Have you performed your responsibilities?
Janet Middlehurst, Training Manager for Sira Test & Certification Ltd, discusses The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, a piece of legislation which was introduced in 2006 to prevent the causes of fire in the workplace, and the steps employers must take to satisfy these requirements.
Each year in the UK, Fire Brigades attend approximately 35,000 fires in non-domestic buildings. These fires kill approximately 35 people and injure a further 1500 people.
Fires cost money. The financial costs associated with a serious fire are very high. Over 40% of affected businesses fail to commence trading again. In 2004 the costs as a consequence of fire were estimated at £2.5bn.
The Regulatory Reform:
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was approved by Parliament on 7 June 2005 and came into force in October 2006. It has replaced all existing fire safety legislation (i.e. The Fire Precautions Act 1971 and The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997) and impacts on all employers, owners, occupiers and self-employed businesses. It covers 'general fire precautions’ which are needed to protect 'relevant persons' in case of fire in and around most premises. It is risk-assessment based legislation and applies to the majority of non-domestic premises.
Responsibility for complying with the Fire Safety 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.
The Legal Position:
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'.
Your fire risk assessment will help you identify risks that can be removed or reduced and help decide the nature and extent of general fire precautions you need to take.
Failure to adhere to the requirements of the Fire Safety Order may result in the issue of improvement notices and could even restrict your business activities until the requirements are fulfilled.
Highlighted below are some of the main duties that the Responsible Person must carry out in order to satisfy The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Take general fire precautions to ensure safety of employees and relevant persons.
Carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
Apply the appropriate preventative and protective measures.
Ensure, where necessary, that suitable fire fighting equipment, fire detectors and alarms are installed.
Ensure that all fire safety equipment is maintained in good working order and repair.
Appoint ‘Competent Persons’ to assist undertaking the preventative and protective measures.
Ensure that all employees are provided with adequate safety training.
Eliminate or reduce the risk from dangerous substances.
One Year On - Have You Performed Your Responsibilities?
The legislation has now been compulsory for over a year, and businesses should have conducted their risk assessments in line with the law. These risk assessments should also be constantly maintained and improved, in order to ensure that future potential hazards are identified, and steps are introduced to reduce the risk.
The Practicalities
Of course, the difficulty in performing your responsibilities is being confident enough to believe that you have implemented satisfactory measures that comply with law.
To help eliminate confusion and enable you to gain the knowledge and tools you need to carry out your duties, Sira (a leading test, certification and training provider) has developed a 2-day training course looking at fire safety and risk assessment in the work place and your legal duties in relation to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The course, aimed at those responsible or accountable for Fire & Risk Protection and relevant Health & Safety of your site/place of work, introduces you to the hazards associated with fires in the workplace and provides the relevant information and skills to enable you to:
Identify fire hazards
Conduct an appropriate risk assessment for low/medium risk environments
Implement any strategies in order to satisfy the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Training is conducted throughout the year at Sira Training facilities in Chester, or at your site.
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