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General
It is important to understand that more than
one piece of fire safety legislation and/or fire safety guidance
can be applied to any individual premises. For instance take
a school the The Regulatory Reform
(Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Health and Safety
(Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 applies and there
could be others. Fire Safety guidance documents including
Guide 5 - Educational premises, Guide 1 - Offices and shops,
Guide 6 - Small and medium places of assembly or Guide 7 -
Large places of assembly may apply and if the school is a
boarding school then Guide 3 - Sleeping accommodation could
apply.
Legislation
Fire Safety in new and altered Offices is subject
to the Building Regulations and the guidence for fire matters
are dealt with by Approved
Document Part B Fire Safety.
Within that document appendix G and H there is a list, of
other guidence documents that may be relevant.
When premises are occupied fire precautions
are controlled by The
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and
this order lays down legal requirements, check them out at
the above link.
Fire Safety Guide
for England and Wales
The most appropriate guide for Offices is likely
to be Guide
1 - Offices and shops and can be downloaded at the Department
of Communities and Local Government web site. This guidance
gives advice on how to avoid fires and how to ensure people’s
safety if a fire does start. It only applies to England and
Wales and it does not set prescriptive standards, but provides
recommendations and guidance for use when assessing the adequacy
of fire precautions in offices and shops. Other fire risk
assessment methods may be equally valid to comply with fire
safety law.
This guide is for all employers, managers,
occupiers and owners of offices and shops. It tells you
about how you might comply with fire safety law, helps you
to carry out a fire risk assessment and identify the general
fire precautions you need to have in place. This guide is
intended for premises where the main use of the building or
part of the building is an office or shop. It may also be
suitable for the individual units within other complexes,
although consultation with the other managers will be
necessary as part of an integrated risk assessment for the
complex.
Fire
Risks.
Offices are considered to be a moderate fire
risk and fires usually occur as the result of somebodies carelessness.
The risks are similar to those in day schools however the
level of risk varies as a result of the number of occupants
and the time the premises are occupied. the five principle
risk are,
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Carelessly discarded smoking materials
especially if it is allowed to come into contact with
flammable items. A lighted cigarette end could take a
long time to ignite the the item, at which time the premise
could be unoccupied. Use signage and constantly broadcast
the dangers to the staff. A no smoking policy should be
adopted throughout the premises with designated smoking
areas for staff and as a result these areas can be supervised
closely.
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Electrical Appliances can be a source
of fire if they have been subjected to misuse and occasionally
an electrical faults on apparatus because they have not
been serviced regularly. All electrical equipment should
be tested annually and keep the staff informed of the
possible dangers associated with the different types of
equipment.
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Kitchenettes or tea rooms can be a risk
dependent on what has been provided especially if food
that is cooking is left unattended. Full dining facilities
and kitchens are a high risk but this is lessened by having
staff in attendance at all times.
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A higher fire risk are storerooms, rooms
where the photo copying equipment and stationery is stored
because flammable liquids may be present and a large quantity
of flammable goods are stored with limited supervision.
House keeping and ensuring the rooms are keep as tidy
as possible will reduce the risk, this also applies to
the premises as a whole. Also ensure the dangers are discussed
at any training sessions.
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Tradesmen on the premises, especially those
that use apparatus that is capable of starting a fire,
like blow lamps, gas torches, metal angle cutters, etc.
One needs to ensure a high degree of supervision with
suitable fire fighting equipment available during and
after their presence. Give the area they have been working
in a through inspection and make sure no hot spots or
small fires have been missed.
Training.
During training sessions as well as detailing
and practicing fire procedures some time should be devoted
to emphasising simple fire precautions in an attempt to stop
fires happening. Not only is fire training in most premises
required under law it also makes sense, half an hour spent
before the fire may prevent the fire in the first place and
can save lives. For further information go to Staff
fire safety training.
Arson Prevention
Arson is the single most common cause of fire
in business premises and 45% of all serious fires are a result
of arson. Much of this is not targeted and the vast majority
of arson attacks are down to opportunist vandalism. Apart
from the need to comply with the law the Responsible Person
has a duty to himself and his business to reduce this risk
to as low as reasonable possible. Information to assist you,
to achieve these aims, go to my page on How
to Combat Arson
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