When thinking about the safety of your premises, it is crucial to follow fire safety laws that have been put in place to protect you and your business. 

It is your responsibility as  a business owner to ensure these fire safety laws are met.

There are slightly different fire safety regulations for whether you are based in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. However the overall requirements do still remain largely the same. The Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order of 2005, highlights specific measures you should take as a business to protect yourselves from fire. These include all of the below.

Fire safety laws on equipment 

Firstly, you must ensure your premises are correctly installed with appropriate equipment, such as fire extinguishers, sprinklers and hose reels. Having this equipment and correctly maintaining it could result in saving lives. 

Fire extinguishers are the most important piece of fire fighting equipment for your business. Sprinklers and hose reels can be optional depending on the size and requirements of your building. In terms of size, only commercial premises that are larger than 5,000 square feet require this additional equipment. Or if your premises operated as a restaurant or hotel etc. 

Additionally to installing and being sufficiently trained on all fire safety equipment, it is also your responsibility to maintain it. 

What other fire safety laws are there?

The RRO recommends all workplaces must contain fire safety signs which aid visitors and staff alike to the location of fire safety equipment and evacuation routes. The following signs are recommended as a minimum:

• Fire extinguisher labels
• Fire door signs 
• Warning and caution signs 
• Fire exits signs

In addition to this, there are a number of procedures that are required by law. They include: installing and maintaining fire alarms, fire safety training, keeping a fire safety log book and the completion of a fire risk assessment. Let’s look at these aspects in a little more detail.

Fire alarms

Sometimes referred to as smoke alarms, fire alarms sound at the detection of a fire and alert anyone in the building. This allows early detection of fire and enables a higher chance of being able to evacuate the building safely. Depending on the purpose of your building, emergency lighting is also sometimes recommended.

Fire training

It is your responsibility to ensure your employees are familiar with all fire safety procedures in place. Some workplaces require formal training, also simply require a walk through of the equipment and evacuation routes.

Fire safety log book

This is a record of your current fire extinguishers, fire doors, fire alarms, evacuation process and training log. These are easy to purchase and don’t require a great deal of upkeep.

Fire risk assessment 

If you are the ‘responsible person’ for a non domestic premises then a fire risk assessment is a non-negotiable and a legal requirement in England and Wales. A fire risk assessment is a document highlighting all fire hazards in the building and the appropriate actions taken to reduce or remove them.

We hope this was a useful guide in gaining a better understanding of fire safety laws and how to comply with them to ensure the safety of your building and employees.