In A Nutshell

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Fire Safety – the New Regulations, Risk Assessment and the Responsible Person

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, came into force in October, 2006. It demands that a specific fire safety risk assessment is undertaken for every workplace, bringing fire safety into line with other health and safety legislation.

There now exists a duty on the responsible person to ensure the safety of employees and non-employees. The responsible person is the employer plus any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, e.g. the occupier or owner. There can be more than one responsible person, but they must co-operate and co-ordinate with each other. Competence is an important factor in carrying out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. Smoke Detector Persons can be considered competent where they have sufficient technical training and experience or knowledge to understand the requirement of fire safety procedures and to undertake efficiently the measures required to meet the legal standards. The competent person(s) should therefore:

Understand the relevant fire safety legislation
Have appropriate education, training, knowledge and experience in the principles of fire safety
Have an understanding of fire development and the behaviour of people in fire
Understand the fire hazards, fire risks and relevant factors of the occupants at special risk within the buildings of the type in question
Have appropriate training and/or experience in carrying out fire risk assessments.

Fire risk assessments are about identifying the effect of fire on a person’s safety, the environment and the property. The risk assessment will help the responsible person to ensure that fire safety procedures, fire prevention measures, and fire precautions (plans, systems and equipment) are all in place and working properly, as well as identifying any issues that need attention.

The Department of Communities and Local Government have produced guides that explain how to undertake a fire risk assessment in different types of premises. They base their risk assessments on the 5 steps used in Fire Safety: An Employer's Guide, which are:

Identify potential fire hazards in the workplace
Decide who, in the event of a fire, might be in danger in the workplace or while trying to escape from it, and note their location
Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether existing fire precautions are adequate or whether more should be done to get rid of the hazard or to control the risks, eg by improving the fire precautions
Record the findings and details of the action taken as a result and tell employees about the findings
Keep the assessment under review and revise it when necessary.

The guides provide recommendations and guidance for use when assessing the adequacy of fire precautions, not prescriptive standards. The key factor is that the fire risk to people should be reduced to as low as is reasonable by putting into place fire safety measures.

All 11 guides are available at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1162101

Fire Safety: An Employer's Guide is available at:
http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/fire/contents.htm

RoSPA also offer a fire risk assessment consultancy service, fire training courses and a range of related posters, videos/DVD's and publications.

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