The Regulatrory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force on October 1 - the long-awaited legislation which was expected to simplify fire safety laws for businesses.
Anyone responsible for business premises in England and Wales must take action to ensure that they manage fire safety. Fire safety laws have not yet changed in Scotland and Northern Ireland but new legislation, based on the English version, is imminent.
What are the main requirements of the order?
The main requirement is for a 'responsible person' to carry out a fire risk assessment. This must focus on the safety of all 'relevant persons' in case of fire.
The responsible person must do the following:
- Appoint one or more competent people to assist with fire safety
- Provide employees with clear and relevant information on the risks to them which have been identified by the fire risk assessment, about measures taken to prevent fires and generally how they will be protected in the event of a fire
- Consult with employees about fire safety matters
- Take special steps regarding the employment of young people and inform their parents about the fire measures that have been taken
- Inform all people who are not employees about fire safety measures in the premises, for example, contractors and temporary workers
- Co-operate with other 'responsible persons' and co-ordinate fire safety matters in multi-occupied buildings
- Inform the employer of any temporary workers from an outside organisation with clear and relevant information about how the safety of their employees will be protected in the event of fire
- Consider any special precautions needed for managing fire safety from any dangerous, flammable or hazardous substances, including explosives
- Establish suitable means for contacting the emergency services and providing them with relevant information about dangerous substances
- Provide all relevant persons, where reasonable, with suitable information, instruction and training on fire safety
- Provide and maintain suitable fire-fighting equipment, fire detection equipment, fire warning systems, emergency lighting, etc as deemed necessary in the premises by the fire risk assessment
- Advise employees that they have a duty to cooperate with their employer to enable them to comply with their statutory duties.
The above is a general overview of the new order. Most of the requirements were included in earlier laws and so will not be new for publicans.
The most important things to do as soon as possible are:
- carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises
- identify where a fire could start
- determine why it could start
- decide who it would affect
- determine how you could prevent it from happening
- decide what controls you need to put in place to protect people if the fire happens
- remove or reduce the risk
- record the findings, communicate and train staff
- monitor and review your findings.
If you already have a fire risk assessment, review it
Make sure you have considered your customers, people with disabilities, contractors, etc. You should also:
- amend any documents you have
- appoint competent people to manage fire safety, which could be you
- review your training on fire safety Have you updated staff lately on procedures, carried out fire drills, had fire extinguisher training?
- consider if you have any young people under the age of 18 working for you. They need special attention
- consider the fire safety arrangements needed to protect your customers. Previous legislation only really applied to employees.
If you already have a fire certificate you will probably not need to do much more than follow the requirements
The last major new area a publican needs to review is safe occupancy. Most fire authorities will expect to see safe occupancy limits included in your fire risk assessment - they need to be sure that the number of people who could be on the premises is equal to or less than the means of escape capacity of all the fire exit routes. Many premises licences stipulate safe occupancy levels.
Calculating safe occupancy levels is not complicated but you will need to know the risk rating for your premises, fire exit widths and then remember to discount the widest fire exit from the calculation.
A series of fire risk assessment guides have been published by the government and publicans will need to be aware of those titled:
- Small and medium places of assembly
- Large places of assembly.
All guides are available to download free from: www.firesafety guides.communities.gov.uk
Pat Perry is executive chairman of Perry Scott Nash Associates, an environmental health consultancy specialising in health & safety, food safety, fire safety, disability discrimination and other legal compliance issues. It has a wide client base in the hospitality industry and can help with audits, policies, enforcement and legal issues, special projects, trading standards etc.