Introduction to Fire Safety Management

The organisation element of a safety policy should
clearly identify and defi ne the roles and responsibilities
for all levels of management and operatives within an
organisation. It may be the fact that different sections of
the policy, specifi cally fi re, may have differing organisational
structures due to the need to outsource some of
the competent person duties due to a lack of ‘in-house’
expertise.
It is generally acknowledged that the role of safety
adviser, whether fi re or health and safety, is to provide
support to managers and staff alike. Those to whom they
are likely to provide support, advice and guidance are:
➤ Management board
➤ Safety director
➤ Human resources/personnel
➤ Managers and supervisors
➤ Fellow competent persons, i.e. fi rst aiders, fi re
wardens
➤ Safety committee and employee representatives
➤ Employees.
Each of the above groups should have clearly identifi -
able roles and responsibilities allocated to them as part
of the policy and should be refl ected in job descriptions
appropriate to the role.
Additional roles and responsibilities will also need to
be assigned for other key areas such as:
➤ Fire wardens/marshals
➤ First aiders/other emergency response team
members
➤ Safety event (accident/incident) investigators
➤ Occupational health departments
➤ Chairperson of the safety committee
➤ Procurement/purchasing department.
With clearly allocated roles and responsibilities those
employees and groups with specifi c roles and responsibilities
will be able to fulfi l their functions effectively.
Additionally allocating specifi c roles to individuals facilitates
the monitoring of performance of those individuals
against the expectations of their role.
2.2.3 Arrangements section
Supporting both the statement of intent and the organisation
for safety is the arrangements section of the policy.
This section details the guidelines and procedures for
the implementation of the safety management system.
Dependent upon the nature of the activities of the
organisation, the arrangements section can be either
one, that is, included with both the statement and the
organisation, section (as a complete document), or a
framework section identifying where further guidance for
implementation may be found.
Safety policy
Regardless of the mechanism that is used, i.e.
integrated or framework, many core elements remain the
same. The following bullet pointed list is indicative of the
areas included in an arrangements section:
➤ Access and egress ➤ Housekeeping
➤ Accidents/incidents ➤ Lone working
➤ Alcohol/drugs ➤ Manual handling
➤ Asbestos ➤ Noise at work
➤ Consultation with ➤ Personal protective
employees equipment
➤ Control of contractors ➤ Permit to work
➤ Display screen health ➤ Plant and machinery
and safety ➤ Offi ce equipment
➤ Electrical safety ➤ Ladders and other access
➤ Employment of devices
young persons ➤ Risk assessment
➤ Environmental safety ➤ Security and staff safety
➤ Hazardous substances ➤ Signage
(COSHH) ➤ Smoking
➤ Health surveillance ➤ Stress
➤ Fire and emergency ➤ Temporary and casual staff
arrangements ➤ Training/information
➤ First aid ➤ Utilities and services
➤ Food hygiene ➤ Visitors
➤ Safety inspections ➤ Waste disposal
and safety tours ➤ Working at height
➤ Hours of work ➤ Working environment
Some or all of the above arrangements in larger or
more complex organisations may have their own individual
policy, organisation and arrangements sections.
Regardless of whether each element of the arrangements
section is included within the overall health and
safety policy or whether it is an independent policy
and/or set of procedures, a critical issue is that those
persons nominated in the organisation section of the
policy are aware of the arrangements for which they
have responsibility.
Fire safety policy
The fi re safety policy of an organisation should be structured
along the same lines as the general health and
safety policy, i.e. it should have a statement of commitment,
roles and responsibilities of persons charged with
implementing the policy and detail arrangements.
The arrangements detailed below will invariably be
included in any fi re arrangements section; however, in
order to fully appreciate whether all areas are covered the
completion of a fi re safety review or fi re risk assessment
will help to identify any shortcomings in the arrangements
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