Fire safety 101

Roles, responsibilities
and everything you
need to do

v01
 Fire safety 101 Get in touch

Fire Safety 101

Roles, responsibilities and everything you need to do

Fire’s an integral part of modern day development and civilisation, but with its uses comes devastating
consequences when things go wrong.

Numbers don’t lie

In 2021/22 alone, in total, there were 276

fire-related fatalities in England and 6098
fire-related casualties.

The nitty gritty

The dos
As a business owner, it’s your
responsibility to:

Regularly procure and review

a fire risk assessment of your
business’ premises.

Ensure all your employees are

aware of the risks you identified
during the fire risk assessment.

Based on the risks you

uncovered, put in place – and
maintain – adequate fire safety
measures and communicate
these to all employees.

Make sure you have a proper

plan in place for in the event of
an emergency.

Keep your employees up-to-

date with relevant information,
training and fire safety
instructions.
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Fire risk assessments

As we just touched on, it’s your responsibility to carry out regular fire risk assessments. This is an important part
of identifying hazards and preventing them from materialising. If your business has five or more employees on
its payroll, you must keep a written record of your fire risk assessment.

There are five elements to your fire risk assessment:

Identify the hazards – how could a fire start

1 in the first place? What could burn?

Who’s at risk? – everyone will be at risk if

Changes to Fire Safety Order (2005) from
2 a fire breaks out, but are some people at
1 October
greater risk than others?
•  The old ruling of “a fire risk assessment is
Evaluate, remove or reduce – what only required to be recorded for premises
3 processes can you put in place to protect with five or more people” is no longer in
your business and prevent a fire from place - this now applies to all premises.
happening in the first place?
The Responsible Person (RP) now also needs to:

Paperwork, planning and training – keep

4 • Record all fire risk assessments in full.
a written record of the hazards and how
Before, only part of a fire risk assessment
you plan on eliminating or reducing them,
was recorded (this was referred to as
plan any action points and make sure all
‘significant findings’ whereas now all
employees are sufficiently trained.
findings need to be recorded).

Regularly review – industries, workplaces
5 and roles are constantly evolving, so it’s
important to regularly revisit and update
your business’ fire risk assessment.
Pay particular attention to things like:
•  Record the identity and company name
of the individual carrying out the fire risk
assessment.
•  Record fire safety arrangements to
show how fire safety is managed on your
premises.

The access to emergency routes and exits
All fire detection and warning systems
Fire-fighting equipment
How you store hazardous substances
•  Record their (the RP’s) contact information,
including a UK-based address.
• The main thing you need to do now is make
sure that you have an up-to-date fire risk
assessment which has been completed by
a competent person, and that you’ve clearly

Your emergency evacuation plan identified and understood who the RP is

and who the Appointed Person (AP) is (if
 If any of your employees are more applicable) for your premises
vulnerable than others
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In the event of evacuation

Are you and your employees aware of what your evacuation plan is? No? Then right now is the time to ensure
every-one does. To put together an effective evacuation plan, make sure you:

Have a clear, easily accessible pathway to all Are up-to-date with all employees’ escape route
stated escape routes training

 re sure there are enough escape routes to

A Have communicated a meeting point for all
allow everyone to evacuate employees

Check your emergency doors are easy to open Have accounted for any additional arrangements
that may be needed for employees with mobility
Have installed emergency lighting where problems – this is otherwise known as a Personal
necessary Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP).

Don’t lose touch with TED

TED – otherwise known as Training, Equipment and Drills – always needs to be in place, so be sure to regularly
check in and:

Ensure all employees are up-to-speed with your training and drills processes, run through them with new
employees and consider giving refresher sessions to existing employees. We’d recommend you conduct
at least one practise fire drill every six months.

The type and level of equipment your business requires will vary depending on the type of industry and
premises you’re in. Whatever equipment you possess, regularly inspect and maintain them, as well as
ensuring all employees are trained to use them – properly.

Make a point of regularly checking that your fire detection and warning systems are in working order. If
you don’t have any installed, you must.

With our fire safety e-learning courses tucked away in our Health &
Safety management platform, Atlas, you can get your employees trained
on their fire safety responsibilities in no time - and it’ll chase them to
make sure it’s completed, so you don’t have to
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Consequences
This is the bit no business wants, which is why we’ve written this guide!

Your local fire and rescue service may visit your business’ premises at any time, and if they do, they’ll be looking to
see if your fire risk assessment and prevention measures are up to scratch. If they’re not, they could issue you with
a formal or informal notice, telling you how to fix the identified problems.

There are a few notices they could give you:

 lteration notice – if your businesses currently

A
has a high safety risk, or would have a high It’s not just pennies
safety risk if the intended use of the premises
changed.
and pounds
If your business doesn’t comply with
 nforcement notice – if your business has a
E
fire safety regulations, it’s not just a
serious risk that you’re not currently managing.
notice you could be up against.
With this one, you’ll be given improvements
you need to make, and when you need to make You could be invited for an interview
them by. under the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act (PACE). Minor fire
 rohibition notice – if the risk they uncover is so
P
safety fines could be as much as
great, they can prohibit or restrict access to your
£5,000, major penalties, however,
business’ premises – with immediate effect.
come with unlimited fines and up to
two years in prison.
Citation are
here for you!
Our all-in-one Health & Safety package helps your
business focus on what you do best, instead of
worrying about endless Health & Safety regulations
and legislation changes.

Get 24/7 advice, support with Health & Safety

documentation, protection from safety prosecutions
(up to £1.5m per year), and access to Atlas to
manage your documentation, incident log and
e-learning digitally.

You can also take on our Fire Risk Assessment

service to seamlessly make sure your fire safety
responsibilities are being met every year, as well as
your Health & Safety responsibilities.

Simply call 0345 844 1111 or visit our website

to get in touch.