Knowledge Centre
Fire Safety Podcast
9th July 2007 Duration: 6m 25s File size: 2.9MBInformation about changes to the law affecting small businesses (The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005), which took effect October 2006; fire risk assessments; and main causes of fires at commercial premises: smoking, electricity and arson.
The MORE TH>N BUSINESS Podcast with Toby Langford.
Today – Fire Safety - Recent Legislation that could Spark Problems for your Business.
Toby Langford – MORE TH>N BUSINESS: It’s amazing how many people are now calling themselves Fire Safety Consultants to advise businesses on what they require. In some cases I think they are just fire extinguisher salesmen - so that’s one thing to look out for!
Jane Markham - Podcats: Yes - the rules have changed, and the right advice is crucial when it comes to covering yourself against one of the oldest risks in the book. Portfolio underwriter Toby Langford:
Toby: If you go back to the Great Fire of London - it’s one of those examples of insurance through the ages! And of course when you get a big fire - you get a big fire! And huge buildings have been known to burn down in the past and cost insurance companies millions and millions of pounds.
As a small business person you may have one unit in a range of buildings where if someone else starts a fire it might spread to your premises or if you start a fire it might spread to their premises. Fire is a really good example of one of those areas, where it can be difficult, particularly for small businesses, to keep up with the law. Changes in legislation take place and in fact one has taken place fairly recently that, if I could borrow the phrase, ‘not a lot of people know about’.
In 2006 there was this new piece of legislation call the RRO, the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order. What this is, is actually a massive change in the way that businesses have to look at fire, because previously, I think we’re all been familiar with the situation where you’re a business person and you expect that at some point a fire officer might visit your premises and say that you’ve got to put up a sign there, to need to put an exit there, get two fire extinguishers and that you need to do risk assessments. That is no longer the situation. Jane: So it’s out with fire inspections from the Fire Service to achieve your official Fire Certificate and in with the responsibility for complying with the law passing to employers and any other person who may have control over any part of the premises and that includes owners and occupiers. Toby: Even before the new law came about, and once again not a lot of people knew this but it was a requirement that you had to undertake fire risk assessments. There are five steps to risk assessment and I can talk you through these specifically in relation to fire.
Step one:
The first step is to identify potential fire hazards for example potential sources of ignition – flammable materials that sort of thing
Step two:
The second thing is to decide who might be in danger- this may be employees it may be visitors to your premises. So who might be in danger if there is a fire in your work place or who might be in danger trying to escape from the fire? What you need to do is make a note of who they are where they are located.
Step three:
The third thing is to evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether your existing fire precautions are adequate.
Step four
The next step is to make a record of your findings and the details and the action you took as a result. Tell your employees about your findings. Communicate – make everyone aware of the situation.
Step five:
And then the final thing is rather than just slamming it in a draw and forgetting about it for two years it needs to be a living breathing document. As you change your premises - as circumstances change - update your fire risk assessment. Jane: So nowadays what are the main causes of fire when it comes to businesses? Toby: The three main causes of fire actually are arson, smoking and electrical problems. Jane: And I suppose, with the new smoking laws, some people might be tempted to break the rules and smoke in places that a risk assessor might not have taken into account – like the toilets for example Toby: Very true actually and of course the new law in England about smoking, does affect commercial premises, so it’s something that small businesses will all have to be thinking about.
When you’re thinking about arson - it’s amazing how many fires are actually started by arsonists. In the insurance industry we ask people a lot of questions about what they do and where they have their flammable materials and what their processes are, but actually, when it comes down to it, one of the main reasons you’ll probably have a fire is because somebody has set fire to your premises, which is a sad fact.
The main thing is to deny arsonists fuel. It may be a requirement of your insurance actually that you need to remove waste from some of your processes from your premises overnight. You might want to think about having a wheelie bin. If you do, try to make sure that it is anchored as far from the building as you can get it because what will tend to happen is these will be wheeled up against the building, flipped open and set on fire. And when a wheelie bin is set on fire after a while it gets hot enough to set the buildings alight. So, make sure that the wheelie bin is locked and is as far away from the buildings as possible and actually locked down to the yard of your premises.
Make sure there is some good palisade fencing around and if you’ve got gates on there make sure you’ve got a good quality close shackled padlock - good security, keep people out of your yards, keep them away from your premises and deny arsonists fuel.
And of course the other area that we mentioned was electrical fires. The main thing there is to make sure that your electrical system is annually inspected, that it’s well up to date and that you’ve got professionally qualified people making any changes to your electrical system, and certifying it, to make sure it’s all up to spec. For more about insuring your business against fire go to www.morethanbusiness.com.
And I hope you’ll join me for the next podcast in this series.
I’m Jane Markham and this is a Podcats production for MORE TH>N BUSINESS.
As a small business person you may have one unit in a range of buildings where if someone else starts a fire it might spread to your premises or if you start a fire it might spread to their premises. Fire is a really good example of one of those areas, where it can be difficult, particularly for small businesses, to keep up with the law. Changes in legislation take place and in fact one has taken place fairly recently that, if I could borrow the phrase, ‘not a lot of people know about’.
In 2006 there was this new piece of legislation call the RRO, the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order. What this is, is actually a massive change in the way that businesses have to look at fire, because previously, I think we’re all been familiar with the situation where you’re a business person and you expect that at some point a fire officer might visit your premises and say that you’ve got to put up a sign there, to need to put an exit there, get two fire extinguishers and that you need to do risk assessments. That is no longer the situation. Jane: So it’s out with fire inspections from the Fire Service to achieve your official Fire Certificate and in with the responsibility for complying with the law passing to employers and any other person who may have control over any part of the premises and that includes owners and occupiers. Toby: Even before the new law came about, and once again not a lot of people knew this but it was a requirement that you had to undertake fire risk assessments. There are five steps to risk assessment and I can talk you through these specifically in relation to fire.
Step one:
The first step is to identify potential fire hazards for example potential sources of ignition – flammable materials that sort of thing
Step two:
The second thing is to decide who might be in danger- this may be employees it may be visitors to your premises. So who might be in danger if there is a fire in your work place or who might be in danger trying to escape from the fire? What you need to do is make a note of who they are where they are located.
Step three:
The third thing is to evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether your existing fire precautions are adequate.
Step four
The next step is to make a record of your findings and the details and the action you took as a result. Tell your employees about your findings. Communicate – make everyone aware of the situation.
Step five:
And then the final thing is rather than just slamming it in a draw and forgetting about it for two years it needs to be a living breathing document. As you change your premises - as circumstances change - update your fire risk assessment. Jane: So nowadays what are the main causes of fire when it comes to businesses? Toby: The three main causes of fire actually are arson, smoking and electrical problems. Jane: And I suppose, with the new smoking laws, some people might be tempted to break the rules and smoke in places that a risk assessor might not have taken into account – like the toilets for example Toby: Very true actually and of course the new law in England about smoking, does affect commercial premises, so it’s something that small businesses will all have to be thinking about.
When you’re thinking about arson - it’s amazing how many fires are actually started by arsonists. In the insurance industry we ask people a lot of questions about what they do and where they have their flammable materials and what their processes are, but actually, when it comes down to it, one of the main reasons you’ll probably have a fire is because somebody has set fire to your premises, which is a sad fact.
The main thing is to deny arsonists fuel. It may be a requirement of your insurance actually that you need to remove waste from some of your processes from your premises overnight. You might want to think about having a wheelie bin. If you do, try to make sure that it is anchored as far from the building as you can get it because what will tend to happen is these will be wheeled up against the building, flipped open and set on fire. And when a wheelie bin is set on fire after a while it gets hot enough to set the buildings alight. So, make sure that the wheelie bin is locked and is as far away from the buildings as possible and actually locked down to the yard of your premises.
Make sure there is some good palisade fencing around and if you’ve got gates on there make sure you’ve got a good quality close shackled padlock - good security, keep people out of your yards, keep them away from your premises and deny arsonists fuel.
And of course the other area that we mentioned was electrical fires. The main thing there is to make sure that your electrical system is annually inspected, that it’s well up to date and that you’ve got professionally qualified people making any changes to your electrical system, and certifying it, to make sure it’s all up to spec. For more about insuring your business against fire go to www.morethanbusiness.com.
And I hope you’ll join me for the next podcast in this series.
I’m Jane Markham and this is a Podcats production for MORE TH>N BUSINESS.
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