New fire safety and risk assessment rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on October 1, 2006. If you need additional information on how you can ensure you are meeting your obligations under the new fire safety/risk assessment rules, feel free to browse this site, or alternatively, you can call your local fire brigade.

Under the new rules, you must make sure you carry out a fire-risk assessment, although you can pass this task to some other competent person. As far as is reasonably practical, the responsible person, either on his or her own or with any other responsible person, must make sure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire.

Risk assessment is perhaps the most essential component of health and safety since it allows you to learn what can cause harm to people in your office or place of work. Hazards are those things in and around the workplace that can cause harm to staff, volunteers, visitors and other members of the public. Look around the building to find those things you consider a significant hazard.

Keep in mind that sometimes it is easy to ignore some hazards because they are familiar. It is also useful to ask people who use the premises if they know of anything they consider to be a fire hazard. Consider the people that use the building and how the hazard might affect them. Even if they use your premises every day, customers and service personnel must be thought of as members of the public. It is also important to consider how the hazard might cause an injury.

Risk is the chance that someone could be harmed. As a guide, “low” risks do not need significant attention. “Medium” risks need some attention to bring them to a “low” level. Of course, “high” risks should be dealt with immediately. Risks assessments must be done in writing if you have five or more employees, and this includes volunteers. Assessments should be reviewed periodically to ensure that they remain valid.

The assessment might also need to be reviewed if there are major changes, and this should be seen as part of the planning process of any new project or change. The guidelines above can help you with the fire risk assessment but you may need added information, particularly if you have large or intricate premises.

With some level of proper training or experience, a responsible person should be able to do a fire risk assessment. More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive training or experience in fire risk assessment.

The risk assessment will help you make a decision on the nature and the extent of the fire precautions you need to provide. There are six other legal duties you need to know:

• You must designate people to take on any special roles required under your emergency plan where it is necessary to preserve the safety of your employees.
• You must seek advice from your employees about the appointment of people to fulfil particular roles relating to fire safety and about suggestions for improving fire precautions.
• You must notify other employers who have workplaces in the building of any significant risks you found which might affect the safety of their employees – and co-operate with them about the measures proposed to reduce/control those risks.
• If you are not an employer but have any control of premises that contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the fire regulations are complied with in those parts you have control over.
• You must establish an appropriate means of calling emergency services, and make sure they can be contacted easily.
• The law requires your employees to cooperate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and not to do anything that will place themselves and other people at risk.

Any responsible person, even with limited formal instruction or experience, can do a simple fire risk assessment. More complex buildings will need to be assessed by a person with full training and experience in fire risk assessment. Mainly companies and building owners will be affected by the new legislation but it could be anyone who has some control over premises. Fire certificates will no longer be valid.

Under the new regulations it is the responsibility of employers to do a risk assessment of their places of work, which must contain provisions concerning fire safety measures in the workplace.

The responsible person must go over the risk assessment frequently to keep it current, particularly if:

• There is reason to believe that it is no longer valid; or
• There has been a major change in the matters to which it relates, or there have been expansions or substantial changes in the organisation of work

The risk assessment should be done to make sure that appropriate fire precautions, maintenance and management measures are in place to guarantee the safety of anyone who might use your premises. The Fire and Rescue Authority will now examine premises and undertake audits of fire risk assessments to put into effect the requirements of the Regulatory Reform Order.

The Five Steps To Fire Risk Assessment:

Step 1: Identify fire hazards. Is there a system for controlling the amounts of combustible materials and flammable liquids and gases, including cleaning fluids, stationery and waste, kept in the workplace? Is the system working correctly? Are all combustible materials and flammable liquids and gases stored safely? Are all items of portable electrical equipment checked frequently and fitted with the correct rated fuses?

Step 2: Identify the persons at significant risk in case of fire. Think about who might be in or near your premises that would need to know about your fire protection systems – including employees, people in adjoining buildings, visitors or contractors. Is there an adequate number of proper exits of suitable width for the persons present? Do the exits lead to a place of safety? Are passageways and escape routes free from obstacles and tripping hazards? Are steps and stairs in a good state of repair? Are final exits always unlocked when the premises are in use?

Step 3: Evaluate the risks. Control sources of ignition and the use and storage of flammable materials. Do procedures and practices avoid the use of combustible materials or processes that use heat? Has thought been given to all cost-effective measures that can be taken to prevent the incidence of arson? Have employees been taught how to call the fire brigade, the use of the fire extinguishers and basic fire prevention?

Step 4: Record your findings and action taken. This depends on the size of your workplace and the likelihood of fire. If you employ five or more people have you recorded the findings of the fire risk assessment? Have you told your employees or their representatives about your findings? If you have prepared a final report has it been shown to your employees? If you share the workplace with others do they know about the risks you have identified?

Step 5: Keep assessment under review. Has a procedure been set up to go over the fire risk assessment at regular intervals?

The task of complying with the Fire Safety Order rests with the “responsible person.” Under Article 9 of the Order the responsible person must ensure that a fire risk assessment is carried out to identify the general precautions required. Detailed advice on carrying out a fire risk assessment is contained in the Home Office/Scottish Executive/Northern Ireland DoE/HSE publication, Fire Safety: An Employer’s Guide.

Some facilities are required to keep a minimum level of emergency lighting along the entire means of egress whenever the building is occupied. The means of egress may be more than just the aisles and main corridors, and emergency lighting may have to extend from each exit to every location where people might normally be found. A lot of of these spaces can be vacant for large portions of the day.

Any building is dark if there is a power failure. Emergency lighting will also be necessary if there is a fire in the building, as this could cut the electrical supply. The emergency lighting you provide in your workplace will depend on the size of the building. There might not be any need for emergency lighting if you do not use the building in the night and there are windows to let in natural light.

You may be able to use a few torches kept in convenient places for small buildings where few people work. Some torches have a charger, which plugs into a mains socket, and these torches usually come on automatically when the mains power fails. Self-contained emergency light fittings contain a battery charger, a rechargeable battery and a light source, which is usually an 8-watt fluorescent tube. Some units have spotlights, and these are ideal for taller rooms or large spaces

Emergency lighting units are available in two kinds: “non-maintained” (which come on only in a power failure) or “maintained” (which can be on all the time). Non-maintained units are more common, but maintained lights should be installed for exits and exit signs. The chief reason for emergency lighting is to ensure people can find an exit safely. It is not necessary to use exit sign emergency lights, but this would usually be recommended in addition to normal emergency lighting.

Emergency lighting almost always consists of unattractive boxes fixed to ceilings and walls. The first question to ask is whether emergency lighting is really necessary at all. There may be no need to supply any emergency lighting for a building if there is no public access after dark and it is otherwise unoccupied. Non-maintained, three-hour emergency exit box lights, which sit on the floor and are plugged into the nearest socket outlet, can provide temporary emergency lighting.

Photoluminescent technology is another option that can lead occupants to safety when the electricity goes out and a building must be evacuated. The purpose of this technology is not the illumination of a space, but rather to provide definition so people can orient themselves. Powered only by ambient light, photoluminescent safety signs and path markers glow in the dark similar to children’s novelty decals found at any craft store but at a much higher level.

Lights should be installed along corridors, near fire exits and fire extinguishers or fire alarm call points. It might not be possible to install normal emergency lighting in some buildings because it might interfere with historic features. Even if you have emergency lighting installed in larger workplaces, we recommend that you make torches available to staff.

All emergency lights need to be checked periodically. All mains powered units need to be tested for a functional test for about 10 minutes every month. Switches are usually wired into the lighting circuits to help you test the emergency lights. If you use torches, simply check that they work by briefly turning on the torch on a weekly basis and change the batteries every few months to make sure that they aren’t flat when you need to use them. You need to keep a record of when you tested your emergency lights.

Though power outages don’t happen that often, it’s vital that when they do occur, your building is suitably equipped with emergency lighting that can illuminate a path of safety for the people inside. There are many different emergency lighting options for facilities; choices range from torches to simple wall-mounted units to complex systems integrated into your building’s primary lighting system.