Building owners responsible for high-rise residential properties are increasingly required to make fast, informed decisions about fire safety. Where cladding, compartmentation or alarm systems fall short of current standards, a waking watch is often the only way to keep residents safe until remedial works are finished.
Getting this right involves more than hiring the first available provider. In this guide, we’ll walk through what a waking watch actually requires, how to assess whether one is needed, what good practice looks like, and how to manage the process responsibly from start to finish.
When a Waking Watch Is Required
A waking watch becomes necessary when a building’s fire risk assessment identifies that residents cannot safely rely on existing systems or building design to detect and respond to a fire. This is common in buildings affected by cladding defects or compartmentation failures.
The decision should always come from a competent fire risk assessor, not from the building owner’s own judgement or cost considerations.
What the Fire Risk Assessment Should Cover
A proper assessment looks at compartmentation, means of escape, alarm coverage and the likelihood of fire spread. It should clearly state whether interim measures such as a waking watch are needed, and what specific patrol pattern is appropriate for the building’s layout.
This document becomes the reference point for everything that follows, including how the waking watch is scoped and staffed.
Selecting a Competent Provider
Not every security or patrol company is equipped to deliver a proper waking watch. Building owners should look for providers with specific fire safety training, clear supervision structures and a track record of working on similar buildings.
Ask for evidence of staff training, shift patterns and how incidents are escalated. A provider that cannot answer these questions clearly is not the right fit.
Setting Clear Patrol Standards
Patrol frequency, coverage areas and reporting requirements should be written into the contract, not left to informal arrangement. Most buildings need continuous patrols with documented rounds at set intervals throughout every shift.
Vague instructions lead to inconsistent coverage, which defeats the purpose of having a waking watch at all.
Communicating With Residents
Residents living through a waking watch period are often anxious, particularly if the reason for it relates to building safety issues that have made the news. Clear, regular communication about what is happening and why helps reduce that anxiety.
Building owners should explain what the waking watch involves, how long it is expected to last, and what progress is being made on the underlying defects.
Managing Cost and Service Charge Impact
A full waking watch is one of the most expensive interim fire safety measures available, and that cost is usually passed to leaseholders through service charges. This has become a significant point of tension in many affected buildings.
Waking watch fire safety delivered by an experienced provider can help control that cost by ensuring the service is scoped correctly from the outset, rather than over-specified out of caution or under-specified due to poor advice.
Monitoring and Reviewing the Arrangement
A waking watch should never be treated as fit and forget. Regular reviews with the fire risk assessor and provider help confirm the arrangement still matches the building’s risk level as remedial works progress.
Reviews also create a natural point to check patrol records, resident feedback and any incidents that have occurred.
Planning the Exit From Waking Watch
The end goal is always to remove the need for continuous human patrols, usually once remedial building works are complete or a temporary or permanent alarm system is installed. This transition should be planned early rather than treated as an afterthought once works are nearing completion.
A clear exit plan also gives leaseholders visibility on when costs are likely to reduce.
Documentation Building Owners Should Keep
Patrol logs, fire risk assessments, contractor correspondence and resident communications should all be retained. This record demonstrates due diligence and can be essential if a dispute or insurance claim arises later.
Good documentation also makes the eventual handover to a permanent fire safety solution far more straightforward.
Waking watch fire safety is not a task to delegate lightly or manage informally. Building owners carry direct responsibility for resident safety throughout the interim period, and that responsibility does not lessen because a third-party provider is involved. A properly scoped, well-managed waking watch protects residents, satisfies regulatory and insurance expectations, and keeps costs proportionate to actual risk. Building owners who treat it as a serious operational commitment, rather than a temporary inconvenience, are the ones who come through this period well.
