Fire Safety Law to Change

A new law designed to bring 70 separate pieces of legislation, including the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, into a single regulatory regime in England and Wales has been passed by the House of Lords.

The new law will repeal all previous legislation and is expected to come into force in April 2006. One of the major changes will be the removal of the requirement for businesses to obtain a fire certificate from their local fire authority.

Under the new regime the responsibility for ensuring fire safety will rest firmly with the person responsible for the premises and is based on an assessment of risk. The responsible person must undertake a risk assessment to identify the fire hazards and put suitable measures in place to reduce these hazards as far as they reasonably can. They will also need to implement suitable precautions to protect persons from any remaining risks and routinely review the assessment to ensure it remains appropriate.

Local enforcement authorities will then be able to check what measures have been put in place and to ensure action is taken if they are not adequate. Consequently, the new regime will allow enforcement authorities to manage their resources better by concentrating on those premises most at risk of fire, such as hotels and factories rather than, as now, visiting premises just because they hold a fire certificate.

Similar legislative reforms to fire safety regulations are currently under way for Scotland and Northern Ireland and are expected to be announced within the next year. For England and Wales, the government intends to publish further guidance on complying with the new law in early 2006 and we will keep you advised on developments.