Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Introduction to Fire Safety Management
It may be the case that the controller of the premises
has to provide information, instruction and/or training to
persons having access to the premises. It follows that
unless the premises are intrinsically safe for all cases
of people who may gain access, including trespassers,
the controller of the premises will need to exercise some
form of entry control.
In the example of railway premises, access to the
hazardous areas, i.e. the railway line itself, is prevented
by the provision of security fencing.
In the example of a tenanted, multi-storey offi ce
block the safety of people using/maintaining the lift is a
statutory duty of the controller of the premise.
The RRFSO places additional legal duties for fi re
safety management on any person who is in ‘control’ of
a workplace. The RRFSO identifi es the person in control
of a premises as either:
➤ The employer, if the workplace is to any extent
under his control or
➤ If the workplace is not to any extent under the control
of an employer:
➤ The person who has control of the premises
whether for profi t or not or
➤ The owner.
Having identifi ed the person who has control over a
premise the RRFSO defi nes them as the ‘responsible
person’. The responsible person (see Chapter 1) then
becomes the main duty holder for fi re safety and has, as
a result, overall responsibility for:
➤ Undertaking the fi re risk assessment
➤ Putting precautions in place to safeguard employees
and non-employees
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➤ Ensuring that testing and maintenance is carried out
for such aspects as:
➤ Fire detection and alarm systems
➤ Fire fi ghting equipment
➤ Emergency exit routes and fi re exits
➤ Fire evacuation drills and assembly points.
3.3 Joint occupation of premises
Where two or more responsible persons and/or employers
share or have duties in respect of a workplace whether
or not it is a permanent or temporary arrangement, each
party has absolute legal duties to:
➤ Cooperate with all other responsible persons and/or
employers in order that they may all secure adequate
fi re precautionary measures for the premises
➤ Take all reasonable steps to coordinate the general
fi re precautions for the premises
➤ Inform all the other responsible persons and/or
employers of the risks to safety arising from their
work activities
➤ Where two or more responsible persons share the
premises and the potential for an explosive atmosphere
may occur it is the responsibility for the person
who has overall charge of the premises to
coordinate the risk controls to manage any potential
explosive atmospheres.
These duties extend to the self-employed, which means
that employers have a duty to cooperate, coordinate and
inform self-employed persons as well as other employers
sharing the workplace. In addition, of course, the selfemployed
have identical duties to cooperate, coordinate
Figure 3.5 Common circulation areas are the responsibility
of those in control of the premises Figure 3.6 Light industrial units jointly occupied