In our research blogs, WA Management will be helping you to recognise and manage the risks and hazards that are common in the workplace. With Fire as our featured Hazard of the Month, this blog will cover the key facts related to workplace fire safety including methods to keep your office protected from this hazard.
Who’s Responsible?
In the eyes of the law (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005), you are responsible for fire safety in business or other non-domestic premises if you’re:
- an employer
- the owner
- the landlord
- an occupier
- anyone else with control of the premises, for example, a facilities manager, building manager, managing agent or risk assessor
If you are one of these, you are known as the ‘responsible person’. If there is more than one responsible person, you will have to work together to meet these responsibilities.
Responsibilities include:
- carrying out a fire risk assessment of the premises and reviewing it regularly
- telling staff or their representatives about the risks you’ve identified
- putting in place, and maintaining appropriate fire safety measures
- planning for an emergency
- providing staff information, fire safety instruction and training
The Essentials of a Fire Safety Risk Assessment
- Firstly, you should identify fire hazards, such as sources of ignition, sources of fuel and sources of oxygen.
- Then, you should identify people at risk which are the people in and around the premises and people who are especially at risk.
- Next, evaluate the risk of a fire starting and the risk to people. You should also remove or reduce fire hazards and the risks to people from a fire, as well as protect people by providing fire precautions.
- Fourthly, you must record any major findings and actions, discuss and work with other responsible people and prepare an emergency plan. It is also important to inform and instruct relevant people and provide training.
- Lastly, review your fire-risk assessment regularly and make changes where necessary.
If you’re unsure on how to conduct a Fire Safety Risk Assessment, contact us HERE for advice or to arrange for us to inspect your site today.
Fire Training
Employees can also receive fire training which ensures that they have the knowledge of how to prevent fires in the workplace, but also what to do in the worst-case scenario if one does break out. Fire training does not necessarily have to be limited to designated fire wardens, who are responsible for checking fire precaution measures and ensuring that fire risk assessments are up to date – all staff can benefit from it as each one has a degree of personal responsibility in keeping themselves safe if a fire does happen. If you’re interested in providing your employees with this extremely valuable training, take a look at our Online Fire Safety Training and Fire Wardens Training!