RRFSO

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 The Fire Precautions Act 1971 is repealed and The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 are revoked by the Order.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. 

The RRFSO reforms the law relating to fire safety in non-domestic premises. The main emphasis of the changes is to move towards fire prevention. 

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO) - Requirements... 

Part 1 - The RRFSO applies to all non-domestic premises including construction sites other than those listed in Article 6. The main duty holder is the responsible person in relation to the premises, defined in Article 3. The duties on the responsible person are extended to any person who has, to any extent, control of the premises to the extent of their control (Article 5). 

The RRFSO does not cover domestic premises, offshore installations, a ship (normal shipboard activities under... 

Fire Authorities officers appointed under the RRFSO have similar powers to those under the HSW Act. These include the power to enter premises, make enquiries, require information, require facilities and assistance, take samples, require an article or substance to be dismantled or subjected to a process or test and the power to issue enforcement notices. 

The principles of prevention laid down in the RRFSO should be followed at this stage (see 20.21). These are based on EC Directive requirements and are therefore the same as those used in the Management Regulations (see Chapter 6). 

Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires every employer to carry out suitable and sufficient assessments of risk. Article 23(1) of the RRFSO or section 7 of HSWA states that employees must take care of themselves or others (relevant persons) who may be affected by their acts or omissions. 

The RRFSO 2005 came into effect on 1 October 2006, at which time over 100 separate pieces of fire-related legislation have been revoked or amended. The RRFSO covers, with very few exceptions, all non-domestic premises and stands as the primary legislation for fire safety in England and Wales, with Scotland and Northern Ireland being responsible for their own fire safety legislation. Scotland s fire safety legislation is enacted by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. 

In general terms the RRFSO reflects the duties and approach contained within the MHSW and employees duties under the HSWA. However, there are significant... 

The RRFSO identifies a number of general fire precautions that all responsible persons have an absolute duty to provide for all non-domestic premises. These general fire precautions are the measures that are taken ... 

The need to conduct a risk assessment The RRFSO has as its basis for ensuring safety from fire in all non-domestic buildings, an absolute requirement for responsible persons to conduct risk assessments. 

The meaning of the term responsible person is defined by the RRFSO as being twofold ... 

The RRFSO specifies relevant persons as being any person who is or may be lawfully on the premises and also includes any persons in the immediate vicinity who may be at risk from a fire. Significantiy, the RRFSO specifically excludes fire fighters who are carrying out emergency actions as there is no expectation that the responsible person will know how fire fighters will go about their duties. 

Under the RRFSO a person is to be regarded as competent where they have sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities for them... 

As in the case of health and safety legislation the RRFSO requires that under Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 the responsible person has the duty to consult the employees on matters relating to safety. 

Legal enforcement of the RRFSO Enforcement of this Order is generally the responsibility of the local fire and rescue authority for the area in which the premises are situated. 

There are numerous pieces of legislation that support the HSWA, MHSW and RRFSO. These are dealt with later in the book. 

In essence, the principles of the FSA cover the same ethos as the RRFSO, while not directly following the MHSW Regulations. The FSA identifies the overall duty of an employer to so far as reasonably practicable ensure that the employer s employees are not put at risk from fire in the workplace. The Act goes on to require that a fire risk assessment should be completed and control measures be put in place. 

As in the case of the RRFSO and the MHSW Regulations the risk assessment should be subject to review and fire safety measures should be put in place to comply with the law. The latter are contained in Schedule 2 and are outlined below ... 

Those who have to any extent control of premises are also duty bound to ensure that the above measures (employer s duties) are carried out, as per the RRFSO. 

Employees are also given responsibilities that fall under very similar scope to those that are contained within the RRFSO, MHSW Regulations and the HSWA. 

Note although there is provision to appeal against a notice relating to switches for luminous discharge tubes, the RRFSO fails to mention whether the notice remains In force during the appeal. 

The review process is required by the MHSW Regulations RRFSO and thus to comply with the law must be undertaken. The results of an annual review should be made available to all stakeholders. 

MHSW or the RRFSO however, as will be discussed later in this book they are critical elements required for successful safety management. 

The RRFSO defines a key role for the management of fire safety in organisations as a responsible person . 

As previously discussed senior managers and directors have specific personal liabilities placed upon them by the HSWA and the RRFSO. Section 37 of the HSWA and Article 32(8) RRFSO allow that, in addition to the liability of a corporate body to be prosecuted for a breach of statutory duty, an individual manager may also be prosecuted for the same offence. 

Both Article 18 of the RRFSO and Regulation 7 of the MHSW Regulations require that the responsible person and/or the employer appoint one or more competent persons to assist him undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements imposed upon him under the relevant statutory provisions. 

The RRFSO requires that any person appointed by the responsible person is given appropriate information about the factors that could affect the safety of all persons and about any person working within the organisation who may be more at risk (disabled persons, sensory impaired persons, etc.). 

THE RRFSO does not specifically place duties upon self-employed persons, in so far as the significant duty holder is the responsible person although it may be the case that the responsible person is, incidentally, self-employed for the purposes of the management of fire. 

The RRFSO places additional legal duties for fire safety management on any person who is in control of a workplace. The RRFSO identifies the person in control of a premises as either ... 

Having identified the person who has controi over a premise the RRFSO defines them as the responsible person . The responsible person (see Chapter 1) then becomes the main duty holder for fire safety and has, as a result, overall responsibility for ... 

In terms of information relating to fire safety matters, the responsible person, in addition to providing information to employees, also has a duty under the RRFSO to provide relevant and complete information relating to both the risks and preventive and protective measures including the emergency arrangements in the event of a fire to ... 

Safety competence can therefore be described as being a combination of knowledge, skills and experience that ensures roles are fulfilled and tasks completed with due regard to the hazards Involved and the risk control measures necessary to achieve the required levels of safety. The RRFSO also adds the term other qualities without giving an Indication of what they are referring to. 

One of the key principles of prevention, contained within both the RRFSO and the MHSW Regulations, is that responsible persons and employers should where reasonably practicable take advantage of developments in technology to control risk. Therefore if a specific technological development is made the management of an organisation may come under pressure to adopt it. 

The RRFSO and the MHSW Regulations enhance and indeed make more specific the requirements and duties placed upon responsible persons and/or employers for risk assessment. 

In assessing the suitability of controls not only must guidance be sought, but reference to the MHSW Regulations and RRFSO hierarchy of controls should be considered. These are detailed below ... 

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