Here to help you with your fire safety regulations

Fires can be extremely dangerous and even fatal if your people don’t have clear training or haven’t taken part in routines such as fire drills.

As a business owner, you’re responsible for providing employees with fire safety training as well as carrying out regular fire safety risk assessments. This legal requirement is to protect the health of safety of everyone within your business whilst educating them on fire protection and how to prevent fires.

Safety in the workplace is no joke and should never be avoided which is why we’re here to help you through the training process, completing documentation and we’ll even send you reminders when it’s time to update anything.

What are the steps I need to take?

First things first, you and your assessor should discuss and decide who the responsible person is for your overall fire safety.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that the person in control of fire safety is known as the ‘responsible person’ or the ‘competent person.’

As an employer, you will be the person who’ll fundamentally implement any recommended actions from the fire risk assessment itself. In some instances, this might be a company or managing agent rather than an individual. For more information on establishing who the competent person is, check out our article on who is responsible for your fire safety.

You’ll then need to look at the potential fire hazards which include;

• The use of highly flammable materials
• Dangerous substances
• Sources of stored oxygen
• Elements that could promote the rapid spread of fire, heat or smoke
• The building’s features – has it been purpose-built for fire protection?
• The overall construction of the building – looking at the materials used, and parts of the building that might have been built later.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at our 45 things you need to know about fire.

Once fire hazards have been identified, you then need to look at the people at risk. This is the point where you ask yourself three important questions;

1. Can my employees react quickly to a fire or an alarm?
2. Is anyone (employees, visitors or contractors) working in a high fire risk area?
3. Could a fire outbreak impact any other occupants, tenants or those in the vicinity?

Once you have your answers, you may need to conduct a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan for each resident if you are a provider for residential care. This may be overwhelming for you which is why we’ve broken it down into stages to take away that added pressure and provide you with a guide to be efficient and safe.

Now you have identified the potential fire hazards, you must then look at the required fire measures which are;

1. fire detection and warning
2. means of escape
3. provision of fire-fighting equipment

A great way to assess the fire measures by carrying out a fire drill. This will indicate if your employees have adequate training, if exit routes are easily visible and if fire safety equipment is stored in the correct place and can be used correctly.

This then takes you to the next step which is putting training and emergency plans in place. As an employer, you need to establish who liaises with the fire safety services as your responsible person (this could be yourself).

Providing your people with training resources such as online courses or safety posters allows them to protect themselves and others in the event of an emergency. Using simple online templates for; fire risk assessments, evacuation plans, equipment, drills and training will take a huge weight off your shoulders and reassure you that your people are prepared.

Our expert consultants will help to put your fire procedures in place and then train your team in how to use them to stay safe in the risk of a fire. We have a vast range of free resources for you at your dispense on Atlas. Download your free Fire Safety Poster here.

A great way to keep your business safe and compliant is by regularly going through a checklist of the above and we have created that checklist for you, simply head here.

We can help

Here at Citation, we understand the time and resource constraints you face every single day. We hope our support is already making your life easier, but we’re always looking at ways to further help you. We provide Health & Safety support for Manchester businesses and SMEs across the UK.

That’s why one of our competent and qualified fire risk assessors can visit your premises to support you, giving you the security of knowing that 100% of your fire risk assessments are peer-audited by our internal team for quality assurance. Give our Health & Safety consultants a call today for more information on 0161 820 560 or email us: hello@citation.co.uk