1 October to be Implementation Date for Fire Safety Reform
March 23, 2006
The government has finally announced an implementation date for the new Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) that was due to come into force in April this year.
The order was initially postponed by the government so that businesses could have more time to prepare for them and the newly announced date for when they come into force is now 1 October 2006.
Fire certificates will be abolished under the RRO.
The RRO is the biggest overhaul of fire safety legislation in decades and will see fire risk assessments (FRA) move to the fore as the RRO will place greater emphasis on fire prevention in all non-domestic premises (this includes the voluntary sector and any self-employed people with work premises separate from their homes). It will require fire precautions to be put in place "where necessary" and where reasonable and practicable given the circumstances of individual cases.
The responsibility for complying with the new RRO will lie with the "responsible person" i.e. the employer or anyone else who may have control over any part of the premises, for example the owner or occupier. If any building has more than one responsible person they must all work together to ensure compliance.
It will be the responsible person who must carry out a FRA - or ensure that one is carried out - on the premises. The FRA should concentrate on the safety of all "relevant persons" in case of fire, and must pay particular attention to those who may be at special risk, for example disabled people or those with special needs. It is the FRA that will identify the risks in order that subsequent plans can then be put into place to either remove or reduce them. The findings of the FRA will decide the nature and extent of the fire precautions needed.
Under the RRO any business that employs five or more people must record the significant findings of their FRA.
Help will be at hand from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the form of a series of free guides that will help you through the FRA process.
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