Fire Safety Legislation

The Fire Scotland Act and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force on the 1st October 2006. The new legislation simplified and brought together a wide range of existing fire safety regulations, though the requirement for businesses to have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment carried out, by a competent person, still remains.

The responsibility for complying with these fire safety duties sits with the employer and other persons who have control of the premises to any extent; for example, tenants, contractors and volunteers working on site may also have some responsibilities. Employers are required to ensure the safety of employees, as far as is reasonably practicable. This means that the sacrifice in terms of time, effort, expense, and any other disadvantages associated with the provision of fire safety measures, should be weighed against the magnitude of the fire risk if they were not taken.

All other persons with fire safety responsibilities in respect of the premises are required to take all reasonable measures regarding the safety of persons in, or in the immediate vicinity of, the premises. Where premises or responsibilities are shared, each employer, owner or other person who has control over any part of the premises is required to co-operate and co-ordinate, in respect of complying with fire safety law, and to inform each other of risks.

Duties imposed by the legislation fall into seven general categories:

1. Carrying out a fire safety risk assessment of the premises;
2. Identifying the fire safety measures necessary as a result of the fire safety risk assessment outcome;
3. Implementing these fire safety measures using risk reduction principles;
4. Putting in place fire safety arrangements for the ongoing control and review of the fire safety measures;
5. Complying additionally with the specific requirements of the fire safety regulations;
6. Keeping the fire safety risk assessment and outcome under review;
7. Record keeping