The Fire Safety Order affects all non domestic premises. So whether you’re a small business with 2 or 3 staff or a large factory employing a 100 people, you will need to comply. This legal requirement was brought in to replace over 118 previous Fire at Work statues, including fire certificates. No longer is the Fire Service accountable for making the workplace safe, that responsibility now lies with the responsible person (this is either a full time health and safety manager in a larger company or someone who as been appointed to take responsibility for fire safety in a smaller company) and they will be held accountable under the new legalisation. Your local Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) will enforce the FSO either by desk-based means or a pre-arranged visit to your premises.

You can carry out a simple test. Can you, from any final exit quickly let everybody inside the building know there is a fire without going back inside yourself?

If you cannot, then you need some form of alarm which may incorporate smoke detectors.

It is also a requirement of BS5839 pt 1:2002 that all fire alarm systems are serviced by a qualified contractor at least 6-monthly. Also it is a criminal offence not to keep the system in working order.

You also have a responsibility to check the alarms once a week, with the results recorded in a log book.

All businesses require extinguishers to comply with fire regulations/Fire Safety Order.

Once installed, they need to be serviced annually to BS5309 pt 3 2003.

You also have a responsibility to visually check the extinguishers once a month, with the results recorded.

If people are inside your building before 9am and after 3.35pm the law requires you to install emergency lighting.

It is a requirement of BS5266 that the system is serviced by a qualified contractor.

You have also the responsibility to check the lights once a month, with the results recorded in a log book.

What this means is that any electrical appliance in the work place i.e. within

• Construction sites
• Industrial, including commercial kitchens
• Equipment used by the public
• Schools
• Hotels
• Offices and shops

that are connected by a plug and socket-outlet should be inspected and tested, so to prevent danger from electric shock or fire. It is the employer’s responsibility to make sure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair to minimise any health and safety risks to every employee or member of the public that might come into contact with an electrical appliance.

The test itself is very simple and only takes a few minutes, if there is any problem with the appliance it may be a simple case of a quick repair and then a pass label is applied, with the date it was inspected and the company who carried out the test. Once all the appliances are tested, a print out is produced of the results with a certificate, which can then be handed over to the responsible person for their records.

Well, as you may have guessed in the title it is making you more aware of the causes of fire, how fire spreads and in turn making your surrounding a safer place. Completing the training CD will help employers fulfil their obligations under the new Fire Safety Order 2005. The 40 minute interactive cd is in 6 sections, which deal’s with:

• The nature of fires
• Portable fire extinguishers
• Fire signage
• Fire hazards
• Discovering a fire

With a multiple choice questionnaire at the end, you can then print of a certificate with your percentage pass mark. This can then be logged and shown when required. All this can be done within the comfort of your work environment at times that is convenient to you and your company with minimal work time lost.

The fire risk assessment will dictate whether you need signs or not, and where they should be placed. It may just be a case of indicating an alternative escape route, or just placing a ‘keep shut’ sign on a fire door, or a sign above an extinguisher indicating which type of fire it can be used on.