Resources to keep your tenants safe

Introducing STORsafe from metroSTOR

With deaths and injuries resulting from unsafe e-mobility devices on the rise, how do you control this risk?

STORsafe provides you with the resources you need to keep residents safe and aware. This includes downloadable leaflets and videos for your own campaigns, as well as our e-mobility risk mitigation template. We will also be holding roundtable strategy sessions with other housing and fire safety professionals. 

Roundtable Events

Discussion is key when coming up with a solution to any problem. To help further understand the issues faced by landlords, we will be planning and hosting roundtable events across the country. By pooling ideas together and putting plans into action, we can create safer households for all.

E-mobility Device Audit Tools

One of the biggest challenges right now is that as Landlords we have virtually no way of tracking the number of devices that are being stored within tenants individual flats, and indeed the current fire safety regulatory structure itself does not as such require this. However, many fire and building safety professionals believe that the severity of thermal runaway events and the potential for wider impacts involving the building structure and other occupants means we need to look beyond current policies, and this is something we’re looking to address soon with an incentivised device registration scheme.

Risk Mitigation Tools

If an audit shows that there are devices in your buildings then this risk needs to be assessed and mitigated appropriately. Some have suggested banning all e-mobility devices from residential buildings, as has been done on many public transport networks, but e-mobility devices have already become an essential pillar in sustainable transportation with many residents now relying on them for their financial and physical independence and quality of life, and to ban them without providing alternative safe charging spaces is simply not viable.

Providing safe charging spaces can be costly and takes up considerable space, which is often at a premium, particularly around high-rise blocks. Furthermore, users with limited mobility may need their device within their flats, so there’s clearly a need to assess each situation in detail rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. As this is likely to be very resource-heavy, we intend to incorporate qualifying questions and a requirement to upload photographic evidence as part of the registration process to help inform next steps.

We are also working on a template to help you match the appropriate risk-mitigation measure to each situation, in accordance with parameters set by your fire safety team. So, for example, an elderly resident with a mobility scooter in good condition with original lead-acid battery and charger is allowed to keep their scooter in their flat providing it’s not blocking their escape route, has an annual inspection and is covered by insurance, whereas a tenant working as a food delivery rider with a modified e-bike has to use an external charging locker.

60 Second Clips

Need a refresh? Come back to these bitesize clips any time and brush up on the dangers and causes of thermal runaway, non-conforming plugs and chargers, consumer advice and more. Presented by Electrical Safety First.

Electrical Safety First

Electrical Safety First are the UK’s leading charity on electrical safety. Their mission is to make sure that everyone in the UK can use electricity safely by regularly working with the media, government, businesses and the electrical industry to spread their messages far and wide.