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New Fire Regulations - Do You Know Your Responsibilities?
 On
October 1st 2006, new rules come
into force, affecting all non-domestic
premises in England and Wales. If you are an
employer, self employed with business
premises, a contractor with a degree of
control over a premises, responsible for a
business premises, or a charity/voluntary
organization; then you need to know your
duties under the new act.
The main rules under the new legislation:
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You need to carry out a fire risk
assessment, identifying all possible
dangers and risks. As part of this you
must consider the safety of everyone in
the premises (E.g.: Staff, customers,
delivery staff, etc…).
-
Get rid of, or minimize any risks found
as far as is reasonably possible (E.g.:
Replace flammable materials for
non-flammable materials if possible);
and provide fire precautions to deal
with any remaining risks (E.g.: Smoke
alarms, fire extinguishers).
-
Provide protection if flammable or
explosive materials are used or stored.
-
Create a plan to deal with any
emergency. If you have five or more
employees you must keep a record of this
plan.
-
Regularly review your findings to make
sure all new situations are covered
(E.g.: A new employee, an office
expansion, stocking new potentially
flammable goods, etc…).
-
Fire certificates are no longer required
or valid from the start of the new
rules.
Your local fire authority should provide you
with practical advice on request, and they
can also order investigations or issue
notices where you fail to meet the
regulations.
Although the new regulations are designed to
make meeting fire regulations easier (by
merging lots of existing legislations), they
appear to be causing confusion among many
small business owners who are unsure what
they need to do. Two links with more
information are listed below.
Remember that you are responsible for the
health and safety of your employees, so
leaving fire risks puts you at risk of
health and safety claims as well as those
under the new fire regulations.
Information and frequently asked questions
about the rules are available here.
A brief guide to the new rules, designed for
small and medium sized businesses is
available here.
Our guide to Health and Safety issues for
small businesses.
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