Fire Risk Assessments
The regulatory reform (fire safety) order, came into force on the 1st of October 2006 and represents the largest overhaul of the fire safety regulations for decades. The aim of the fire safety order is to simplify, rationalise and consolidate existing regulations.To provide a "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment there are 9 key steps to be taken by the fire risk assessor provided they follow the guidelines of PAS 79, a publicly available guidance and recommended methodology.We carry out fire risk assessments under these guidelines.
Our fire risk assessors have a vast range of knowledge and expertise within the fire industry enabling us to provide you with a full fire risk assessment of your business or property under your control. Fire risk assessments not only include the assessment itself but should include all of your fire safety management which in turn encompasses all of your fire and safety policies and procedures.
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For a free no obligation quote for a fire risk assessment please complete the form below providing as much relevant information as possible and we will provide you with a quote within 48 hours. Should you wish to speak to someone please call us on tel: (01295) 252 067
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Regulatory reform (Fire Safety) order 2005
To Summarise:
Who is responsible?The emphasis is to place responsibility for compliance onto the responsible person for fire risk management within the workplace, normally the employer or any other person who may have control over the premises is the responsible person.
What are the main changes?
The main changes are that fire certificates are no longer issued or have legal statusWhat should employers do?
The responsible person within any organisation must ensure that fire risk assessments are conducted competently, and ensure that a "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment is completed to meet the legislative requirements. If an employer employs five or more persons then all significant findings must be in the form of a written document. The following information provides a brief insight into the requirements.Fire Safety arrangements The responsible person must make and give good effect to such arrangements as are appropriate to the size and nature of his undertaking for:
- Effective Planning
- Organisation
- Control
- Monitoring
- Reviewing of
Fire Fighting & Fire Detection
The responsible person must ensure that the premises are equipped with appropriate Fire fighting equipment and with fire detection and alarms show documentation of maintenance regimes.Competent Persons:
The responsible person must nominate competent persons to implement the measures for fire fighting within the premises. The competent persons must be suitably trained and they must have adequate equipment available to them.Competent persons need to have sufficient training, experience & knowledge to enable them to properly implement the measures identified in fire safety.
Emergency Routes & Exits
Emergency exit routes must be kept clear at all times, the "responsible person" has the over-riding duty. People must be able to evacuate the building to a place of safety in a reasonable time and safely. Below are some mandatory bullet points regarding emergency routes and exits.- Emergency routes & exits must be adequate for the needs of the building and its use
- Emergency doors must open in the direction of travel
- Emergency routes & exits must be indicated by signs
- Emergency lighting must be provided where illumination is necessary
What is the fire safety order?
The government has introduced better regulations, the order replaces various references made to fire safety from different legislations such as the licensing act, the housing act and the fire precautions act and has consolidated them all into one legislation. Any person who has a level of control over premises are now required to take reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and should a fire occur all occupants must be able to escape safely.The order in depth
All premises or parts of premises used for the purposes of an employers undertaking, which is made available to employees as a place of work, or premises used in connection with the carrying out of a trade, business or other undertaking, for profit or not, with few exceptions, will be subject to the fire safety order. It designates a person, usually the employer, the manager or the owner and he or she is called the responsible person. He or a person acting on his behalf, is required to carry out certain fire safety duties which include ensuring the general fire precautions are satisfactory and conducting a fire risk assessment. If more than 5 persons are employed it is required to be in the form of a written document.The fire safety order came into force on the 1st April 2006, in response to a call to rationalise and simplify fire legislation in the UK, but at the moment it only applies to England and Wales. This has been achieved by reforming and amending the United Kingdoms principle fire safety legislation using the Regulatory Reform Act 2001.
The fire safety order is designed to provide a minimum fire safety standard in places where people work, including shared areas, workplace facilities and the means of access to that workplace. The fire safety order reforms the law relating to fire safety in non-domestic premises. It replaces fire certification under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 with a general duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, the safety of employees. In relation to non-employees to take such fire precautions as may reasonably be required in the circumstances to ensure that premises are safe and a duty to carry out a fire risk assessment.
It amends or repeals other primary legislation concerning fire safety. The new, risk assessment based regime requires those persons responsible for premises used by the public (including the self employed and employees) to take action to prevent fires, and protect against death and injury should a fire occur. This is the same duty currently imposed on employers by the Fire precautions (workplace) Regulations 1997, but under the fire safety order the duty is extended beyond workplaces to include the majority of premises to which people have access.
To support the fire safety order, the office of the deputy prime minister (ODPM) will be publishing a suite of eleven guidance documents, they will provide advice on most types of premises where the duty to undertake a fire risk assessment under the fire safety order applies. The guides will be available for the following categories of premises, offices and shops, premises providing sleeping accommodation, residential care premises, small and medium places of assembly, large places of assembly, factories and warehouses, theatres and cinemas, educational premises, healthcare premises, transport interchanges and open air events.
The first guide, Fire safety for offices and shops, has been drafted by ODPM in co-operation with a group of key stakeholders. This guide will be used as a template for the subsequent guides so there is a consistent approach across the whole suite. Each guide will be in two parts, the first part will explain how to undertake a fire risk assessment based on the five steps used in fire safety: An employers guide, which was issued to support the fire precautions (workplace) regulations 1997. The second part of each guide will provide further guidance on the fire precautions. The guides are being written so as to be readily understood by those who have to comply with the requirements of the fire safety order, not just fire safety experts.
The person who has the main responsibility for implementing the fire safety order is the person designated the "responsible person" in relation to the premises and is in relation to a workplace-the employer where the workplace is to any extent under his control, the requirements of the fire safety order are in fact imposed on any person who has, to any extent, control of premises so far as the requirements relate to matters within their control. Are your premises subject to the fire safety order? the fire safety order applies to all non-domestic premises except:
- Off shore installations
- A ship
- Fields, woods or land
- Aircraft or trains
- Mines
Risk assessments must be reviewediregularly by the responsible person so as to keep it up to date. Where the responsible person employs 5 or more employees he must record the information gathered during the risk assessment, in particular, the significant findings, the measures taken or to be taken, to ensure general fire safety, identify any persons especially at risk. No new work activity involving a dangerous substance shall commence unless a risk assessment has been made and the measures required by the fire safety order been taken.
Where competent persons are appointed from outside the organisation they must be provided with adequate information and informed of any factors which may affect the safety of persons. The responsible person must provide his employees with comprehensive and relevant information on the risks identified on the risk assessment, the prevention and protective measures and the procedures for dealing with imminent and serious danger which he has assessed as necessary for persons safety.
Employees must also be advised of the competent persons so appointed. Employees must be provided with adequate fire safety training when they are first employed and when exposed to new or increased risks. Training must cover the hazards, risks and controls in place to manage fire safety and be repeated periodically as appropriate.
Every employee must take reasonable care for the safety of himself and others whilst he is at work. he must co-operate with his employer in order to achieve fire safety standards, including informing his employer of any matter which he thinks his employer should know. If a fire authority believes that fire safety may be compromised if premises are altered they may serve an alterations notice on the responsible person requiring them to inform the authority of the pending alteration.
Historically fire safety was a function of local authorities rather than the fire service however in 1947 the introduction of the Fire Services Act gave the Fire Brigades their first responsibilities for fire safety. The Fire Precautions Act 1971, the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 gave more powers to the service. Today, the modernisation of the UK fire service has taken into account the role that it plays in fire safety issues and that issue is high on the agenda of most fire and rescue services. Many brigades started to produce Integrated Management Plans (IMP) to take in to account these new responsibilities and produced plans for not only fire safety in the workplace but also in the community. Now all fire and rescue services have community based fire safety departments. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 now lays out in Section 6 what the fire service must do. It states that a fire and rescue authority must make provision for the purpose of promoting fire safety in its area and this must include the provision of information, publicity and encouragement in respect of the steps to be taken to prevent fires and death or injury by fire not only by the enforcement of specific fire safety legislation, but also by a proactive strategy targeted at all sections of the community.
The fire and resilience programme has three components: New Dimension, Firelink and FiReControl. Together these projects will provide the FRS with equipment, a network and the structure to handle a wide range of incidences.
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