Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Introduction to Fire Safety Management
from both fi re and health and safety seek joint prosecutions
for breaches that result in deaths as a result of fi res
and explosions.
While there appears to be little information regarding
the number of prosecutions taken in relation to fi re safety,
the HSE produces summaries of prosecutions which are
made available on their website. Table 1.5 shows the
number and nature of prosecutions taken by the HSE over
a fi ve year period. The fi gures shown are merely the fi nes
imposed on employers under the HSWA. They do not
include the indirect costs incurred by organisations who
are prosecuted, in terms of bad publicity and legal fees.
Where a safety breach is committed by a body
corporate and is proven to have been committed
with the:
➤ consent or
➤ connivance of
➤ or to be attributable to any neglect
on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other
similar offi cer of the body corporate (or any person purporting
to act in any such capacity) they, as well as the
body corporate, are guilty of that offence, and are liable
to be prosecuted and punished accordingly.
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Table 1.4 Consequences of appealing within 21 days against notices
Actions/options HSE/LA/FA FA alterations HSE/LA/FA
improvement/enforcement prohibition
Action of appeal Suspends the operation of Suspends the operation of Does not suspend the operation
the notice until hearing the notice until hearing of the notice until hearing
Court options Cancel, affi rm, affi rm with Cancel, affi rm, affi rm with Cancel, affi rm, affi rm with
modifi cations modifi cations modifi cations
Note: although there is provision to appeal against a notice relating to switches for luminous discharge tubes, the RRFSO fails to mention whether the
notice remains in force during the appeal.
Table 1.5 HSE prosecution of employers
Year Number of Total fi nes Average fi ne
ending convictions imposed per prosecution
2001 495 £5 573 525 £41 676
2002 530 £8 225 466 £58 167
2003 451 £4 710 051 £39 888
2004 512 £8 928 600 £45 882
2005 396 £6 857 200 £40 895
1.5.3 Financial
In addition to the fi nes imposed as a result of successful
prosecutions, the fi nancial ramifi cations of failing to
manage safety effectively, as discussed previously, can
impact considerably upon an organisation. It is clear,
given a variety of surveys undertaken over past years,
that many organisations do not fully appreciate the true
consequences of an incident and believe that the insurance
premiums that they pay cover the costs.
Over recent years insurance companies have begun
to infl uence the management of safety by rewarding
organisations that have an effective management safety
record (low claims history) by maintaining premiums
and excess; alternatively they have raised the poorer
safety performers’ premiums and excess and on some
occasions refused to cover them at all.
Insurance infl uences in relation to fi re, given the
fi nancial impact that even a small fi re can have, are even
more prominent, with specifi c codes being produced
such as ‘Fire Prevention on Construction Sites’, the
joint code of practice on the protection from fi re on
construction sites and buildings undergoing renovation.
Published by the Construction Confederation and
the Fire Prevention Association with the support of the
Association of British Insurers, the Chief and Assistant
Chief Fire Offi cers Association (now CFOA) and the
London Fire Brigade, the joint code provides clear
guidance on minimum standards for the construction
industry relating to fi re safety management.
Compliance with the code for insurance purposes
is often included as part of contract terms to secure
insurance cover. Therefore if the code is not followed it
may result in a breach of contract and thus could result
in insurance ceasing to be available or in certain circumstances
it may result in a breach of legislation requiring
the provision of insurance.
The organisation SIESO (Sharing Information and
Experience for Safer Operations) has identifi ed that over
50% of businesses that have been involved with a major
incident have ceased trading within 12 months of the