The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 Summary

What is The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

If you own, manage, or operate a business, you must follow fire safety regulations. The main legislation is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, also known as “the Fire Safety Order.” It is applicable throughout England and Wales and went into effect on October 1, 2006.

This Order supersedes previous fire safety legislation. Any fire certificates issued under the Fire Precautions Act of 1971 will no longer be valid. If your premises has a fire certificate or was built per recent building regulations, and you have made no material alterations. In that case, it is unlikely that you will need to make any significant improvements to your existing physical fire protection arrangements to comply with the Order.

Who and What Does It Apply To?

Except for individual private homes – that is, individual flats in a block or family homes – the Order applies to almost all buildings, places, and structures. The Order also applies to shared areas in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), blocks of flats, and maisonettes.

If it is a workplace, the Responsible Person is the employer. In other circumstances, the person that has control would be a landlord, letting company or building owner. If anyone else has any level of control, they may be subject to the Order’s requirements too.

Your Responsibilities Are:

When it comes to the responsibilities of the Order, the main responsibilities for the responsible person are;

• The premises meet the required standards.
• Adequate fire safety training is provided to all employees.

What “Adequate Fire Safety Training” Means

Adequate fire safety training can differ from one business to the next but generally includes:

• New Starter Training – covers general fire safety.
• Refresher Training – this is recommended, along with additional training, if the level of fire risk increases due to changes in your operations.
• Specific Fire Training  – assists people in carrying out their fire safety responsibilities, such as keeping designated ‘responsible people’ up to date with new rules and regulations and practises relating to fire safety.
• Fire Risk Assessment – further training in areas such as fire risk assessment, fire warden, and the use of fire extinguishers.

On the subject of fire risk assessments, it is a requirement that this assessment is carried out by a competent person and is recorded if your workplace has more than 5 employees. It is also a requirement if your building has a license under an enactment in force too.

Factors to look for in your fire risk assessment include;

• How can you eliminate or reduce the risk of fire where reasonably possible?
• Who is more at risk in the event of a fire?
• Precautions are put in place to manage any risk of fire
• Additional methods are used when flammable or explosive materials are stored on the premises
• A fire plan is in place for emergencies
• Fire precautions and facilities are maintained
• All findings are recorded and stored for future reference

Fire Risk Assessments

You must still conduct a fire risk assessment and keep it up to date to ensure that all of your premises’ fire precautions are current and adequate. If you previously completed a fire risk assessment under the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997/1999 and this assessment was regularly reviewed, all you need to do now is update that assessment in line with new regulations.

Your business may also be subject to the terms of a licence or registration (e.g. under the Licensing Act 2003). In that case, the fire department may request a review of your risk assessment as part of the licencing approval process. A licencing authority where the Order applies should not impose fire safety conditions on your licence.

Guidance For Required Standards

The best place to get up to date guidance for fire safety adherence is the gov—UK website. You will find more guidance here.

For more targeted advice for specialised housing such as;

• sheltered housing
• extra care housing
• supported living housing

This guide at  NFCC Specialised Housing Guidance will be of more use to you.

For purpose-built dwellings such as blocks of flats, information can be found at the Local Government Association (LGA) in the downloadable publication Fire safety in purpose-built flats.

For more information about shared houses, bedsits and HMOs, please see this LACoRS guidance.