Glossary
Waking Watch.
A continuous on-site fire watch carried out by trained staff, used as a compensatory measure in residential buildings where the design fire safety strategy cannot currently be relied upon. Typically an interim measure while remediation work is planned or carried out.
What a Waking Watch involves.
Trained staff (typically from a specialist Waking Watch contractor) patrol the building continuously, looking for signs of fire. On detection, they raise the alarm directly to residents (often using face-to-face contact, since the building's standard alarm may not be adequate for simultaneous evacuation), and call the fire and rescue service. The watch covers all hours of the day and night with rotating shifts.
When Waking Watch is appropriate and when it is not.
Waking Watch is genuinely a compensatory measure: it sits alongside, and in support of, the building's evacuation strategy while the underlying issues are addressed. It is not a long-term fire safety solution. Where it has run for years on a building waiting for remediation, the FRA records the position and the action plan tracks the path to a normal fire safety strategy. The cost and operational impact mean dutyholders are typically motivated to remove it as soon as the building condition permits.