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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.

Regulatory reform (Fire Safety) order 2005

This is an overview of the legislation and is written in very general terms to provide guidance.

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 status

What 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

the preventative measures necessary to manage fire safety. Arrangements must be in writing where there are five or more employees and formally documented by the risk assessor.

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.

With many years of expertise, experience & knowledge from within the fire industry we can assist you in every way possible to ensure your compliance whatever size or nature of your business. We also provide 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.

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.

Regulatory reform (Fire Safety) order 2005

This is an overview of the legislation and is written in very general terms to provide guidance.

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 status

What 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

the preventative measures necessary to manage fire safety. Arrangements must be in writing where there are five or more employees and formally documented by the risk assessor.

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

The responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of fire risks to which relevant persons are exposed for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on him by or under the fire safety order. Dangerous substances must be assessed in accordance with the criteria listed in schedule 1 of the fire safety order.

Risk assessments must be reviewed regularly 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.

Escape routes.

Once a fire has started, been detected and a warning given, everyone in your premises should be able to escape to a place of total safety unaided and without the help of the fire and rescue service. However, some people with disabilities and others with special needs may need help from staff who will need to be designated for the purpose. Escape routes should be designed to ensure, as far as possible, that any person confronted by fire anywhere in the building, should be able to turn away from it and escape to a place of reasonable safety, e.g. a protected stairway. From there they will be able to go directly to a place of total safety away from the building.

Those who require special assistance (e.g. very young children in a creche and some people with disabilities) could be accommodated on the same level as the final exit from the premises to facilitate escape. Where they need assistance to evacuate, you should make sure that there are sufficient staff to ensure a speedy evacuation.

The level of fire protection that should be given to escape routes will vary depending on the level of risk of fire within the premises and other related factors. Generally, premises that are simple, consisting of a single storey, will require fairly simple measures to protect the escape routes, compared to a large multi-storey building, which would require a more complex and inter-related system of fire precautions.

When determining whether your premises have adequate escape routes, you need to consider a number of factors, including:

• the type and number of people using the premises;
• escape time;
• the age and construction of the premises;
• the number and complexity of escape routes and exits;
• whether lifts can or need to be used;
• the use of phased or delayed alarm evacuation;
• assisted means of escape/personal evacuation plans (PEEPs); and
• assembly points.

The type and number of people using the premises. The people present in your premises will primarily be employees. Employees can reasonably be expected to have an understanding of the layout of the premises, while contractors or visitors will be unlikely to have knowledge of alternative escape routes.

The number and capability of people present will influence your assessment of the escape routes. You must ensure that your existing escape routes are sufficient and capable of safely evacuating all the people likely to use your premises at any time, including temporary staff employed in busy periods, and visitors. If necessary you may need either to increase the capacity of the escape routes or restrict the number of people in the premises.

Escape time, In the event of a fire, it is important to evacuate people as quickly as possible from the premises. Escape routes in a building should be designed so that people can escape quickly enough to ensure they are not placed in any danger from fire. The time available will depend on a number of factors, including how quickly the fire is detected and the alarm raised, the number of escape routes available, the nature of the occupants and the speed of fire growth. In high rack storage the spread of fire vertically will be rapid, so this risk should be given special consideration.

The age and construction of the premises. Older buildings may comprise different construction materials from newer buildings, and may be in a poorer state of repair. The materials from which your premises are constructed, the quality of building work and state of repair could contribute to the speed with which any fire may spread, and potentially affect the escape routes the occupants will need to use. A fire starting in a building constructed mainly from combustible material will spread faster than one where fire-resisting construction.

If you wish to construct internal partitions or walls in your premises, perhaps to divide up a work area, you should ensure that any new partition or wall does not obstruct any escape routes or fire exits, extend travel distances or reduce the sound levels of the fire alarm system. Any walls that affect the means of escape should be constructed of appropriate material.

Depending on the findings of your fire risk assessment, it may be necessary to protect the escape routes against fire and smoke by upgrading the construction of the floors, ceiling and walls to be a fire-resisting standard. You should avoid having combustible wall and ceiling linings in your escape routes. The number of escape routes and exits. In general there should normally be at least two escape routes from all parts of the premises, but a single escape route may be acceptable in some circumstances, (e.g. part of your premises accommodating less than 60 people or where the travel distances are limited).

Where two escape routes are necessary and to further minimise the risk of people becoming trapped, you should ensure that the escape routes are completely independent of each other. This will prevent a fire affecting more than one escape route at the same time. When evaluating escape routes, you may need to build in a safety factor by discounting the largest exit from your escape plan or doors which cannot be opened quickly, e.g. manually operated roller shutters. You can then determine whether the remaining escape routes from a room, floor or building will be sufficient to evacuate all the occupants within a reasonable time. Escape routes that provide escape in a single direction only may need additional fire precautions to be regarded as adequate.

Exit doors on escape routes and final exit doors should normally open in the direction of travel, and be quickly and easily openable without the need for a key. Checks should be made to ensure final exits are wide enough to accommodate the number of people who may use the escape routes they serve. Management of escape routes. It is essential that escape routes, and the means provided to ensure they are used safely, are managed and maintained to ensure that they remain usable and available at all times when the premises are occupied. Inform staff in training sessions about the escape routes within the premises.

Corridors and stairways that form part of escape routes should be kept clear and hazard free at all times. A blocked corridor, escape route. In some premises with storage racking, escape routes may be through/under the racking; these should be kept clear of any storage and obstructions. Emergency evacuation of persons with mobility impairment The means of escape you provide must be suitable for the evacuation of everyone likely to be in your premises. This may require additional planning and allocation of staff roles – with appropriate training. Provisions for the emergency evacuation of disabled persons may include:

• stairways;
• evacuation lifts;
• firefighting lifts;
• horizontal evacuation;
• refuges; and
• ramps.

Use of these facilities will need to be linked to effective management arrangements as part of your emergency plan. The plan should not rely on fire and rescue service involvement for it to be effective.

If you have any reason to suspect that your fire risk assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in your premises that has affected your fire precautions, you will need to review your assessment and if necessary revise it. Reasons for review could include:

• changes to work activities or the way that you organise them, including the introduction of new equipment;alterations to the building, including the internal layout;
• substantial changes to furniture and fixings;
• the introduction, change of use or increase in the storage of hazardous substances;
• the failure of fire precautions, e.g. fire-detection systems and alarm systems, life safety sprinklers or ventilation systems;
• significant changes to type and quantities and/or method of storage of goods;
• a significant increase in the number of people present; and
• the presence of people with some form of disability.

You should consider the potential risk of any significant change before it is introduced. It is usually more effective to minimise a risk by, for example, ensuring adequate, appropriate storage space for an item before introducing it to your premises. Do not amend your assessment for every trivial change, but if a change introduces new hazards you should consider them and, if significant, do whatever you need to do to keep the risks under control. In any case you should keep your assessment under review to make sure that the precautions are still working effectively. You may want to re-examine the fire prevention and protection measures at the same time as your health and safety assessment.

If a fire or ‘near miss’ occurs, this could indicate that your existing assessment may be inadequate and you should carry out a re-assessment. It is good practice to identify the cause of any incident and then review and, if necessary, revise your fire risk assessment in the light of this. Records of testing, maintenance and training etc. are useful aids in a review process. See Appendix A1 for an example.

Alterations notices, If you have been served with an ‘alterations notice’ check it to see whether you need to notify the enforcing authority about any changes you propose to make as a result of your review. If these changes include building work, you should also consult a building control body.

Our fire risk assessors carry out fire risk assessments for public houses throughout England and Wales to ensure landlords comply with the RRO (regulatory reform fire safety order).

Once risks have been identified, they must then be assessed as to their potential severity of loss and to the probability of occurrence. These quantities can be either simple to measure, in the case of the value of a lost building, or impossible to know for sure in the case of the probability of an unlikely event occurring. Therefore, in the assessment process it is critical to make the best educated guesses possible in order to properly prioritise the implementation of the risk management plan.

The fundamental difficulty in risk assessment is determining the rate of occurrence since statistical information is not available on all kinds of past incidents. Furthermore, evaluating the severity of the consequences (impact) is often quite difficult for immaterial assets. Asset valuation is another question that needs to be addressed. Thus, best educated opinions and available statistics are the primary sources of information. Nevertheless, risk assessment should produce such information for the management of the organization that the primary risks are easy to understand and that the risk management decisions may be prioritised.

What is a fire risk assessment?

It is an organised look at what, in your work activities and workplace, could cause harm to people. This will allow you to weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to avoid harm. The important things you need to decide are whether a hazard is significant and whether you have covered it by satisfactory precautions so that the risk is acceptably low.

What do the terms 'hazard' and 'risk' mean?

A hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm. A risk is the chance, high or low, of that harm occurring.Before you start your risk assessment Check whether any of the fire safety arrangements in your workplace have previously been approved under other fire safety, licensing or building legislation. If this is the case, an assessment of the fire precautions needed under that legislation will have been made at the time by, or in consultation with, the fire authority or the building control authority.

Regardless of any previous approval, you still need to carry out a fire risk assessment. However, if the previous approval covered all the matters required by the Fire Regulations, and conditions have remained unchanged, e.g. numbers of people present, work activity etc, then your fire risk assessment may well show that few, if any, additional precautions are needed. Your risk assessment may identify additional matters which need addressing if the previous approval was given according to an out-of-date standard of fire precautions, or the approval was under legislation which does not cover all the requirements of the Fire Regulations. If you are not sure, your local fire authority will be able to advise you.

HOW DO YOU DO A FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT?

A fire risk assessment will help you determine the chances of a fire occurring and the dangers from fire that your workplace poses for the people who use it. The assessment method suggested shares the same approach as that used in general health and safety legislation and can be carried out either as part of a more general risk assessment or as a separate exercise. Before attempting to start an assessment take time to prepare. Read through the rest of Parts 1 and 2 of this guide and plan how you will go about your assessment. A risk assessment is not a theoretical exercise. However, much work can be done on paper from the knowledge you, your employees or their representatives have of the workplace. A tour of the workplace will be needed to confirm, amend or add detail to your initial views.

For fire risk assessments there are five steps that you need to take:

• Step 1Identify potential fire hazards in the workplace.
• Step 2 Decide who (e.g. employees, visitors) might be in danger, in the event of a fire, in the workplace or while trying to escape from it, and note their location.
• Step 3 Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether your existing fire precautions are adequate or whether more should be done to get rid of the hazard or to control the risks (e.g. by improving the fire precautions).
• Step 4 Record your findings and details of the action you took as a result. Tell your employees about your findings.
• Step 5 Keep the assessment under review and revise it when necessary.

Nobody knows as much about your business as you and the people who work with and for you. Try to use your own knowledge and experience and that of your colleagues and staff. Talk to your employees and listen to their concerns. The safety representative (if there is one) and your employees will have a valuable contribution to make. They can help you identify key issues and may already have practical suggestions for improvements. Proper planning of your assessment, and any changes necessary because of it, includes consulting the workforce and their representatives. This can help ensure that any changes are introduced more easily and accepted more readily. However, remember that risk assessment is essentially a matter of applying informed common sense. You need to identify what could reasonably be expected to cause danger. Ignore the trivial and concentrate on significant hazards.

It is important that you carry out your fire risk assessment in a practical and systematic way. It must take the whole of the workplace into account, including outdoor locations and any rooms and areas which are rarely used. If your workplace is small you may be able to assess the workplace as a whole. In larger buildings, you will often find it helpful to divide the workplace into rooms or a series of assessment areas using natural boundaries, e.g. process areas, offices, stores, workshops as well as corridors, stairways and external routes. If your workplace is in a building shared with other employers, you and all the other occupiers and any other person who has control of any other part of the workplace will need to discuss your risk assessments. This will help to ensure that any areas of higher risk, and the need for any extra precautions, are identified.

As part of the government’s commitment to reduce death, injury and damage caused by fire the current fire safety legislation has been reviewed and a number of changes are being made through the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO).

It is the single biggest reform of fire safety legislation in over 30 years and will simplify the law for thousands of businesses, placing the focus on prevention and consolidating some 118 pieces of existing legislation. In a typical twelve months period UK Fire and Rescue Services respond to over 870,000* incidents. The consequences for the local economy often includes the loss of business, property and personal possessions, and sadly in some instances a loss of life.

The new legislation will place a greater emphasis on fire prevention in all non-domestic premises, including the voluntary sector and the self employed with premises separate from their homes. It covers general fire precautions and other fire safety duties required to protect the Relevant Person, (Employees and anyone who is or maybe lawfully on the premises; or any person in the vicinity of the premises who is at risk from a fire on the premises). So if you are the owner or operator of a building (that does not comprise solely of a domestic premises), business or similar activity, the (RRO) will apply to you, the premises and the occupants.

The Fire Safety Order will apply in England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland will have their own laws). The Order will repeal the Fire Precautions Act 1971 (Fire Certificates will cease to have legal status) and revoke the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (amended 1999).

Responsibility for complying with the Fire Safety Order rests Appropriate measures to ensure that the means of with the ‘Responsible Person’. For a workplace, this will be the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the workplace, e.g. the owner or occupier. In all other cases the person in control of the place and or activities will be responsible.The Responsible Person must carry out a Fire Risk Assessment (an assessment of the risks from fire) and take reasonable steps to remove or reduce the risk. Attention should also be paid to those who may be at greater risk, such as the disabled, the young and those with learning difficulties. The Fire Risk Assessment should take into consideration dangerous substances likely to be on the premises that have the potential to cause harm or contribute to fire.

The responsible person must provide a suitable and sufficient level of general fire precautions. These should include:Appropriate measures to reduce the risk of fire, Appropriate measures that will limit the spread of fire should one occur, Appropriate Means of detecting and giving warning in case of fire, Appropriate measures to ensure that the means of escape from the premises can be safely and effectively used at all times. Appropriate portable fire extinguishers for the risk identified in relation to means of fighting fire on the premises. Appropriate signs, notices and lighting to enable persons to escape safely from the premises.The actions to be taken in the event of fire on the premises should include:Instruction and training of staff, measures to lessen the effects of fire. If you employ five or more people, or if a license issued under another piece of legislation is in force, you must record the significant findings of the Fire Risk Assessment. An example of such licences include a “Premises license” issued under the Licensing Act 2003.

Enforcement of the Fire Safety Order will normally be carried out by the Fire Authority but may in some circumstances be carried out by other agencies such as the Health and Safety Executive.

The Order replaces previous fire safety legislation. Any fire certificate issued under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 will cease to have any effect. If a fire certificate has been issued in respect of your premises or if the premises were built to recent building regulations, as long as you have made no material alterations and all the physical fire precautions have been properly maintained, then it is unlikely you will need to make any significant improvements to your existing physical fire protection arrangements to comply with the Order. However, you must still carry out a fire risk assessment and keep it up to date to ensure that all the fire precautions in your premises remain current and adequate.

If you have previously carried out a fire risk assessment under the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997,3as amended 1999,4and this assessment has been regularly reviewed, then all you will need to do is revise that assessment taking account of the wider scope of the Order. Your premises may also be subject to the provisions of a licence or registration (e.g. under the Licensing Act 2003), and the fire authority may wish to review your risk assessment as part of the licensing approval process. Fire safety conditions within your premises licence should not be set by a licensing authority where the Order applies.

The Order applies in England and Wales. It covers general fire precautions and other fire safety duties which are needed to protect ‘relevant persons’ in case of fire in and around most ‘premises’. The Order requires fire precautions to be put in place ‘where necessary’ and to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances of the case. Responsibility for complying with the Order rests with the ‘responsible person’. In a workplace, this is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, e.g. the occupier or owner. In all other premises the person or people in control of the premises will be responsible. If there is more than one responsible person in any type of premises (e.g. a multi-occupied complex), all must take all reasonable steps to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other.

If you are the responsible person you must carry out a fire risk assessment which must focus on the safety in case of fire of all ‘relevant persons’. It should pay particular attention to those at special risk, such as disabled people, those who you know have special needs and young persons, and must include consideration of any dangerous substance liable to be on the premises. Your fire risk assessment will help you identify risks that can be removed or reduced and to decide the nature and extent of the general fire precautions you need to take.

If your organisation employs five or more people, your premises are licensed or an alterations notice is in force, you must record the significant findings of the assessment. It is good practice to record your significant findings in any case. There are some other fire safety duties you need to comply with:

• You must appoint one or more competent persons, depending on the size and use of your premises, to carry out any of the preventive and protective measures required by the Order(you can nominate yourself for this purpose). A competent person is someone with enough training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to be able to implement these measures properly.
• You must provide your employees with clear and relevant information on the risks to them identified by the fire risk assessment, about the measures you have taken to prevent fires, and how these measures will protect them if a fire breaks out.
• You must consult your employees (or their elected representatives) about nominating people to carry out particular roles in connection with fire safety and about proposals for improving the fire precautions.
• You must, before you employ a child, provide a parent with clear and relevant information on the risks to that child identified by the risk assessment, the measures you have put in place to prevent/protect them from fire and inform any other responsible person of any risks to that child arising from their undertaking.
• You must inform non-employees, such as temporary or contract workers, of the relevant risks to them, and provide them with information about who are the nominated competent persons, and about the fire safety procedures for the premises.
• You must co-operate and co-ordinate with other responsible persons who also have premises in the building, inform them of any significant risks you find, and how you will seek to reduce/control those risks which might affect the safety of their employees.
• You must provide the employer of any person from an outside organisation who is working in your premises (e.g. an agency providing temporary staff) with clear and relevant information on the risks to those employees and the preventive and protective measures taken. You must also provide those employees with appropriate instructions and relevant information about the risks to them.
• If you are not the employer but have any control of premises which contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the Order are complied with in those parts over which you have control.You must consider the presence of any dangerous substances and the risk this presents to relevant persons from fire.
• You must establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services and provide them with any relevant information about dangerous substances. You must provide appropriate information, instruction and training to your employees, during their normal working hours, about the fire precautions in your workplace, when they start working for you, and from time to time throughout the period they work for you.
• You must ensure that the premises and any equipment provided in connection with firefighting, fire detection and warning, or emergency routes and exits are covered by a suitable system of maintenance, and are maintained by a competent person in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Your employees must co-operate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and must not do anything that will place themselves or other people at risk.

Who enforces the Fire Safety Order?

The local Fire and Rescue Authority (the fire and rescue service) will enforce the Order in most premises. The exceptions are:

• Crown-occupied/owned premises where Crown fire inspectors will enforce;
• premises within armed forces establishments where the defence fire and rescue service will enforce;
• certain specialist premises including construction sites, ships (under repair or construction) and nuclear installations, where the HSE will enforce; and
• sports grounds and stands designated as needing a safety certificate by the local authority, where the local authority will enforce.

The enforcing authority will have the power to inspect your premises to check that you are complying with your duties under the Order. They will look for evidence that you have carried out a suitable fire risk assessment and acted upon the significant findings of that assessment. If, as is likely, you are required to record the outcome of the assessment they will expect to see a copy. If the enforcing authority is dissatisfied with the outcome of your fire risk assessment or the action you have taken, they may issue an enforcement notice that requires you to make certain improvements or, in extreme cases, a prohibition notice that restricts the use of all or part of your premises until improvements are made.

If your premises are considered by the enforcing authority to be or have potential to be high risk, they may issue an alterations notice that requires you to inform them before you make any changes to your premises or the way they are used. Failure to comply with any duty imposed by the Order or any notice issued by the enforcing authority is an offence. You have a right of appeal to a magistrates court against any notice issued. Where you agree that there is a need for improvements to your fire precautions but disagree with the enforcing authority on the technical solution to be used (e.g. what type of fire alarm system is needed) you may agree to refer this for independent determination.

If your premises were in use before 2006, then they may have been subject to the Fire Precautions Act2and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations.3,4Where the layout (means of escape) and other fire precautions have been assessed by the fire and rescue service to satisfy the guidance that was then current, it is likely that your premises already conform to many of the recommendations here, providing you have undertaken a fire risk assessment as required by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations.3,4 New buildings or significant building alterations should be designed to satisfy current building regulations24which address fire precautions. However, you will still need to carry out a fire risk assessment, or review your existing assessment (and act on your findings), to comply with the Order.

Much of the information for your fire risk assessment will come from the knowledge your employees, colleagues and representatives have of the premises, as well as information given to you by people who have responsibility for other parts of the building. A tour of your premises will probably be needed to confirm, amend or add detail to your initial views.

It is important that you carry out your fire risk assessment in a practical and systematic way and that you allocate enough time to do a proper job. It must take the whole of your premises into account, including outdoor locations and any rooms and areas that are rarely used. If your premises are small you may be able to assess them as a whole. In larger premises you may find it helpful to divide them into rooms or a series of assessment areas using natural boundaries, e.g. process areas, offices, stores, as well as corridors, stairways and external routes. If your premises are in a multi-use complex then the information on hazard and risk reduction will still be applicable to you. However, any alterations to the use or structure of your individual unit will need to take account of the overall fire safety arrangements in the building.

Your premises may be simple, with few people present or with a limited degree of business activity, but if it forms part of a building with different occupancies, then the measures provided by other occupiers may have a direct effect on the adequacy of the fire safety measures in your premises. Under health and safety law (enforced by the HSE or the local authority) you are required to carry out a risk assessment in respect of any work processes in your workplace, and to take or observe appropriate special, technical or organisational measures. If your health and safety risk assessment identifies that these processes are likely to involve the risk of fire or the spread of fire, then you will need to take this into account during your fire risk assessment under the Order, and prioritise actions based on the level of risk.

If you have any reason to suspect that your fire risk assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in your premises that has affected your fire precautions, you will need to review your assessment and if necessary revise it. Reasons for review could include:

• changes to work activities or the way that you organise them, including the introduction of new equipment;
• alterations to the building, including the internal layout;
• substantial changes to furniture and fixings;
• the introduction, change of use or increase in the storage of hazardous substances;
• the failure of fire precautions, e.g. fire-detection systems and alarm systems, life safety sprinklers or ventilation systems;
• significant changes to type and quantities and/or method of storage of goods;
• a significant increase in the number of people present;
• and the presence of people with some form of disability.

You should consider the potential risk of any significant change before it is introduced. It is usually more effective to minimise a risk by, for example, ensuring adequate, appropriate storage space for an item before introducing it to your premises. Do not amend your assessment for every trivial change, but if a change introduces new hazards you should consider them and, if significant, do whatever you need to do to keep the risks under control. In any case you should keep your assessment under review to make sure that the precautions are still working effectively. You may want to re-examine the fire prevention and protection measures at the same time as your health and safety assessment. If a fire or ‘near miss’ occurs, this could indicate that your existing assessment may be inadequate and you should carry out a re-assessment. It is good practice to identify the cause of any incident and then review and, if necessary, revise your fire risk assessment in the light of this

This Order will affect all non domestic premises and replaces previous fire safety legislation. Any fire certificate issued under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 will cease to have any effect. The Order applies in England and Wales to all premises that are not a single private dwelling. It covers general fire precautions and other fire safety duties which are needed to protect ‘relevant persons’ in case of fire in and around most ‘premises’. The Order requires fire precautions to be put in place ‘where necessary’ and to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances of the case.

Responsibility for complying with the Order rests with the ‘responsible person’. In a workplace, this is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, e.g. the occupier or owner. In all other premises the person or people in control of the premises will be responsible. If there is more than one responsible person in any type of premises (e.g. a multi-occupied complex), all must take all reasonable steps to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other. If you are the responsible person you must carry out a fire risk assessment which must focus on the safety in case of fire of all ‘relevant persons’. It should pay particular attention to those at special risk, such as disabled people, those who you know have special needs and young persons and must include consideration of any dangerous substance liable to be on the premises.

Your fire risk assessment will help you identify risks that can be removed or reduced and to decide the nature and extent of the general fire precautions you need to take. If your organisation employs five or more people, your premises are licensed or an alterations notice is in force, you must record the significant findings of the assessment. It is good practice to record your significant findings in any case. There are some other fire safety duties you need to comply with: You must appoint one or more competent persons, depending on the size and use of your premises, to carry out any of the preventive and protective measures required by the Order (you can nominate yourself for this purpose). A competent person is someone with enough training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to be able to implement these measures properly.

You must provide your employees with clear and relevant information on the risks to them identified by the fire risk assessment, about the measures you have taken to prevent fires, and how these measures will protect them if a fire breaks out. You must consult your employees (or their elected representatives) about nominating people to carry out particular roles in connection with fire safety and about proposals for improving the fire precautions.

You must, before you employ a child, provide a parent with clear and relevant information on the risks to that child identified by the risk assessment, the measures you have put in place to prevent/protect them from fire and inform any other responsible person of any risks to that child arising from their undertaking. You must inform non-employees, such as temporary or contract workers, of the relevant risks to them, and provide them with information about who are the nominated competent persons, and about the fire safety procedures for the premises.

You must co-operate and co-ordinate with other responsible persons who also have premises in the building, inform them of any significant risks you find and how you will seek to reduce/control those risks which might affect the safety of their employees. You must provide the employer of any person from an outside organisation who is working in your premises (e.g. an agency providing temporary staff) with clear and relevant information on the risks to those employees and the preventive and protective measures taken. You must also provide those employees with appropriate instructions and relevant information about the risks to them.

If you are not the employer but have any control of premises which contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the Order are complied with in those parts over which you have control. You must consider the presence of any dangerous substances and the risk this presents to relevant persons from fire. You must establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services and provide them with any relevant information about dangerous substances.

You must provide appropriate information, instruction and training to your employees, during their normal working hours, about the fire precautions in your workplace, when they start working for you, and from time to time throughout the period they work for you. You must ensure that the premises and any equipment provided in connection with firefighting, fire detection and warning, or emergency routes and exits are covered by a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained by a competent person in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.

Your employees must co-operate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and must not do anything that will place themselves or other people at risk. The above examples outline some of the main requirements of the Order.

Who enforces the Fire Safety Order? The local fire and rescue authority (the fire and rescue service) will enforce the Order in most premises. The exceptions are: Crown-occupied/owned premises where Crown fire inspectors will enforce; premises within armed forces establishments where the defence fire and rescue service will enforce; certain specialist premises including construction sites, ships (under repair or construction) and nuclear installations, where the HSE will enforce; and sports grounds and stands designated as needing a safety certificate by the local authority, where the local authority will enforce.

The enforcing authority will have the power to inspect your premises to check that you are complying with your duties under the Order. They will look for evidence that you have carried out a suitable fire risk assessment and acted upon the significant findings of that assessment. If you are required to record the outcome of the assessment they will expect to see a copy.

If the enforcing authority is dissatisfied with the outcome of your fire risk assessment or the action you have taken, they may issue an enforcement notice that requires you to make certain improvements or, in extreme cases, a prohibition notice that restricts the use of all or part of your premises until improvements are made. If your premises are considered by the enforcing authority to be or have potential to be high risk, they may issue an alterations notice that requires you to inform them before you make any changes to your premises or the way they are used.

Failure to comply with any duty imposed by the Order or any notice issued by the enforcing authority is an offence. You have a right of appeal to a magistrates court against any notice issued. Where you agree that there is a need for improvements to your fire precautions but disagree with the enforcing authority on the technical solution to be used (e.g. what type of fire alarm system is needed) you may agree to refer this for independent determination.

If you are in any doubt about how fire safety law applies to you, contact the fire safety department. New buildings or significant building alterations should be designed to satisfy current building regulations (which address fire precautions). However, you will still need to carry out a fire risk assessment, or review your existing assessment (and act on your findings), to comply with the Order.

Now that fire legislation has changed and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is now in force, the responsible person for a building (all non domestic) will have to conduct a fire risk assessment. All existing fire legislation has now been repealed or revoked, which includes the Fire Precautions Act 1971, the amended 1997 Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations plus 100 other pieces of fire related legislation. Fire certificates are no longer valid.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is a fire risk assessment based approach where the responsible person(s) for the premises or area where they have control must decide how to address the risks identified, while meeting certain requirements. By adopting a fire risk assessment, the responsible person(s) will need to look at how to prevent fire from occurring in the first place, by removing or reducing hazards and risks (ignition sources) and then at the precautions to ensure that people are adequately protected if a fire were still to occur. Therefore the main emphases of the changes are to move towards fire prevention.

The fire risk assessment must also take into consideration the effect a fire may have on anyone in or around your premises plus neighbouring property. The building fire risk assessment will also need to be kept under regular review (it is a living document). The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 will apply to all non-domestic properties, including voluntary organisations and will be subject to monitoring and, where appropriate, enforcement by the Local Authority Fire Service (LAFS).

All existing fire legislation has now been repealed or revoked, which includes the Fire Precautions Act 1971, the amended 1997 Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations plus 100 other pieces of fire related legislation. Fire certificates have been abolished and are no longer issued or in force. Responsible person(s) will be responsible for fire safety. They must conduct a fire risk assessment regardless of the size of the risk.The identified responsible person(s) would take full corporate liability. Extended scope of consideration now to include property safety, fire fighter safety and the environment around the site. The responsible person(s) would have a duty to protect all risks. Unlike the amended 1997 Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places emphasis on business continuity and containing and preventing the spread of small fires. Protection is explicitly extended to all occupants, which would include employees, visitors, contractors and passers-by who would all have to be considered in the fire risk assessment.

Who is the responsible person(s)? Employer with control of a workplace Failing that or in addition; Person with overall management of a building, Occupier of premises, Owner of premises (i.e. empty buildings), Landlords (multi occupied buildings).

So with any fire risk assessment you will always:Identify the hazard, Identify who is at risk, Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk, Record, plan, inform, instruct and train, Review. It is important, if you carry out your fire risk assessment yourself, that you do it in a practical and systematic way. It must take the whole area of your responsibility into account, including outdoor locations and any rooms and areas that are rarely used.

If your responsible area in a building is shared with others, you and all the other occupiers and any other person(s) who have control of any other part of the premises will need to discuss yours and theirs fire risk assessment. In a shared building it is imperative and a requirement that all responsible persons; Communicate, Co-operate and Co-ordinate their findings with their fire risk assessments. When you conduct your fire risk assessment you must: Identify who is at risk, Eliminate or reduce potential ignition sources, Ensure there are suitable means of detecting & raising the alarm in the event of fire, Ensure there are adequate emergency escape routes & exits, Ensure there are appropriate type & sufficient quantities of fire fighting equipment, Ensure there are the correct type & sufficient quantities of fire signs & notices, Ensure there are provisions for the correct maintenance of installed fire equipment, Ensure that there are suitable provisions for the protection of Fire Service personnel, Ensure that building occupants receive the appropriate instruction / training in, e.g. actions to be taken in the event of fire and fire evacuation drills.

Please note, that if your organisation employs five or more people or the premise are licensed or an alterations notice is in force, you must record any significant findings and the actions you have taken. In addition to the above, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order stipulates that: You must appoint one or more competent persons, depending on the size and use of your premises, to carry out any of the preventive and protective measures required (you can nominate yourself for this purpose). A competent person is someone with enough training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to be able to implement these measures properly.

You must provide your employees with clear and relevant information on the risks to them identified by the fire risk assessment, about the measure you have taken to prevent fires, and how these measures will protect them if a fire breaks out. You must consult your employees (or their elected representatives) about nominating people to carry out particular roles in connection with fire safety and about proposals for improving the fire precautions. You must, before you employ a child, provide a parent with clear and relevant information on the risks to that child identified by the risk assessment, the measures you have put in place to prevent/protect them from fire and inform any other responsible person of any risks to that child arising from their undertaking.

You must inform non-employees, such as temporary or contract workers, of the relevant risks to them, and provide them with information about who the nominated competent persons are, and about the fire safety procedures for the premises. You must co-operate and co-ordinate with other responsible persons who also have premises in the building, inform them of any significant risks you find and how you will seek to reduce/control those risks which might affect the safety of their employees. You must provide the employer of any person from an outside organisation who is working in your premises (e.g. an agency providing temporary staff) with clear and relevant information on the risks to those employees and the preventive and protective measures taken. You must also provide those employees with appropriate instructions and relevant information about the risks to them.

If you are not the employer but have any control of premises which contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the Order are complied with in those parts over which you have control. You must consider the presence of any dangerous substances and the risk this presents to relevant persons from fire. You must establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services and provide them with any relevant information about dangerous substances. You must provide appropriate information, instruction and training to your employees, during their normal working hours, about the fire precautions in your workplace, when they start working for you, and from time to time throughout the period they work for you.

You must ensure that the premises and any equipment provided in connection with firefighting, fire detection and warning, or emergency routes and exits are covered by a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained by a competent person in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Your employees must co-operate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and must not do anything that will place themselves or other people at risk.” If you were already complying with the revoked amended 1997 Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulation and the 1971 Fire Precautions Act (fire certificate if issued), you will only have to make adjustments to your existing fire risks assessments. If, however, you have not conducted a fire risk assessment of your area of responsibility you must do so now.

The Government have produced 11 guides to assist the responsible person(s) with their responsibilities, to view these guides visit www.communities.gov.uk. These guides have been written to assist you to carry out a fire risk assessment within your area of responsibility. If you read the guides and decide that you are unable to apply the guidance, then you should seek expert advice from a competent person. More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive training or experience in fire risk assessment.