New Fire Safety Law

After much delay, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order October 2005, was approved by Parliament on the 7th June 2005 and will become law in England and Wales on 1st October, 2006.  The order replaces the need for fire certificates, which are being phased out.

The order is very important within legislation and will amend, repeal, revoke and replace over 100 pieces of existing legislation, including -

Fire Precautions Act 1971, Fire certificates (special premises) Regulation 1976, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1997 to name but a few. The order gives greater emphasis on fire prevention and defence measures and places the responsibility on employers and owners and/or controllers of premises to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment.

At law, a responsible or competent person (statutory requirement) would mean someone who has the knowledge (i) of that particular business or organisation, (ii) would also have the knowledge of the people and staff employed, (iii) would be in a senior position within the organisation and (iv) have some knowledge and awareness of health and safety.

In future, the Fire Authorities will be the main enforcing authority for the fire order and will have similar powers to Health & Safety Inspectors. The Fire Inspectors will not have a particular duty to inspect individual premises, but will ask to view an employer's Fire Risk Assessment, which must be in writing and communicated to all staff.

This new legislation should bring far greater clarity and create one simple fire safety regime. It will be risk assessment based with responsibility resting on the responsible person. It has been considered that the financial benefits to business will be around £1.7 million from the ending of fire certificates and a further £45-£100 million due to a reduction in the number of fires.

We encourage all clients to contact the Support Line on 08 700 200 999 for further guidance and support if required.