01/11/2006
New fire safety regulations - Ignore at your peril
According to Norman Fisher, Partner at Graham & Sibbald, legislation has become part and parcel of everyday life which we endeavour to embrace and adapt to comply. The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 received Royal Assent in April 2005 and came into force in the workplace on the 1st October 2006. He comments that, the act received high profiled media coverage, yet despite this, many building owners, employers, employees are unsure of their responsibilities or how to comply.
Previous legislation was enacted by local Fire Departments who undertook regular inspections and issued appropriate Fire Certificates, and were regularly on hand to offer assistance and advice.
The main emphasis of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 is to place the responsibility of ensuring fire safety clearly with those persons who have control of properties or demised areas thereof. This includes Managing Agents, Owners Occupiers and Tenants, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the landlord to ensure that all areas of the property have been suitably assessed.
This new risk assessment based regime requires those persons responsible for premises used by the public to take action to prevent fires, and protect against death and injury should a fire occur.
Norman Fisher says, “No one can afford to be complacent about fire safety because complacency kills. The legislation calls for a responsible person to be appointed by the owner of a building and gives guidance on how that person should carry out a Fire Risk Assessment. I would urge all organisations using or occupying non domestic premises to read the Guidance Booklets available to ensure that they understand whether or not these responsibilities apply to them, and what to do to be fully prepared. To help businesses, the Government has a series of 10 sector specific guides and a new website dedicated to the new Fire Safety Regime which can be accessed at www.inforscotland.com/firelaw.
The time has come to “dust down” your Fire Certificate, appoint a responsible person to undertake the Fire Risk Assessment and maintain it in an up to date manner.
Fire Prevention already lies at the heart of the work of fire and rescue services across Scotland, and the new legislation will be enforced by officers from the Fire Authorities, the Health & Safety Executive, and from Local Authorities. Too many people in Scotland are killed each year as a result of fire and tragically many of these deaths could be prevented. Hopefully, this new legislation will play its part by giving new responsibilities to the owners, occupiers and users of non domestic buildings – both public and private, for ensuring fire safety”.
Contact: Norman Fisher
Email: nfisher@g-s.co.uk
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