Luckily major fires do not occur very often. However, any business which has suffered a fire will be well aware of the dangers to human life, damage to the workplace and detrimental effect it has on business.

Whilst taking some time away from your workshop to review your fire safety issues may seem unnecessarily time consuming, consider how many months you could be out of business if a fire were to occur and the effect it could have on you and your staff.

Listed below is a brief outline of some of the main things you must do to meet the law.

If you have more than 20 people at your workplace you must apply in writing for a Fire Certificate. This application is made to the local Fire Authority. Ring them and they will send you the official form.

If you have more than 10 people working at any time elsewhere than on the ground floor ofo the building you must also apply for a Fire Certificate.

Regardless of how many people work at your premises, or whether a Fire Certificate is needed, you must undertake a fire risk assessment. This is to identify what fire safety measures are needed.

To meet the Workplace (Fire Precautions) Regulations 1997 (as amended) you must also ensure you have:

a system which detects and gives warning of a fire starting
a system of evacuation and assembly
provisions of escape routes (which are kept unblocked at all times)
equipment to fight fire (eg extinguishers and fire blankets)
training of your staff in fire safety.

There are six other legal duties you need to know. These are:

nomination of people to undertake special roles in assisting people to evacuate (eg fire marshals)
procedures to deal for fire safety
information to other people who may share your premises about fire risks on your premises and your precautions for dealing with them
ensuring you have suitable means to contact the emergency services and ensure they can be called easily
ensure that your workers cooperate with you on fire safety matters and do not do anything which will put themselves or others at risk (this may necessitate a disciplinary procedure for those people found flouting this requirement)

First published in 'Body' Magazine, February 2001 issue

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