WHAT IS THE RR(FS)O?
Fire authorities no longer
issue fire certificates and those previously in force will have no legal
status. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RR(FS)O) replaces
most fire safety legislation with one new order. It means that any
person who has some level of control in premises must take steps to
reduce the risk from fire, consider how to contain a fire should one
break out and then also make sure people can safely escape if there is a
fire.
WHERE
DOES THE ORDER APPLY?
The order applies to
virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building,
structure and open space. For example, it applies to:
- Offices & Shops
- Factories &
Warehouses
- Sleeping
accommodation
- Health care premises
- Residential Care
premises
- Educational premises
- Places of assembly
- Transport premises &
facilities
- Theatres & cinemas
- Outdoor event
locations
The order applies to all
buildings apart from private homes or individual flats. The Government
intends to provide a series of guidance documents which can be
downloaded free of charge from
www.communities.gov.uk.
WHO IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR MEETING THE ORDER?
Under the order, anyone
who has control of premises or anyone who has a degree of control over
certain areas or systems may be a ‘responsible person’, for example, it
could be:
- The employer, for
those parts of premises staff may have access to
- The managing agent or
owner for shared parts of premises or shared fire safety equipment
such as fire detection systems or sprinklers
- The occupier, such as
self-employed people or voluntary organisations if they have any
control
- Any other person who
has some control over a part of the premises
- The responsible
person must officially designated
WHAT
DOES THE RESPONSIBLE PERSON HAVE TO DO?
The responsible person is
responsible for the safety of the employees and relevant persons by
effectively managing:
- Fire risk assessment
- Fire safety policy
- Fire procedures
- Fire drills
- Means of escape
- Emergency lighting
- Fire alarms and
extinguishers
- Fire doors &
compartments
- Fire evacuations
- Signs & notices
- Maintenance is
carried out
WHAT
CONSTITUTES A FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT?
- Identifying fire
hazards such as sources of ignition, fuel or oxygen
- Identifying all
people at risk in and around the premises
- Evaluating the risk
of a fire starting or the risk to people from a fire
- Removing or reducing
fire hazards or risks to people from a fire
- Protecting people by
providing fire precautions
- Recording any major
findings and actions
- Preparing an
emergency plan
- Informing and
instructing any relevant people
- Providing training
for staff and guests
- Reviewing the fire
risk assessment regularly and make changes where necessary
- Keeping accurate fire
risk assessment records
- Maintenance is
recorded
WHAT
RECORDS MUST I KEEP?
The responsible person
must keep records on risk assessments, the current fire safety policy,
procedures, training and drills. The routine maintenance of all fire
alarm systems and emergency lighting and extinguishers must also be
recorded.
WHAT
TRAINING MUST I PROVIDE?
All employees must be
given fire safety training when they commence employment and refreshers
as is necessary – this would include the use of extinguishers. All
people in your building must be considered as much as employees,
visitors, members of the public - even trespassers!
HOW DO I
MEET THE ORDER?
The order states that if
you are the responsible person, you must make sure you carry out a
fire-risk assessment although you can pass this task to a ‘competent
person’. How do I determine that a person is competent?
A specialist fire and
safety consultant from a reputable company such as Channel Safety
Systems would be defined as competent via industry fire standards, or by
undertaking specialist training.
Building
Service Protocols
With the development of
more and more products that need to communicate with each other, in
particular products used for building services in sophisticated modern
buildings, the need has arisen for protocols to be agreed across a whole
range of manufacturers or even entire industries. For instance, the
electrical trade has systems for switching large numbers of current
consuming devices, such as lights, by using simple loop wiring and a
protocol, rather than miles and miles of cables for individual circuits.
Examples of such protocols are LonWorks and EIB.
Because such protocols are
available for any manufacturer to use, they are often referred to as
‘open’. The fire detection industry does not currently use such
protocols and the term ‘open’ has come to mean something different in
this particular industry.
Fire
industry protocols
In the fire detection
industry analogue addressable systems use control panels and detectors
(and, of course, devices such as interfaces) which communicate with each
other by means of a protocol. There are three options to choose from:
CLOSED
PROTOCOLS
Manufacturers of equipment
using closed protocols claim that all elements of their equipment
(detectors, panels, call points, interfaces, special detectors such as
beam detectors) will work harmoniously with each other, since it is all
designed and made by the same company. The implication is that a system
comprising detectors and interfaces from one manufacturer cannot be
maintained by another fire alarm service company. This is the least
flexible option which can also be commercially exploited by a
manufacturer.
MANAGED
PROTOCOLS
Manufacturers of equipment
that all elements of their equipment work harmoniously together, but the
equipment can be maintained by another fire alarm service company.
OPEN
PROTOCOLS
The manufacturers of the
components of a system with an open protocol would reply that such
systems can be maintained by any suitable fire alarm service company
