Ensuring Your Premises Is Safe From A Fire Requires Much More Than Fire Safety Arrangements
Ensuring Your Premises Is Safe From A Fire Requires Much More Than Fire Safety Arrangements
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO) is now in its sixth year running as the prime legislation for fire safety. When this legislation first changed, it shifted the responsibility from your local fire brigade onto the shoulders of the Responsible Person within an organisation. Previously, this person, who is now considered the one responsible for fire safety, has usually had no previous experience, knowledge or interest in the topic of fire safety in the workplace.
This is because until the RRO came into force an organisation didn’t have much responsibility in terms of the general fire safety matters in a building. They would always be assured by the fire brigades visit, the issue of a fire certificate and the declaration that all is A-OK. But, things have changed now; they have done for six years and the Responsible Person cannot continue to blame a lack of knowledge on the system. They have no choice but to learn, understand and follow their duties under this legislation.
Competence and empowerment is needed. Not only should they know their duties individually, they also need to ensure that the whole organisation is equally aware of how important fire safety is. Fire Safety within an entire workplace should not be a one man band. Fire safety is a corporate commitment. It should be a condition of employment to ensure that each individual understands how important fire safety is taken within the organisation. Before fire safety arrangements and modern products, comes the old fashioned method of starting at the beginning and spreading the word to form a fire safety culture.