The LWF Blog

Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 – Part 26

December 30, 2019 1:37 pm

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 25, LWF discussed the duties of the Responsible Person (RP) in relation to fire precautions. In part 26, we will consider the fire safety duties required.

The fire safety duties required within the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) are contained within Part 2 of the Order. Articles 8-22 deal with the physical and managerial measures which should be undertaken by the Responsible Person and any person who is deemed to have control of the premises or parts thereof.

In Article 8 of the RRFSO, there is a duty for general fire precautions to be taken. The general fire precautions for a building will be ascertained by the carrying out of a fire risk assessment. The requirement to carry out the fire risk assessment is contained within Article 9, and states that the assessment be reviewed at appropriate and regular intervals. It is also required that the Responsible Person records the significant findings from the fire risk assessment as soon as possible after it is completed or reviewed. Together with the documented significant findings should be the measures that have been or will be taken to comply with the fire safety order. It is important to also particularly note any group of persons who may have been identified as being particularly at risk, if any of the following conditions apply –

1) The Responsible Person employs five or more employees (not just in the particular premises, but anywhere in the organisation).
2) A licence under enactment is in force.
3) An alterations notice requiring this information be recorded is in force.

Dangerous substances are also a particular area of note and the risk assessment should include consideration of the matters laid out in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the RRFSO. If, at the time of the risk assessment there are no dangerous substances in use, but afterwards, a work activity requires the use or storage of a dangerous substance, a further risk assessment of the practices involved must be undertaken. Dangerous substances are defined within the RRFSO, but can be summarised as those substances which are flammable, explosive or oxidising, or any substance that might create a fire risk because of its properties.

In part 27, LWF will continue looking at the fire safety duties imposed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 25 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.