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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
New fire safety legislation in place for England, Wales ...
New fire safety legislation in place for England, Wales and Scotland
What is regarded as the biggest change in fire safety laws in England and Wales for decades is now effective.
Anyone responsible for business premises in England and Wales must now act to comply with one piece of legislation in most premises and fire certificates are consigned to history.
To help with compliance, a comprehensive suite of government guidance is available, with a new interactive feature on the Fire Gateway website which allows users to self-assess the risk to their premises.
Guidance
There are a series of guides to assist those preparing fire risk assessments, including the basic A short guide to making your premises safe from fire, which is available to download on the DCLG website (http://www.firesafetyguides.communities.gov.uk/), where more detailed guidance targeted at specific areas of business can be obtained concerning:
Offices and Shops;
Premises providing Sleeping Accommodation;
Residential Care;
Small and Medium Places of Assembly;
Large Places of Assembly;
Factories and Warehouses;
Theatres and Cinemas;
Educational Premises;
Healthcare Premises;
Transport Premises and Facilities;
Open Air Events.
The guides are designed to allow a responsible person, with limited formal training or experience, to be able to carry out a fire risk assessment, however, anyone reading the guide and who feels unable to apply the guidance should seek expert advice.
More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive training or experience in fire risk assessment, but these guides will be appropriate for more complex, multi-occupied buildings to address fire safety issues in individual occupancies.
Scotland
Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 is now in force in Scotland. This requires anyone who manages, operates or has safety obligations for non-domestic premises to take steps to prevent and minimise the impact of fire, this means owners, employers, employees, managers and other occupiers.
Further information on the changes and about guidance is available from a new dedicated website at
www.infoscotland.com/firelaw .
Comment:
"Risk assessment is a process that should be familiar to all businesses and the self-employed across England and Wales. These new rules will remove burdens from business - replacing over 70 separate pieces of fire safety legislation with a single reform.
If your premises complies with current fire safety regulations, then the major difference you will notice is that new rules are cheaper and easier to follow especially as, in most cases, you will now been dealing with one regime and one enforcer." - UK Minister responsible for the fire and rescue service.
"Compliance with the new Order should be straightforward for those businesses that meet the existing standards. All employers and others who have a responsibility for fire safety are urged to check their procedures by using the self assessment available on the Fire Gateway website.
Fire and Rescue Services will be carrying out audits to check compliance and where standards are not acceptable they will work with the responsible person to identify a suitable solution.
Formal enforcement action using notices or the courts is very much the option of last resort other than in the most serious of cases. Our over-riding aim is to reduce the numbers of fires, the number of people killed and injured and the risk to business from fire." - Chairman of the Chief Fire Officers Association National Fire Safety Committee.
02.10.06
