Since October 2006, fire and rescue authorities have a duty to enforce fire safety in commercial and other non-domestic buildings. If you are not compliant with fire safety regulations, you can be prosecuted and suffer heavy penalties. They could cripple a small business and will be painful even for a large organisation with significant resources.
Some Heavy Penalties
In December 2013, a non-compliant landlord was held responsible for a fire that left six elderly residents trapped on the first floor. They were fortunate that local fire and rescue service personnel were able to bring them out. The landlord was given a suspended sentence and community service order rather than a fine, but had to cough up nearly £70,000 in court costs.
The following month the owner of a private school was found to be in breach of fire regulations. He was fined £24,000, which was all but doubled by the court costs. In another case, 20 fire engines and 100 fire-fighters were needed to subdue a warehouse fire. The company that owned it was fined almost £40,000 for fire safety regulation failings. The court costs would also have been significant.
You, or another designated responsible person, must undertake a fire risk assessment and keep it up to date. You have to take action to reduce the risk of fire and the spread of fire, but in the case of fire, you have to have a practical plan of means of escape. This will include having evacuation chairs available on floors above ground for those who are disabled and cannot use stairs.
Legal Responsibilities
Under the Equality Act 2010, companies have a duty to allow people of all abilities onto their premises. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, they also have a duty to get people out of the building in the event of a fire. If less able bodied people are on the first or higher floors, they can be transferred into evacuation chairs and safely brought down to ground level. The chairs typically work like a wheelchair on angled skis, incorporating a rubber belt and braking mechanism to slow the descent.
Relevant Training Courses
Also according to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, you must also arrange appropriate instruction and training of employees. This is where Alistair Bromhead can help. The half-day Evacuation Chair Operator Certificate in-house course will teach your staff to use your evacuation chairs safely. The course covers the deployment and handling of the evacuation chair and its passenger. It also includes advice on the siting and distribution of chairs as well as improving awareness of their multiple uses. A practical approach is taken to ensure plenty of hands-on practice.
You may wish to be able to supply the training to new recruits via in-house trainers, and ensure that no one forgets what they’ve learnt with regular reinforcement training that way. The one day Alistair Bromhead Evacuation Chair Train the Trainer course is now certified by The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). External courses leading to this nationally recognised certificate are available country-wide, or the course can be run in-house for up to six participants.