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LRB Consulting can:

• Assist the Responsible Person
• Carry out Fire Safety Risk Assessments
• Create a Fire Safety Improvement Plan
• Help to create Emergency Procedures
• Provide suitable documentation for fire safety records

 

Fire Safety - the New Law

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into effect in October 2006 and effectively replaced previous fire safety legislation.  The Order applies to all non-domestic premises in England and Wales, including the common parts of blocks of flats or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). 

The law applies to anyone who is:

1. responsible for business premises
1. offices and shops
2. factories and warehouses
3. premises that provide care
4. community halls
5. common areas of houses in multiple occupation
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6. pubs, clubs and restaurants
7. schools
8. hotels and hostels
9. Etc
2. an employer or self-employed with business premises
3. responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes
4. part of a charity or voluntary organisation
5. a contractor with a degree of control over any premises

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Responsible Person

If the Fire Service visits your premises, they will want to know who the Responsible Person is for the premises and will want to speak to that person.  It is, therefore, essential that you have considered this point and have identified the Responsible Person and that that person is aware of their role and their responsibilities.

In simple terms: The Responsible Person is anyone who has control of premises or anyone who has a degree of control over certain areas or systems.  Examples include:

1. the employer
2. the managing agent or owner for shared parts of premises or shared fire safety equipment (such as fire-warning systems, sprinklers etc)
3. the occupier, such as self-employed people or voluntary organisations if they have any control, or
4. any other person who has some control over a part of the premises

In many cases the responsible person will be obvious, but there will also be instances when a number of people have some responsibility.  In many industrial settings, the Responsible Person will be the employer.  In the case of multiple occupancy premises, each employer will be a Responsible Person and there may be an additional Responsible Person for the common or communal areas of the premises (such as the Owner of the site or the Managing Agent for the site).

IF you are the responsible person in charge of fire safety in a small and medium-sized business click here for some simple and practical advice.

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Duties of the Responsible Person

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the duties of the Responsible Person include ensuring that the provisions of the Order are complied with.  While this creates duties and responsibilities, these can be simplified and distilled down to a few major points that act as a good starting point.  As the Responsible Person, you must make sure that you carry out a Fire Safety Risk Assessment (FSRA).  This does not mean that you must do the assessment - you can pass the assessment task to some other Competent Person.  The Responsible Person must, so far as is reasonably practical, ensure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape from the premises safely if there is a fire.  This goes further than previous legislation as the Order creates a duty to consider everyone who might be on your premises, whether they are employees, visitors or members of the public.  Consideration must be given to people who may have a disability or anyone who may need special help.  As the Responsible Person, you must manage any fire-risk in your premises.

Principles to Consider when doing a Fire Safety Risk Assessment

Fire risk assessments are generally split into five operations:

1. Identify fire hazards
2. Identify people at risk
3. Evaluate, remove or reduce, and protect from risk
4. Record, plan, inform, instruct, and train
5. Review the fire risk assessment regularly

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1. Identify fire hazards
Give consideration to the nature, operations and undertaking of the business and identify:

1. sources of ignition (such as naked flames, hot surfaces, smoking materials, etc)
2. sources of fuel (packaging materials, paper, solvents, paints, oils, etc)
3. sources of oxygen (consider bottled oxygen, the effects of ventilations systems, etc)

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2. Identify people at risk

1. people in and around the premises (employees, visitors, customers, contractors members of the public etc)
2. people who are especially at risk (including children, elderly persons, infirm people, people with various disabilities)

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3. Evaluate, remove or reduce, and protect from risk

1. Evaluate the risk of a fire starting
2. Evaluate the risk to people from a fire
3. Remove or reduce fire hazards
1. consider replacement of flammable materials with non-flammable or with less flammable materials or reduce the stock levels of flammable materials
2. segregate the storage of flammable and combustible materials from sources of ignition
3. enforce the site (No) Smoking Policy
4. Remove or reduce the risks to people from a fire
5. Protect people by providing fire precautions
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1. provide a suitable fire alarm system
2. provide suitable early warning of fire, such as by automatic smoke detection, heat detection or heat rise detection
3. provide suitable segregation of the premises to prevent (or restrict) the spread of smoke and fire – suitable materials of construction, fire doors, fire curtains, fire resisting glazing, etc
4. provide and protect suitable fire escape routes within the premises that lead out of the premises to a place of safety
5. provide suitable escape route (directional) signage
6. provide suitable emergency (or escape) lighting
7. provide suitable fire fighting equipment (such as portable fire extinguishers, deluge systems, etc)
8. maintain the fire alarm system, automatic smoke detection, emergency lighting, fire fighting equipment, etc
9. undertake active monitoring of the premises and operations – ensure that everything is working in the way that it should: that fire extinguishers are in place, fire doors are not wedged open, combustible materials are not being allowed to accumulate in unauthorised areas, flammable liquids are returned to suitable storage facilities after use, etc

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4. Record, plan, inform, instruct, and train

1. Record any major findings and action you have taken
1. the risk assessment is a thought process, but needs to be committed to writing
2. the major finding of the risk assessment must be made available to employees and to other relevant Responsible Persons and to the Fire Service
2. Discuss and work with other responsible people
3. Prepare an emergency plan - give consideration to:
1. how the fire alarm will be raised
2. how people will be evacuated (safely) from all parts of the premises
3. where the evacuation assembly points will be
4. who will call out the fire service
5. carrying out suitable and sufficient practice of the emergency procedures (fire drills) and the effects that a real fire might have (such as cutting off regularly used or preferred fire escape routes)
6. consider the use of fire wardens
4. Inform and instruct relevant people
5. Provide training
1. Fire safety training must be carried out at least twice a year (under the RRO)

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5. Review

• Review your fire-risk assessment regularly and keep it up to date (review the levels of combustible materials,; changes in storage arrangements for solvents – such as small drums to IBCs, etc)
• Make changes to the risk assessment where necessary (allowing for changes in shift patterns; numbers of employees, etc)

Click here for details of LRB Consulting Health & Safety courses.

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