The Fire and Rescue Service’s role in fire evacuation is that of ensuring that the means of escape in case of fire and associated fire safety measures provided for all people who may be in a building are both adequate and reasonable, taking into account the circumstances of each particular case.
Under current fire safety legislation it is the responsibility of the person(s) having responsibility for the building to provide a fire safety risk assessment that includes an emergency evacuation plan for all people likely to be in the premises, including disabled people, and how that plan will be implemented.
Such an evacuation plan should not rely upon the intervention of the Fire and Rescue Service to make it work.
To demonstrate statutory compliance you may have a programme of training and documented procedures but are they really effective or simply just a tick box exercise. If you are a responsible person or duty holder you must also carryout fire drills to ensure your training and procedures are effective. Depending on the type and use of your premises you must be satisfied that you can evacuate all users of your premises and have suitable and sufficient provisions in place.
Fire drills will vary and can be carried out in various ways from a tabletop or practical exercises, a mixture of both, and day, evening and night time drills. That fact is you must be satisfied they are effective.
Just because the fire alarm has activated does not means there is a fire therefore clear procedures must be in place for investigation, this has never been so important with many Fire and Rescue Services introducing call challenge for many types of premises. Gone have the days of the fire service attending automatically, activations must be verified to avoid reporting false alarm activations and wasting the valuable resource of the Fire Service.
Be sure you understand current requirements and your building fire evacuation strategy, emergency procedures, PEEPs/GEEPs and have suitably trained staff.
If you would like an additional level of assurance or general advice please do not hesitate to contact us and our new Exitassured service that provides management training and compliance audits.
Comentários