Note for Guidance

The Fire Safety Advice Centre

Transport Premises and Facilities

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 transport premises and facilities is likely to be Guide 11 - Transport premises and facilities and can be downloaded at the Department of Communities and Local Government web site. This guide is for all employers, managers, occupiers and owners of premises and
all others who have responsibility for the management of fire safety on a day-to-day basis in transport premises and facilities. It tells you what you have to do to comply with fire safety law and helps you carry out a fire risk assessment and identify the general fire precautions you need to have in place.

This guide is intended for transport premises and facilities, such as,

• Airport terminals (passenger and freight)
• Ferry/shipping ports (passenger and freight)
• Rail (surface – train/light rail/tram – and sub-surface) terminals, stations and platforms
• Bus/coach terminals and stations
• Transport interchanges
• Tunnels (road and rail); and
• Similar premises not included in the above list.

The above list of transport facilities indicates the wide range of application of this guide. It is intended that the guidance for assessing the fire risk is appropriate to all the transport facilities, ranging from the smallest and least complex to the largest and most complex, falling within this category. The fire safety measures should be matched, carefully, to the level of fire risk identified within the transport facility.
It is likely that many of the owners and/or operators of transport facilities will have well documented and practised general health and safety risk assessment policies and procedures that may include fire safety issues. This guide is not intended to replace those policies/procedures: it provides a benchmark against which the fire safety measures can be assessed to ensure compliance with the Order.

This guide does not apply to the offices and shops within the above premises – appropriate guidance should be sought from the relevant guide nor does it apply to fire safety in vehicles used as modes of transport (e.g. cars, buses, trains, aircraft). Where the facility adjoins, contains or connects to other occupancies or complexes, such as shopping malls, hotels or places of public entertainment (e.g. an airport terminal incorporating a hotel and/or retail premises), this guide applies to those elements relating directly to the transport premises and facilities. In such cases, consultation with the responsible persons for the other facilities and/or the centre as a whole will be necessary as part of an
integrated risk assessment strategy for the entire complex.

The guide does account for the effect of a fire in a mode of transport, office, shop, etc. in or near the premises. Also, where you handle and store flammable materials and substances, it will help you to take account of these in your risk assessment and will help you determine the necessary precautions to take to minimise the likelihood of them being involved in a fire.

This guide has been written to provide guidance for a responsible person, to help them carry out fire risk assessment in transport premises and facilities. If you read the guide and decide that you are unable to apply the guidance, then you should seek expert advice from a competent person. More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has had comprehensive training or experience in fire safety. However, this guide can also be used for multi-occupied buildings to address fire safety issues in their individual occupancies.

Fire safety is just one of many safety issues management must address to minimise the risk of injury or death to staff and the public. Unlike most of the other safety concerns, fire has the potential to injure or kill large numbers of people very quickly. This guide is concerned only with fire safety, but many of the measures discussed here will impact on other safety concerns and vice versa. It is recognised that these differing safety demands can sometimes affect one another and management should consult other interested agencies, such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), where necessary, to confirm that they are not contravening other legislation/guidance.

This handout provides a general overview and basic information on this topic. It may not apply to everyone, consequently to find out if this guide applies to you and to get more information on this subject, study all the relevant legislation, guides and British/European Standards. Also you should seek advice from an expert on the subject or your local Fire Safety Officer or Fire Safety Professional.

Merseyside Fire Liaison Panel. Permission is granted to print and photocopy this material for nonprofit educational uses.

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This page was last checked and modified on Tuesday, 25 March, 2008 10:12