15 May 2007


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Safeguard your shop from fire: Talking Retail's how to guide

Last year in October saw the government introduce new fire safety legislation. We run through the new law and explain how it applies to your busines.

Annually within the UK, on average 40 people die and 2000 are seriously injured as a result of fires in workplaces.

Besides the loss of life, the damage to property, loss of business, fines, compensation claims and insurance premiums costs the economy over £6.5bn

In a bid to cut down on the damage and death caused by fire, last year in October saw the government introduce new fire safety legislation. The aim was to make the law easier to comply with and simpler to understand.

The changes abolished close to 100 pieces of legislation, including the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and Fire Precautions Regulations 1997.

Their replacement, the new Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - known as the fire safety order - revolves around two concepts, the “Responsible Person” concept, and secondly the “Risk Assessment” concept.

According to the Fire Protection Association, over 30,000 small businesses burn down every year, highlighting the importance of doing all you can to protect yourself, your staff and your shop.

The main change in emphasis is towards risk reduction and fire prevention. Fire certificates have been abolished and have no legal status while local fire authorities have the power to issue fines or even close down a business.

The order also requires that a “responsible person” – usually the owner – must carry out an assessment of the risks from fire and take steps to reduce or remove that risk so that it is as low as is reasonably practicable.

Only then should other fire protection measures be put in place. This approach aids prevention and can even reduce the need for costly protection measures such as fire doors, fires alarms etc.

The Fire Protection Agency divides up the risk assessment into a seven-step process:

Stage 1: Identify all the fire hazards.

- This entails noting combustible materials or flammable substances. It also entails noting sources of heat such as flames or sparks from ovens or gas-fired equipment, electrical equipment or other sources of ignition.

Stage 2: Identify people who could be at risk.

- This could be people who may be unfamiliar with the workplace layout or those working in remote areas.

Stage 3: Eliminate, control or avoid the fire hazards.
- Those hazards that remain should be given a risk category.
Three useful ones include:
- Low: where there is hardly any risk and no flammable substances.
- Normal: Where there are sufficient quantities of combustible materials and sources of heat.
- High: Where there is a serious risk to life from fire or these exists the likelihood of the rapid spread of fire, heat or smoke.

Stage 4: Are existing safety provisions adequate or do they need improvement?

- Possible improvements would be providing additional escape routes, providing more fire signs, or installing a sprinkler system.

Stage 5: Record the findings.

- Businesses with fewer than five employees need not record their risk assessment, although it is good practice to do so. Keeping a record ensures that you can control hazards by acting decisively on the information found during the assessment and routine checks.

Stage 6: Make an emergency plan.

- The primary purpose of this is to ensure that staff and visitors are aware of what to do in the event of a fire. A good practice is to keep a record of the plan and provide copies to all staff.

- The responsible person must also ensure employees are provided with adequate safety training. Owners must also be aware of the need to develop plans which ensure the viability of an organisation after an incident such as a fire.

Stage 7: Arrange to regularly review the assessment.

- Every assessment should be checked annually at least, if only to confirm there has been no change in circumstances.

A set of 11 Government guidance documents have been developed to help businesses with the new fire safety law. It also provides advice on carrying out a fire risk assessment and identifying the general fire precautions you need to have in place.

Each guide is available from the FPA.

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