Advice for Business
How to comply with current fire regulations
Unless the context otherwise requires, reference to the singular includes the plural and reference to the masculine includes the feminine.
Specific fire safety advice for all premises except domestic premises, is now provided on two national websites (links to which are provided on the right of this page).
For the purposes of identifying the measures to be taken to comply with current fire regulations (The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005), the ‘Responsible Person’ ie. the person who has control of the premises, must carry out a risk assessment and act upon the ‘significant findings’ of that assessment. The legislation does not apply to ‘domestic premises’ within the meaning of the order.
If the Responsible Person feels that he does not have the necessary experience or expertise to do this, he must appoint one or more competent persons to assist him in identifying the general fire precautions he needs, to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on him by this Order. Where there is a competent person in the Responsible Person’s employment, that person must be appointed in preference to a person not in his employment.
Information on how to carry out a fire risk assessment has been published by HM Government in the form of a series of Fire Safety Risk Assessment Guides for different uses of premises ie. Offices and shops; Factories and warehouses; Sleeping accommodation; Residential care premises; Educational premises; Small and medium places of assembly; Large places of assembly; Theatres, cinemas and similar premises; Healthcare premises; Open air events; and Transport premises and facilities They are available for free download at www.communities.gov.uk or can be purchased at bookshops. You may need to refer to more than one of these guides depending on the nature of your business.
The other major source of information on all fire safety matters, (including a free online self assessment), can be found at the Fire Gateway website www.fire.gov.uk This site offers comprehensive advice and guidance on Home Safety; Workplace Safety; Social and Community Care; Arson Reduction; Careers; Campaigns; Legal Responsibilities and Education resources, and has links to other useful websites.
Fire Safety Log Book
We are pleased to be able to provide a Fire Safety Log Book for recording tests and maintenance on fire alarms, escape lighting, extinguishers, fire drills, training and other fire safety matters in your premises, which you can download free from this site.
We have supplied the Log Book as a printable document on the right (in both Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word formats) - please print it out and use it.
If you have any queries or comments, please e-mail us at firesafety@dsfire.gov.uk