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New Fire Safety Legislation FAQ
New Fire Safety Legislation FAQ
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Your Fire Legislation Questions Answered
From time to time the Government changes legislation, one of the ways that this can be instigated is by a Regulatory Reform Order. In this case, the Department of Communities and Local Government (formerly the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister) has identified a way that can make Fire Safety Laws easier to understand and comply with. This should mean that people that are living, working, or staying in a non-domestic setting are safer.
What has changed?
People responsible for the fire safety of a building (such as an owner or a manager) must now routinely conduct fire risk assessments and identify the precautions that are needed instead of the fire authorities. The emphasis will be more heavily placed on fire prevention. There are guides available that tell these people what must be ‘flagged up’ in these risk assessments but is likely that some training could be useful.
Why have they made these changes?
Prior to the RRFSO there were several overlapping bits of legislation covering fire safety. This creates confusion and potentially put people at risk. The RRFSO is an attempt by Government to create one piece of legislation that gets rid of the uncertainty that people faced.
Who will it affect?
All non-domestic premises will be covered by the new legislation. This means every type of premise from residential care properties, to educational sites, and healthcare premises; essentially all public buildings. If you run, manage or own any of these types of venue then this legislation will have an impact on you.
If you are operating in a care home then you will be asked to focus particularly on the risks associated with evacuating older people and infants.
When does the new law come in to play?
The law became effective as of the 1st of October 2006.
I already have a Fire Inspection Certificate, won’t this do?
No, when the law changes the certificates will cease to have legal status.
What should I do?
The first step is to seek out more detailed information. The website for the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister has a set of eleven guides, one for each type of organisation, which you can download for free. You can get to the right part of their website by clicking here.
What happens if I don’t conform?
Firstly, as it is a new set of regulations Inspectors will understand that it may take a little time to adapt. However, as it is being brought into law, deliberately failing to conform would be a very bad idea. It is highly likely that ignoring the regulations would result in court proceedings, possibly even large fines or worse.
That’s all about risk assessments, has training been affected?
All the training previously required by your staff continues to be necessary. However, you may now need to explain the risk assessment process to your staff. BVS Training have released an excellent Fire Safety: Risk Assessment DVD, which will give you the relevant training to ensure you are carrying out risk assessments correctly. We also have two other fire training titles, which are Fire Safety 1: Hazards and Prevention and Fire Safety 2: Drills and Evacuation, which will help you deliver professional quality training to staff with minimum disruption to you. Each BVS Training pack includes a CD-Rom packed with Trainer resources which includes lesson plans, hand-outs, exercises, question & answer sheets and certificates to help create a training record and demonstrate your work to inspectors.
BVS Training also have a Fire Safety 3: Risk Assessment DVD.
To find out more about how BVS Training can help you develop your team click here.
Or for more information call our customer services department on 0845 644 2866
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