Introduction to Fire Safety Management

emergency medical care and rescue work. It is therefore
necessary to communicate with those external bodies
that will provide assistance in the case of emergencies
including the police, fi re and ambulance services.
Further examples of information that should be
communicated outside an organisation include:
➤ Details contained within the health and safety fi le
produced upon completion of construction operations
under CDM
➤ Hazards associated with a particular site, e.g. chemical
or biological risks
➤ Environmental management systems including facilities
for hazardous waste disposal
➤ Emergency procedure for visitors and contractors
➤ Hazard information to prospective customers as
part of the supply chain management.
Again, a variety of media is used when communicating
information to external parties. Increasingly the use of
electronic communication technology is simplifying and
accelerating the fl ow of information. An obvious disadvantage
of the level of use of electronic media is the
possibility of information overload, where safety critical
issues can be lost in a plethora of trivial information.
4.4.4 Competence
Competence is the fundamental requirement to allow
any task to be completed safely. A number of defi ning
safety and employment bodies have attempted to provide
a succinct defi nition of the term competence.
Safety competence can therefore be described as
being a combination of knowledge, skills and experience
that ensures roles are fulfi lled and tasks completed with
due regard to the hazards involved and the risk control
measures necessary to achieve the required levels of
safety. The RRFSO also adds the term ‘other qualities’
without giving an indication of what they are referring to.
Examples of defi nitions of competence:
The ability to perform the activities within
an occupation or function to the standards
expected in employment (Manpower
Services Commission 1991).
The ability to use knowledge, understanding,
practical and thinking skills to perform
effectively to the national standards expected
in employment (DfEE 1998).
Safety culture
Competence gives confi dence to those who have
it and ensures that policies will be developed and
implemented effectively by all those having responsibility
for safety in the workplace.
It follows that the competence of the most senior
manager is as relevant to shop fl oor safety as the
competence of the contract cleaner. Each has a different
but nonetheless vital role to play in the control of risk.
Each needs to have an adequate level of knowledge,
skill and experience to enable them to do what is
necessary to make the workplace safe. The senior buyer
may be responsible to ensure, for example, the provision
of safe work equipment, whereas the contract cleaner is
responsible for ensuring the waste by-products of the
equipment do not present a fi re hazard. Each must be
able to recognise what needs to be done and each must
have the necessary skills to play their part effectively.
Individual competence may be affected by
the following factors:
➤ The ability to acquire knowledge or
develop skills
➤ Mental approach (e.g. powers of concentration,
maturity, motivation)
➤ The ability to apply existing knowledge
and ‘common sense’
➤ Skills acquired through experience,
instruction, or training
➤ The physical ability to develop work skills.
Organisations that effectively manage safety need, as
a minimum, to monitor levels of competence at various
times and will normally have formal arrangements for
measuring competence on the following occasions:
➤ On recruitment of employees
➤ On promoting and internal transfer of staff
➤ Prior to engaging contractors
➤ The introduction of new:
➤ Work equipment
➤ Procedures
➤ Working routine
➤ To assess training needs
➤ To assess training effectiveness
➤ When investigating incidents and accidents.
The Department of Employment defi ne training as:
The systematic development of attitude,
knowledge and skill patterns required by an
individual to perform adequately a given task
or job.
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