1. This guide has been produced to assist those who have responsibility for ensuring fire safety in offices, shops and similar premises in Scotland. The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended, introduced changes to fire safety law in Scotland and repealed previous fire safety legislation. Sections 53, 54 and 56 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, place a duty on employers, employees, managers, owners and others in relation to fire safety. The guide may also be helpful to all other persons with a role in ensuring fire safety in offices, shops or similar premises.
2. Fire can pose a serious risk to the occupants of offices, shops and similar premises and this guide will assist owners, managers and staff to achieve a fire safe environment in their premises and will also assist in achieving compliance with fire safety law.
3. This guidance has been prepared by the Scottish Government, and is one in a series of guidance documents aimed at offering fire safety advice for different types of premises. In Scotland, this guide supersedes the use of the following guidance documents in respect of office and shop premises:
4. The guide has twelve chapters and a number of Technical Annexes numbered 13.1 to 13.15. The first three chapters are an introduction, a description of the scope and an overview of fire safety law and responsibilities under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended. The fourth chapter explains what fire safety risk assessment is and how it may be undertaken. Fire safety risk assessment should be the foundation for all the fire safety measures in the premises. Chapters 5 to 12 are about managing fire safety and identifying the general fire safety measures which should be in place. These chapters are written to provide guidance for those with statutory duties in relation to fire safety (as set out in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended).
5. In the event that this guide is read by persons with duties under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended, and those persons feel unable to apply the guidance, then they should seek assistance from someone with sufficient technical knowledge. In this respect, the Fire and Rescue Authority or Joint Fire and Rescue Board, as enforcer of the legislation, cannot undertake the role. However, the enforcing authority does have a statutory requirement to provide general advice on request about issues relating to fire safety and should be able to provide information and advice which will assist dutyholders to understand their obligations under the law.
6. The Technical Annexes set out more information about fire safety measures and offer benchmarks against which fire safety measures can be compared. The Technical Annexes contain some information that may require a level of knowledge and experience of fire safety matters.