Fire safety has come on a long way since the fairly rudimentary firefighting groups of the Roman Empire. Put it this way, we’re a far cry from a bucket of water these days. Of course, we now have a fire service that is on hand seven days a week and 24 hours a day to respond to any fire emergency. What’s more, we also have plenty of technology used for both fire prevention and detection such as alarms and fire exit signs. There are however a whole host of regulations your business needs to follow in order to comply with government fire standards. So what are these regulations and how can you meet them?
The fire safety order
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was introduced to protect all those from fire in a non-domestic building. This order is designed to ensure all business buildings are safe and feature a series of mitigating measures to help prevent the incident of a fire. The order applies to both England and Wales and those who come under the regulation must meet the threshold or risk prosecution.
The responsibility of complying with the order falls on the ‘responsible person' which, in this case, is usually the building's owner. The first step you will likely need to take is completing a fire risk assessment. This risk assessment should cover the entire building and give a general overview of the state of the building as well as how susceptible it is to the risk of fire. The group conducting the assessment should also focus particular attention on those using the building that are the most vulnerable such as disabled people and those with learning difficulties.
Who does this affect?
In short, anyone who uses the building will be affected by a fire safety order and should be made aware if the building does not comply. A risk assessment and the presence of the official document should be made aware to anyone who uses the building regularly. If a user of the building asks to see this the owner may feel it polite to comply with their request.
Exemptions
As with many government regulations, there are some notable exemptions you should be aware of if you either own a business or work in any sectors that might fall within the exemptions. If the premises is technically a domestic building it is expert, as are ships, offshore installations, agricultural land, aircraft, and mines.
If you think your building might come under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 then you should seek a fire risk assessment as soon as possible. Here at EK Fire Protection, we are a fire safety business you can rely on. So, contact us today and speak with our helpful staff about your next steps.
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