Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Introduction to Fire Safety Management
10
Suppliers
Erectors
Manufacturers
Duty
Holders
Section 6
Importers
Figure 1.12 HSWA section 6 duty holders
Designers
Installers
➤ Conduct such tests and examinations as are
necessary
➤ Provide adequate, up-to-date safety information
➤ Conduct research to identify, eliminate or minimise
any risks to health and safety
➤ Ensure that nothing about the way that the article is
installed or erected makes it unsafe.
This section is also very important when considering fi re
risk, particularly that which relates to the fi re retardant
nature of products or installing fi re safety systems.
Personal liabilities
All employees The Act places three key duties on
employees:
➤ To take reasonable care of their own health and
safety and of others who may be affected by their
acts or omissions at work
➤ To cooperate with their employer and others in the
discharge of their legal obligations
➤ Not to interfere or misuse anything that is provided
for their safety (although this refers to all persons
not just employees).
Senior managers/directors In addition to their own
personal liabilities as ‘employees’, section 37 of the Act
enables the enforcement authorities to prosecute senior
manager/directors as well as the corporate body, where
the individual (holding a senior position and can be seen
as ‘the controlling mind’) has been deemed to have consented,
connived or neglected with a duty by an act or
omission in breach of any statutory legislation.
HSC & HSE
The Act established both the health and safety commission
and the health and safety executive identifying their
roles and responsibilities. The Act also lays down the
mechanisms by which the Act will be enforced, which
will be dependent upon the type of business activity
being undertaken.
Table 1.2 indicates which enforcing body is responsible
for various business sectors.
Table 1.2 HSE enforcing body table
HSE Local enforcers
Construction Offi ces
Off shore Shops
Factories Restaurants
Petro-chemical works Hotels
The Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999 (MHSW)
The Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999 (MHSW) originally arrived on UK statute
books in 1992 as part of the requirements to implement
the European Framework Directive of 1989.
The regulations are detailed and accompanied by
both an ACoP and guidance, and provide a cornerstone
in the overall management of health and safety within the
UK. They also form the basis from which the Regulatory
Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was produced.
Risk assessment
Employers have an absolute duty to make suitable and
suffi cient assessment of health and safety risks, including
risks from fi re. They must take into account employees
and others who may be affected by their work activities.
The purpose of the risk assessment is for the employer
to be able to ascertain what they have to do to comply
with their legal obligations. Particular attention has to be
given to assess risks where young persons (that is, people
under 18 years of age) may be at risk. This regulation also
requires employers to record the results of risk assessments
and to review risk assessments.
Principles of prevention to be applied
The MHSW requires employers who are implementing
risk control measures (referred to as preventive and
protective measures) to follow the principles set out in
the regulations. These principles are a hierarchy of risk
control measures of the type described in Chapter 5.
The hierarchy begins with ‘avoiding risks’ and ends with
‘giving appropriate instructions to employees’.