Previous UK fire safety law was scattered across more than 100 different pieces of legislation which was confusing for businesses

Previous UK fire safety law was scattered across more than 100 different pieces of legislation, all with many implications on businesses, and some with overlaps between their requirements.  The two key pieces of legislation were:

• Fire Precautions Act (1971)
• Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, amended in 1999

The Fire Precautions Act (1971) was a very prescriptive piece of legislation.  If you had a Fire Certificate, it would have been issued under this and it determined your level of fire safety.  The focus of the Fire Precautions Act (1971) was to reduce risk to life once fire has started.   Then with the introduction of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, as amended in 1999, UK businesses had to carry out a fire risk assessment that looked at preventing fire in the first place, and controlling and escaping fire safely.  This was confusing to businesses as they attempted to become compliant with this raft of legislation. The aim of the new Fire Safety Order - that was introduced under the Regulatory Reform Act 2001 - was to ‘simplify, rationalise and consolidate existing legislation’.   The Fire Safety Order repealed all existing fire safety legislation in October 2006.

The amended Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, which came into force at the beginning of December 1999, had major implications for businesses. Employers were then responsible for fire safety and were required to carry out a full fire risk assessment, even if the workplace was covered by a fire certificate.

• 90% of all UK businesses had to adhere to the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations as amended in 1999 
• The Regulations required employers to carry out a comprehensive fire risk assessment of their workplace
• Fire Risk Assessments are the systematic look at potential sources of fire in the workplace, the dangers that fire poses to those who use the workplace and how the risk and spread of fire can be minimised. Even businesses with a valid Fire Certificate have to carry out a fire risk assessment 
• If you employ 5 or more people your findings and actions should have been fully documented 
• The Fire Brigades actively enforced the Regulations through ad hoc inspections

The term 'fire precautions' includes matters which are the subject of legal requirements under specific fire precautions legislation. These include the Fire Regulations and the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and, more generally, under health and safety legislation including the Health and Safety at Work (etc.) Act 1974 and regulations made under that Act.

The Fire Regulations and the Fire Precautions Act 1971 were the responsibility of the Home Departments and were enforced by the fire authorities. However, for Crown-occupied and Crown-owned premises, enforcement is carried out by Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate.

Fire precautions legislation deals with general fire precautions. These included:

• means of detection and giving warning in case of fire 
• the provision of means of escape 
• means of fighting fire 
• the training of staff in fire safety.

The Fire Regulations also included a requirement to undertake an assessment of the fire risks. (In this guide, the term 'fire risk' collectively describes both the risk of fire occurring and the risk to people in the event of fire.)

The Health and Safety at Work (etc.) Act 1974, and regulations made under it, covers the provision of process fire precautions which are intended to prevent the outbreak of a fire or minimise the consequences should one occur. Matters falling within the scope of the Act include the storage of flammable materials, the control of flammable vapours, standards of housekeeping, safe systems of work, the control of sources of ignition and the provision of appropriate training. These precautions are enforced by inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the local authority.

Between them, the Fire Regulations and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended) required you to:

• carry out a fire risk assessment of your workplace (you must consider all your employees and all other people who may be affected by a fire in the workplace and you are required to make adequate provision for any disabled people with special needs who use or may be present at your premises) 
• identify the significant findings of the risk assessment and the details of anyone who might be especially at risk in case of fire (these must be recorded if you employ more than five people) 
• provide and maintain such fire precautions as are necessary to safeguard those who use your workplace 
• provide information, instruction and training to your employees about the fire precautions in your workplace.
  

The risk assessment helped you decide the nature and extent of the general and process fire precautions which you need to provide.

There WERE six other legal duties you needED to know:

1. Where it is necessary to safeguard the safety of your employees, you must nominate people to undertake any special roles which are required under your emergency plan (you can nominate yourself for this purpose).
2. You must consult your employees (or their elected representatives or appointed trade union safety representatives) about the nomination of people to carry out particular roles in connection with fire safety and about proposals for improving the fire precautions.
3. You must inform other employers who also have workplaces in the building of any significant risks you find which might affect the safety of their employees - and co-operate with them about the measures proposed to reduce/control those risks.
4. If you are not an employer but have any control of premises which contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the Fire Regulations are complied with in those parts you have control over.
5. You must establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services, and ensure that they can be called easily.
6. The law requires your employees to co-operate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and not to do anything which will place themselves or other people at risk. In some workplaces you may need to apply for a fire certificate, a licence, or other form of approval before using the workplace.