In England and Wales, the law states that if you’re an employer, owner, landlord or occupier of business or non-domestic premises, you are responsible for fire safety and are known as the ‘responsible person’.
As the person responsible you must:
- carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises and review it regularly
- tell staff or their representatives about the risks you’ve identified
- put in place and maintain appropriate fire safety measures
- plan for an emergency
- provide staff information, fire safety instruction and training
The law is governed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which replaces all previous fire legislation since October 2006. Visit www.gov.uk/workplace- fire-safety-your-responsibilities for more information.
The fire safety process always starts with a fire risk assessment. If you don’t have the expertise or time to do the fire risk assessment yourself, you will need to appoint a ‘competent person’ to help. If you’re not sure if your risk assessment has been carried out properly, your local fire and rescue authority might be able to give you advice, although they can’t carry out risk assessments for you.
As an established company we are here to assist your business with your fire safety compliance requirements and would be happy to discuss our tailored services to meet your needs.