FAQs

The main legislation relating to Fire in England and Wales is The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the corresponding legislation in Scotland is the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006.  Almost all buildings, open spaces, stadiums, and structures are covered by this legislation excluding domestic premises where only one family reside.

Examples of buildings covered are: warehouse & distribution centres, commercial offices, café and restaurants, hospitals, medical centres, dental practices, factories, depots, hotels, schools, colleges, universities, beauty salons, hairdressers, sports stadiums, blocks of flats, council buildings and HMO.

For the main requirements of the RRO as it is commonly known as please see below.

There are other specific legislation covering fire elements for specific industries. For instance, the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 2015.  

Also, with the tragic loss of life at the Grenfell Towers in 2017 the government commissioned a full independent review of the Building Regulations and Fire Safety. Please see ‘What happened after Grenfell’.

 The main requirements are: – 

• Carry out a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment 
• Eliminate or reduce the risk of fire as far as is reasonably practicable
• Provide general fire precautions (ie fire-fighting equipment, fire detection, emergency routes/ exits) to deal with any identified 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 where necessary record any findings
• Carry out necessary fire related training
• Ensure employees and those visiting the premises have sufficient instruction and information.

After the tragic loss of life at the Grenfell Towers in 2017 the government commissioned a full independent review of the Building Regulations and Fire Safety and this was led by Dame Judith Hackitt. 

On May 16th 2018 – Dame Judith Hackitt published  – Building a Safer Future, Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Final Report and the report urged a ‘radical rethink of the whole system and how it works’. 

On 18th December 2018 – The Government then published – Building a Safer Future – An Implementation Plan which set out the programme of work and intended approach to undertake a fundamental reform to ensure residents are safe in their homes. Namely the government will; –

• create a stronger and more effective regulatory and accountability framework for buildings in scope, which will have responsibility and accountability for keeping people safe at its core. We will prevent people from flouting the system through tougher oversight and a stronger and more effective sanctions and enforcement regime.
• facilitate better understanding of what is required to ensure buildings are safe through clearer standards and guidance, as well as improving the rigour of the product labelling, testing and marketing process to ensure that people working on buildings use safe products. 
• ensure that we put residents at the heart of the new regulatory framework through better engagement between them and those managing their buildings, as well as providing more effective routes for escalation and redress when things go wrong. We will ensure building owners reassure residents by providing them with better information about the protection measures in place in their buildings. 
• Work with industry to drive culture change to increase responsibility for building safety, including by improving the competence of those undertaking building work. This will complement the tougher regulatory oversight regime and sharing of good practice      

On July 20th 2020  The Government published the Draft Building Safety Bill (link Draft Building Safety Bill (publishing.service.gov.uk) –  The Bill will introduce a new era of accountability, making it clear where the responsibility for managing safety risks lies throughout the design, construction and occupation of buildings in scope. There will be tougher sanctions for those that fail to meet their obligations. Central to ensuring the regime is effective will be a powerful new Building Safety Regulator housed within the Health and Safety Executive. It will have responsibility for implementing and enforcing the more stringent regime for higher-risk buildings and will oversee the safety and performance of all buildings. 

The government committed to support residents in high rise buildings with the removal of unsafe cladding and have provided £1.6 billion of funding and support to expedite this.

It is a statutory requirement under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for those in control of premises to carry out a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment taking into account all people on the premises including anyone who may be affected by a fire. This is essential to identify the workplace hazards (items that have the potential to cause harm) and the risks (the likelihood of harm) that could be associated with fire safety including means of escape.   

The Fire Risk Assessment report includes, a prioritised risk assessment of the system elements, overall property risk identification and recommendations to mitigate the risks identified to comply with relevant applicable legislation and standards. 

Our Fire Risk Assessments are PAS 79 compliant (please see ‘What is PAS 79 Fire Risk Assessment?’).

SMC Premier Group carry out Fire Risk Assessments on most premises including warehouse & distribution centres, commercial offices, café and restaurants, hospitals, medical centres, dental practices, factories, depots, hotels, schools, colleges, universities, beauty salons, hairdressers, sports stadiums, blocks of flats, council buildings and HMO.

A Fire Risk Assessment is a method of identifying the workplace hazards (items that have the potential to cause harm) and the risks (the likelihood of harm) that could be associated with fire safety including means of escape.   

The Fire Risk Assessment report includes a prioritised risk assessment of the system elements – i.e. the risks, overall property risk identification and recommendations to control the risks identified to comply with relevant applicable legislation and insurance standards. 

Fire Risk Assessments come in many forms as there is no set format for them. However, a recognised format is those that comply to PAS79. (link to PAS79 FAQ)

The key points covered in a Fire Risk Assessment can be found in the question below.

There is no set time or duration for a Fire Risk Assessment. The time will be totally dependent on the size and complexity of the premises being assessed, the format of the assessment, the competency of the assessor and the knowledge of the ‘responsible person’ (see below) on site.

1. Identify the hazards
2. Identify the people at risk 
3. Evaluate what existing controls or measures are in place 
4. Categorise the remaining risks that are not at an acceptable level 
5. Make Recommendations or an Action Plan to control those remaining risks with a recommended timescale
6. Record all significant findings 
7. Set a review date

It is a statutory requirement under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for those in control of premises to carry out a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment. 

PAS stands for Public Available Specification. PAS 79 was first published in 2005 and has since had two revisions in 2007 and more latterly in 2012. PAS 79 is not a statutory document and therefore companies are not obligated to use it, but it has been developed and published by the British Standard Institution (BSi) and is recognised in the industry as a good tool to carry out Fire Risk Assessments. PAS 79 gives guidance, and corresponding examples of documentation, for undertaking and recording the significant findings of fire risk assessments in premises and parts of premises. This PAS does not apply to single-family private dwellings or to premises during construction but is applicable to vacant and any occupied premises like offices, schools, shops, hotels, blocks of flats, care home, warehouses, manufacturing and houses with multiple occupation (HMO).

PAS 79 basically provides a structured approach to fire risk assessment that ensures all the necessary information required to make a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment is completed and that any significant findings are recorded in a logical way.  

SMC Premier Group carry out PAS 79 compliant Fire Risk Assessments on most premises including warehouse & distribution centres, commercial offices, café and restaurants, hospitals, medical centres, dental practices, factories, depots, hotels, schools, colleges, universities, beauty salons, hairdressers, sports stadiums, blocks of flats, council buildings and HMO. 

If you require a PAS 79 compliant Fire Risk Assessment, please contact us.  

There is no set time or duration for a Fire Risk Assessment. The time will be totally dependent on the size and complexity of the premises being assessed, the format of the assessment, the competency of the assessor and the knowledge of the ‘responsible person’ on site.

The ‘Responsible Person’ under Fire Safety legislation is the person who has overall accountability for the premises. For instance, this could be the Landlord or Owner/ Occupier of the business premises or residential or commercial premises.  Typically, if the building is a block of flats or HMO then the ‘responsible person’ is normally the Landlord, and if the building is a commercial premises then the responsible person will likely be dictated by the terms of building lease i.e. who has responsibility for repairs, maintenance and safety of the building. In any case, in a commercial building where employees carry out work, then at the very least the owner/ occupier (i.e. those in control of the premises) have defined responsibilities to ensure the safety (which includes fire safety) of their employees, visitors and those affected by their activities under the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The guidance is to carry out a fire risk assessment review ‘regularly’ based on the risks identified in the building. It’s common practice on normal risk occupied buildings to carry out a review of the Fire Risk Assessment annually or on significant change. 

Significant change includes things like:  Change of ownership, change of activities within the building, structural or fit-out changes particularly those that affect emergency exit routes, or change of competent person or responsible person. 

The Fire Risk Assessment cost will totally depend on: –

• the size and complexity of the premises being assessed including the number of buildings, floors, distance between them, usage, and occupancy, 
• the format of the assessment,
• the competency of the assessor 
• the quality of the assessment and report
• the knowledge of the ‘responsible person’ on site.  

This important Fire Risk Assessment document could save lives in the event of a fire and in our opinion, this should never be seen as a tick box exercise and to coin a well-known phrase ‘you always get what you pay for’. 

At SMC Premier Group we are passionate about providing a quality service at the right price. You can rest assured that our Fire Risk Assessors are competent to carry out the task and the Fire Risk Assessment report you get will be comprehensive, easy to understand, PAS 79 Compliant and will stand up under any scrutiny.

If the Enforcing Authorities find that you have breached the legislation, then your organisation will be given either an Improvement Notice (to improve) OR a Prohibition Notice (to stop the activity).  In either case, the organisation representatives will likely be interviewed under caution and the Enforcing Authority will carry out an investigation and may bring it to a Criminal Court. 

If found guilty of offences in Criminal Court, then under the RRO legislation the outcome is likely to be hefty fines. If a more serious breach leads to loss of life, then other legislation could be brought into the case (like the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007) and hence this could lead to individual prosecution and/ or a prison sentence. 

Recent fines for breaching the RRO include: – Tesco Plc (£95,000), The Radnor Hotel (£200,000), The Co-operative Group (£210,000), Shell International (£300,000) and New Look (£400,000).