Fire Precautions Regulatory Reform

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) SIN. 1541 was made on 7 June 2005. This chapter has been written on the assumption that the Order will be in force in October 2006. A summary of the Order has been included in Chapter 20. The Fire Precautions Act 1971 is repealed and The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 are revoked by the Order. The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 are to be taken within the revised CDM regulations in April 2007. The five regulations in CHSW are likely to be removed. 

This Order, made under the Regulatory Reform Act 2001, reforms the law relating to fire safety in nondomestic premises. It replaces fire certification under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 (which it repeals) with a general duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of employees a general duty, in relation to non-employees, to take such fire precautions as may reasonably be required in the circumstances to ensure that premises are safe and a duty to carry out a risk assessment. 

The Fire Precauhons Act 1971 has been repealed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which has removed from the fire authority much of their routine administrative work in respect of the issue of fire certificates. Flowever, the fire authority still have responsibilities for overseeing the adequacy and quality of fire precautions taken by employers. This Order is considered in more detail in Chapter 4.2. 

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