Fire Safety Order 2005

A selection of the Government's RRO Fire Safety risk assessment leaflets

What is the RRO? Where does the Order apply? What are the main requirements of the Order? Who is responsible for complying? How do I comply with the Order? Definitions

The Government's aim was to bring about better regulation by regulating only where necessary and in a manner that is more suited to the needs of modern business and commerce.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 ('The Order') came into force on 1st October 2006, finally bringing to an end the confusion of a myriad of legislation dealing with fire safety matters. The Order, made under the Regulatory Reform Act 2001, requires the person having control of the premises (the Responsible Person) to implement general fire precautions for the safety of employees or persons who are legally on the premises or in the immediate vicinity of the premises who are at risk from a fire on the premises (Relevant Persons).

The Order applies to virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building and structure and to open spaces put to certain uses.

For example:

But excluding:

Generally the requirements of the RRO will be little different from those previously imposed under the WFPL, in that it will require the responsible person to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment, produce a policy, develop procedures, provide staff training and carry out fire drills. The Order contains the phrase 'The responsible person must... appoint one or more competent persons to assist him ...'

It goes on to say the competent person must have '... Sufficient training, experience and knowledge'. Where the competent person is directly employed, the responsible person must ensure that he or she is properly trained. However where the competent person is a sub contractor, it implies that the contractor should have some form of Third Party Accreditation.

Our advice sheets AS 1/2006 and AS 3/2006 give further clarification on the competent person, and what to look for when assessing competency.

	AS 1/2006 - Regulatory Reform Order 2005	(PDF 46.45 Kb)
	AS 3/2006 - Fire Risk Assessments	(PDF 42.82 Kb)

The responsible person is required to:

• Carry out or nominate someone to carry out a fire risk assessment identifying the risks and hazards
• Consider who may be especially at risk, with particular emphasis being placed on children and young persons
• Eliminate or reduce the risk from fire as far as is reasonably practical and provide general fire precautions to deal with any residual risk
• Take additional measures to ensure fire safety where flammable or explosive materials are used or stored
• Create a plan to deal with any emergency and, in most cases, document your findings
• Review the findings as necessary

In order to decide what the general fire precautions should be, the Responsible Person is required to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks from fire to which Relevant Persons are exposed, including those posed by the use or storage of dangerous substances.

To assist in the fire risk assessment process, the DCLG has issued a series of Premises Guides that will enable the Responsible Person to more easily carry out their duties in preparing the fire risk assessment.

An initial a guide entitled 'A short guide to making your premises safe from fire' has been issued, and is aimed at providing simple and practical advice to people responsible for fire safety in small and medium sized businesses. A copy of this booklet can be obtained by selecting the following link:

RRO Short Guide

(PDF 367.40 Kb)

In addition to the short guide the following 11 guides are available on the Department for Communities and Local Government website:

Select the following link to view the guides on the Department for Communities and Local Government website:

www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw/

Remember, since 1997, regulations have been in force that required all employers to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and you should continue to ensure that any risks from fire are identified and adequate measures are put in place to remove reduce or mitigate the effects of those risks. Where the RRO is different, is that persons responsible for all premises where others resort will come under the new regulations.

Under the Order, anyone who has control in a building or anyone who has a degree of control over certain areas or systems may be designated a "responsible person" for example:

• The employer for those parts of premises they have control over
• The managing agent or owner for common parts of a premises or common fire safety equipment such as fire warning systems or sprinklers
• The occupier of premises that are not workplaces such as a chairperson in a parish hall
• Any other person who has some control over a part of a premises may be the responsible person in so far as that control extends.

Although in many premises the responsible person will be obvious, there may be occasions when a number of people have some responsibility.

Remember: The responsibility lies with you

If you are the responsible person you must ensure a fire risk assessment is carried out although you can delegate this task to somebody else. However you will still remain responsible, in law, for complying with the Order.

The responsible person, either on their own or in co-operation with any other responsible person, must as far as is reasonably practical, ensure that everyone on the premises can escape safely in the event of a fire.

This differs from previous legislation in that there is no longer any distinction made between people who are employees, for example in a place of work and members of the public at an open air entertainment venue. It includes people who may have a disability or anyone who may need special assistance.

Fire Certificates are no longer issued and those previously in force will have no legal status. (However, they may be used as a good starting point for a fire risk assessment). The Order requires that the responsible person takes ownership of the management of any risk in their premises.

If your premises have been designed and built, and are being used in accordance with modern Building Regulations then your structural fire precautions should be acceptable. You will still need to carry out a fire risk assessment and ensure that your risk reduction, fire prevention and maintenance routines are sustained.

The Fire Authority will not conduct your risk assessment for you. That is quite properly the responsibility of the responsible person, but we will seek to ensure that any support necessary is made available within the scope of the RRO. General advice can be made available on specific matters, however, resources may be targeted at higher risk premises in line with government guidance.

For further information on the Fire Safety Order 2005, or copies of the Fire Safety Risk Assessment Guides, please contact:

Business Fire Safety
01743 260 260