FIRE REGULATIONS

Understanding Fire Regulations

Read A Summary of The Fire Safety Order
Read The Text Of The Actual Regulatory Reform Order
Read About Carrying Out A Fire Risk Assessment

Fire Regulations For UK Businesses

The main fire regulations relating to employers and business premises in the UK are covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, known as the Fire Safety Order. This came into effect in 2006 and brought together lots of existing pieces of legislation and introduced some important new requirements. One of the main changes was the move away from issuing fire certificates to the requirement for all employers to carry out a fire risk assessment.

The main thrust of these new fire regulations was to shift the emphasis away from inspections and enforcement by the fire service to a duty and responsibility that would lie firmly with employers and business managers. Whereas we used to go to the fire service for answers to questions and with the expectation of firm instructions, we are now far more likely to be told to assess the risk ourselves and follow the findings of our assessment.

This is an important change which many employers are still coming to terms with. These fire safety regulations affect all non domestic premises throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including those run by charitable or voluntary organisations. The new fire regulations refer to a ‘Responsible Person’ and this is the person who either owns the premises or is in control of what happens there. This person has a duty in law to take certain measures and to ensure that the premises are a safe place to work.

Fire Safety Regulations – The Fire Risk Assessment

One of the main things to come out of these regulations, and the biggest change, is that you must carry out a fire risk assessment. You can do this yourself if you have the necessary knowledge and experience and if your workplace is particularly straightforward, or you can arrange for suitably qualified Fire Consultants to do this work for you. For a small office or shop many people are happy to do the assessment themselves, and you can find a guide to Fire Risk Assessment on this site.

For large, or more complicated premises, such as factories, care homes, multi site premises or anywhere using hazardous processes or flammable substances, the usual route is to employ a consultant for this work. The danger of doing it yourself is of course that you do not know what you do not know, so you are unaware of any errors in your assessment.

Fire Safety Regulations – Premises And Equipment

In addition to the assessment, there are other requirements that the responsible person has to be aware of. Part of providing a safe environment for staff is making sure that there are adequate means of escape. This includes having the right number and type of emergency exits. This means having doors that open outwards in the direction of escape and making sure these are not locked or obstructed at any time in a way that prevents easy egress. All such exits must be properly signed with emergency exit signs of the type set out in fire regulations. Signage must also cover the emergency routes to all exits, action in the event of fire, fire extinguisher instruction and call point signs.

You will also need to ensure that there is an appropriate alarm system for raising the alarm in the event of fire. This does not have to be a sophisticated electronic system as there is no point going over the top for very small or simple premises. Your fire risk assessment should inform the nature of the alarm system that you need. You also have a duty to ensure the provision of emergency lighting and to take steps to ensure that this is in good order and well maintained.

Fire Regulations – Staff Training

The fire safety regulations also place a duty on business owners to make sure that staff are informed about the findings of the fire risk assessment, and to instruct and train staff in their action in the event of fire. How you do this is up to you, but it could include Fire Marshall training, fire extinguisher training and practice emergency evacuations. As with fire risk assessments, many companies choose to employ fire consultants to provide their fire safety training.

Fire Regulations – Safety Policies

If you employ five or more people in your workplace, you have a duty under the fire regulations to document the findings of your risk assessment. You must also have a written emergency plan and be able to show that you have policies in place to ensure that all of the above requirements are in place. In other words you must have written procedures to demonstrate how you are going to ensure emergency exit routes are always kept clear, how you will ensure staff know what to do in an emergency and how you will make sure all emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers, alarm systems and emergency lighting is always properly maintained.

Fire Safety Regulations – Conclusions

I hope this helps to clarify the main points of the Fire Safety Order, but if you prefer you can also read the detail of the actual Order itself here.

Hopefully must of us are doing these things anyway, but even if there is still work to do, it is worth remembering that it is ultimately just good commercial practice to ensure the resilience of your business. Incidents of fire usually have catastrophic effects on a business. One of the problems is the time that some of this work takes and more and more businesses are turning to fire consultants to help them with this.

It is worth doing properly because the alternative, apart from leaving your business more vulnerable to the risks of fire, will also leave you vulnerable to prosecution if the fire service inspect your premises and find that you have not complied with the fire regulations.

Advice On Current UK Fire Safety Regulations