LEGISLATION
The new Fire Legislation is called the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and this statutory instrument has the effect of sweeping away all previous legislation governing the work place, places of business, places to which the public have access and Multi Occupied Dwellings (HMO’s), and bring it all under this one instrument of parliament.
A copy can be viewed at:
The ‘Responsible Person’, normally the person in charge of the
premises must;
Make a written ‘risk assessment’, and keep it up to date. From this
he must make the decisions about Fire Safety for all persons in or
on the premises in question.
This new piece of legislation make breaches a ‘criminal offence’,
so it is no longer a ‘civil matter’, your are now personally liable and
your freedom can be risk.
Such a process will most probably result in a decision being made
that the building must be of a suitable fire resistant construction,
is in good repair and that some sort of Automatic Fire Detection
System is a must, and going hand in hand with that is a
requirement for an Emergency Lighting system, extinguishers and
maybe other on site Fire Fighting Equipment, all in all a complete
package.
Whilst the compliance with the new Fire Safety Order is
enforceable via criminal prosecution, it should be remembered that
its primary purpose is to save life and prevent injury to people in
the event of Fire.
Insurers
But what about the building, its contents the future of your
business? Your Insurers obviously have an interest, as they are on
risk and will insist that you take all proper precaution to minimise
their exposure to risk as far as possible, they should be a party to
this decision making process.
They may want not only an adequate Fire Detection System to alert
people to fire to allow an early evacuation but they may also want
it communicated automatically as soon as possible to the Brigade
via a BT Redcare signalled alert, so that whilst you are evacuating
the premises the Brigade are on their way.
Because of these differing risks there are a variety of configurations
of Automatic Fire Detection and Alarm systems designated by L, P
and M codes with sub categories to denote the type of coverage
the system should have, and they are derived from BS5839: 2002
which is the main standard relating to the fitting of such systems.
The Government Guide for your type of business can be found at:
