1) Insight
Balanced Risk Engineering Solutions
Risk Assessment and
Self Inspection
Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order
(RRFSO) 2005
The Government is committed to reducing death, injury
and damage caused by fire. As part of this commitment,
the Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) undertook a review of the existing fire safety law
and made a number of changes through the Regulatory
Reform Fire Safety Order (RRFSO). Following
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parliamentary approval the order came into force on 1
October 2006. There are three main objectives:• To simplify, rationalize and consolidate the existing
fire safety legislation into one set of regulations,
reducing the burden on businesses and the overlap of
enforcing authorities.
• To align fire safety legislation with health & safety law
and reduce prescriptive requirements.
• To place the onus for fire safety for people on the
‘Responsible Person’ as a result of the significant
findings in the ‘Fire Risk Assessment’ which the
Responsible Person has a legal duty to carry out.
The RRFSO applies to England and Wales. A legislative
regime introduced in 2006 applies in Scotland and
parallels the risk-based approach of the RRFSO. Similar
legislation was introduced in Northern Ireland during
2007.
The Order applies to all non-domestic premises with the
exception of flats or houses in multiple occupancy
(HMOs) and covers virtually every type of building,
structure and open space.
The main focus of the RRFSO is on fire prevention and
protection measures, with the emphasis on risk
assessment.
Significant changes in legislation were made, with the
major changes being:-
• The repealing of over 100 pieces of legislation,
primarily relating to the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and
the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regs 1997
• Fire Certificates have been abolished and cease to
have legal status
• The need to appoint a Responsible Person who must
carry out a Fire Risk Assessment taking the
necessary steps to reduce / remove the fire risks
AIG Insight | UC154726 Risk Assessment and Self Inspection
Responsible Person
In this Order the ‘Responsible Person’ means someone
who either owns the premises or business or who has
control over the premises, business or activity. As a
general rule the employer will have the principal
responsibility but others may also have an interest e.g.
landlord / tenant arrangements in multi tenanted
buildings.
Where two or more persons share responsibility those
responsible persons must co-operate in order to provide
adequate safety measures. The Responsible Person
must be able to:•
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Assess the fire risks
Consider who may be especially at risk
Undertake steps to reduce or remove the risks
Ensure that any plant or substance in or on the
premises is safe
Satisfy certain requirements which include the
provision of:• An adequate means of escape
• Appropriate signage
• Emergency lighting on escape routes
• Suitable fire fighting and detection equipment
Undertake effective planning, organization, control &
monitoring and be able to review fire safety
arrangements in place
Provide information to all occupants (not just
employees) and visitors in respect of identified risks,
preventative measures and the identity of the
responsible person for fire safety within the premises
Co-operate and co-ordinate with other persons
sharing the premises
Provide adequate fire safety training
Appoint one or more ‘Competent Persons’ to help
comply with the conditions of the Fire Safety Order
Fire Risk Assessments
Fire Risk Assessments are central to this legislation and
are required in writing where 5 or more people are
employed; the premises are licensed; or the Inspector, a
person appointed by the Enforcing Authority (usually a
Fire Officer) requires one.
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Risk Assessment and Self Inspection
Competent Person
In this Order ‘Competent Person’ means the appointed
person must have sufficient training, knowledge and
experience to carry out designated duties. This could be
an employee or an external person or organization. In
either instance it is important to ensure that the
employee, person or organization is equipped with the
necessary skills and knowledge to allow them to
undertake a Fire Risk Assessment.
A suitable qualification is the NEBOSH (National
Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health)
General Certificate. A suitable organization would be
one that is registered with the Institute of Fire Engineers
as Fire Risk Assessors.
Enforcing the Order
The fire authorities are the main enforcing authority in
most cases. The enforcing authority can issue
Enforcement Notices and Prohibition Notices.
Prosecutable offences carry penalties which include a
fine or up to two years imprisonment.
The fire authority will work with you, except in the most
serious cases, to provide practical help and advice to
help achieve a satisfactory level of fire safety.
Support
Guidance documents and the RRFSO 2005 are
available at the Department Communities and Local
Government (DCLG) website:
• www.communities.gov.uk and Local Government
• Local Fire and Rescue Service
• Guidance on how a Risk Assessment should be laid
out are also available through local fire authorities,
DCLG and Fire Protection Association (FPA)
Self Inspection
A comprehensive self-inspection program is an integral
part of effective loss prevention and compliments the
RRFSO as detailed above.
An effective self-inspection program will ensure that all
protection systems are in proper working order and
should be able to detect potential loss conditions and
include a process for corrective action.
Essentials of a self-inspection program
• Self-inspection programmes should form part of the
business’s Loss Prevention Programme
• The self-inspection programme should be developed
by persons who are familiar with the trade occupancy
and the associated hazards.
AIG Insight | UC154726 Risk Assessment and Self Inspection
• It should be designed to identify potential fire loss
conditions and ensure that all fire protection systems
and equipment are in full working order; they are
serviced and maintained in accordance with the
manufacturer’s guidelines.
• The workplace should have a policy to ensure that
good housekeeping standards are attained /
maintained and that management procedures are
adhered to by employees. This should be well
publicized in order that everybody is aware of it.
• The inspection results should be documented and
submitted to the business’s management for review.
This is to ensure adequate corrective action is
undertaken when required.
• The report should be specific to the individual facility.
Suitable Persons
The inspection should be carried out by a responsible
person, who has been provided with adequate training in
recognizing potential fire loss conditions or fire
protection deficiencies.
The following points should be considered:• Employees should be familiar with the entire plant /
department and its protection systems.
• Must be able to recognize common defects in
housekeeping.
• Must be able to identify conditions that could increase
the fire hazard or severity of a fire.
• The designated staff should have the management’s
full support.
Frequency
Inspections should take place weekly and take the form
of a walk through of all parts of the premises including
yards etc. checking for abnormal or unusual conditions.
Inspections can be extended from weekly to monthly for
less hazardous occupancies.
Inspections should be performed during normal working
hours, as this allows the inspection to be undertaken
whilst it is operational.
Reports and Records
The findings of each inspection should be documented
in the form of a report that is filed for future reference.
The report should be signed and dated by the person
who completed it.
Each report should be reviewed by senior management
in order that the findings can be reviewed and any action
required taken.
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3) Risk Assessment and Self Inspection
The reports should be analyzed to identify any
underlying causes, frequency of occurrence and costs of
rectification. Simply correcting a reported defect over
again is not the desired objective of a self-inspection
program.
Any deficiencies highlighted in the report should be
corrected with the minimum delay.
Monitoring the Corrective Actions
The deficiencies reported in the inspection report will
probably be corrected through housekeeping or
maintenance activities.
AIG Insight | UC154726 Risk Assessment and Self Inspection
Insight
The monitoring of corrective actions can closely follow
the processes associated with any other breakdown or
emergency repair.
Once a deficiency has been actioned a simple report or
a counter-signature of the original report by senior
management is sufficient. This document should be kept
on file for future audit purposes.
For further information please contact your
local AIG Risk Engineer
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4) www.aig.com
BELFAST
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Fax: 020 7954 7001
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Tel: 0161 832 8521
Fax: 0161 832 0149
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serving customers in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG is the marketing
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This material is for information purposes. Products and services are written or provided by
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