitive information. It is essential that the resident is made to feel comfortable and at ease throughout.
Setting Up PCFRA in Dwellant
The PCFRA module is an overall privilege within Dwellant and must be enabled by Dwellant before it can be used. Please contact Dwellant support to request activation for your organisation.
Once the module is active, access is controlled via a dedicated Handling Group:
1. Create a new Handling Group and assign it the type 'Person Centred Fire Risk Assessment'.
2. Only users assigned to this Handling Group will be able to see and access the PCFRA
Management module within Dwellant.
Tip: This ensures that sensitive PCFRA information is only accessible to authorised personnel within your organisation.
The Resident Journey – Submitting a PCFRA Form
Accessing the PCFRA Management Module
Printing the PCFRA Summary for the Secure Information Box (SIB)