76. A management commitment to fire safety is essential to assist with achieving suitable fire safety standards in premises and in the maintenance of a staff culture of fire safety. This chapter covers management standards that should be achieved within all premises, in respect of:
77. There should be a clearly defined fire safety policy for the protection of all persons using the premises including staff and visitors and this should include the arrangements for planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of fire safety measures. Factors to consider include:
78. Additional considerations in large organisations are:
79. It is a management responsibility to have in place both an emergency fire action plan and arrangements to implement the plan. The evacuation of all persons, including disabled persons, is a management responsibility which cannot be delegated to the Fire and Rescue Service.
80. There should be a written emergency fire action plan which sets out the action that staff and other people in the premises should take in the event of a fire. It should be kept on the premises, be available in a format understood by all, as well as being known by staff and forming the basis of the training and instruction which is provided. The plan should also be available for inspection by the enforcing authority.
81. The purpose of the plan is:
82. In drawing up the emergency fire action plan, the results of the fire safety risk assessments should be considered along with the need for procedures for all occupants of the premises including disabled people.
83. In multi-occupied premises or complexes, the emergency fire action plan will need to be detailed and compiled after consultation with all occupiers and other responsible people such as centre management or owners who have control over the building. In most cases this means that a single emergency plan covering the whole building will be necessary.
84. The plan should set out details of the procedures to be followed by staff in the event of fire and by any other persons present. It should be specific to the premises and should include:
85. The needs or assistance required by any disabled staff member or disabled person who uses the premises should be discussed with the individual. An individual personal emergency egress plan (PEEP) for each of these persons should be established. A PEEP should contain details of special evacuation arrangements. More information about the use of PEEPs is available in Practical fire safety guidance: the evacuation of disabled persons from buildings.
86. The use of lifts needs to be considered. In general, lifts should not be used for evacuation though some lifts may be designed for evacuation of disabled persons and in some situations, particularly in large complexes, the fire safety measures provided may allow for the use of specific lifts for fire evacuation purposes. If fire-fighting lifts are to be used for evacuation, this should be agreed and co-ordinated with the Fire and Rescue Service who may, on arrival, need to take control of the lift for access and fire-fighting.
87. In larger buildings or complexes phased evacuation may be appropriate. This describes a situation where those people most at risk from a fire, usually those closest to where the alarm has originated, will be immediately evacuated, while others in the building are given an alert signal and will then evacuate when it becomes necessary or after a pre-determined timescale. The initial movement, depending on the layout and configuration of the premises, can be either horizontal or vertical.
88. In shopping complexes, the emergency fire action plan is likely to involve immediate evacuation of the shop concerned where an alarm originates. After a pre-determined time delay, the evacuation of the whole centre would commence. This delay period should not exceed four minutes. This allows for the actuation to be investigated without full centre evacuation. If during the investigation period there is further alarm actuation then the system would go to full evacuation. In the case of fire alarm actuation anywhere other than in an individual shop, or on actuation of sprinklers anywhere within the shopping centre, evacuation would commence immediately.
89. Staged evacuation is where the initial alert signal from the fire alarm system is given to occupants, or more commonly, only to certain staff, who then carry out pre-arranged actions to help others to evacuate. This requires such staff to be available at all times and should be used only where necessary to ensure fire safety. It should not be used simply to reduce disruption to normal trading.
90. Where a staged evacuation strategy is in place, it is normally advisable for those disabled people who have an extended evacuation time to be alerted at the first stage to give them the maximum time to escape. Phased and staged evacuation strategies both require fire-warning systems capable of giving staged alarms, including an 'alert signal' and a different 'evacuate signal'.
91. It is essential that staff know what they have to do to safeguard themselves and others on the premises and to have an awareness of the importance of their actions. This includes risk reduction, maintenance of fire safety measures and action if there is a fire.
92. All staff (including volunteers, temporary and agency staff) should be given information, training and instruction on the fire safety measures to be taken or observed on the premises, including the action to be taken in case of fire. The specific fire safety training needs of any young persons employed should be considered. Training of each member of staff should take place as soon as possible after they are appointed and regularly, at predetermined intervals after that, to ensure that they remain familiar with procedures. Information should be given to staff whenever there is a change in the risk from fire, where changes have been made to the emergency fire action plan or other fire safety measures, or where working practices or people's responsibilities have changed.
93. Staff who have a supervisory role should be given details of the findings of the fire safety risk assessments and should receive additional training which will enable them to discharge their specific responsibility. Training for this role may include:
94. Where staff may require to physically move or assist persons during an evacuation, they should receive training on the method of achieving this and should be familiar with the use of any evacuation aids or equipment provided for this purpose.
95. Written instructions should be concise, comprehensible and relevant and should be reviewed and updated as new working practices and changes are introduced. Inclusive employment policies mean that staff with differing levels of capability may be present in premises and the fire safety risk assessments should consider whether further instruction or guidance is necessary for those staff, to ensure that the evacuation strategy is appropriate and understood by everyone. Instructions will need to be given to people delegated to carry out particular tasks, such as daily or weekly fire equipment checks.
96. Instruction and training should take place during working hours and should include staff on shift working. The information and instruction should be in a form that can be understood, taking account of those with differing abilities such as hearing or sight impairment, those with learning difficulties and those who do not use English as their first language.
97. All training should support the fire safety strategy and emergency fire action plan, be verifiable and be supported by management records as evidence that adequate training has been given. Fire safety training should be specific to the premises and should include the following:
98. Fire drills should be carried out to check that staff understand the emergency fire action plan (including all relevant personal emergency egress plans), to ensure that staff are familiar with operation of the emergency fire action plan, to evaluate effectiveness of the plan and to identify any weaknesses in the evacuation strategy.
99. The frequency of drills for each building will be different and should reflect the level of risk. Fire drills should take place at least once a year. Where there is more than one escape route, the drills should assume conditions in which one or more of these are obstructed by smoke. In offices, a fire drill should involve occupant evacuation and should commence on operation of the fire alarm. In shops, fire drills should involve a rehearsal for evacuation and will normally be scheduled when there are no or few shoppers in the premises.
100. Where there is the possibility that someone may misinterpret the fire drill and call the Fire and Rescue Service, it may be appropriate to inform the Fire and Rescue Service prior to the commencement and on conclusion of a drill in order to alert them to the exercise and so prevent their unnecessary attendance. If the fire alarm system is connected to a remote alarm receiving centre, inform the receiving centre, to ensure that the Fire and Rescue Service is not inadvertently called out to the premises, and inform the receiving centre when the fire drill has been completed.
101. Within each building the fire drill evacuation should involve all occupants except those having a designated role such as the need to ensure the security of the premises, the safety of the occupants or where equipment or processes cannot be closed down.
102. When carrying out the fire drill it may be helpful to:
103. The pre-planned procedure for checking that all persons have evacuated, should be carried out. In some cases this will involve a roll call being carried out as soon as possible at the designated assembly point(s), noting any persons who are unaccounted for. In a fire evacuation this information would need to be passed to the Fire and Rescue Service on arrival. The results of the fire drill should be recorded.
104. Throughout the fire drill, the person in charge and any nominated observers should pay particular attention to:
105. The premises, emergency routes and exits, fire-fighting equipment, fire alarm, emergency lighting, Fire and Rescue Service facilities and other fire safety measures should be kept in efficient working order and covered by a suitable system of maintenance. There should be regular checks, periodic servicing and maintenance and any defects put right as quickly as possible. Some systems and equipment will be the subject of a British Standard which will likely contain recommendations in respect of maintenance and testing. Experience in individual premises may show that there is a need to vary the suggested frequencies. The examples of testing and maintenance are not intended to be prescriptive and other testing regimes may be appropriate where this can be justified. Six monthly and annual tests will normally be carried out by a person with specialist knowledge, possibly by entering into a service contract. The following are examples of checks and tests that should be carried out:
106. Daily:
107. Weekly:
108. Monthly:
109. Three monthly:
110. Six monthly:
111. Annual:
112. Information and records as necessary to comply with the legislation should be kept and made available for inspection. The information recorded should in itself offer proof that a suitable fire safety risk assessment has been carried out. Information should be recorded in respect of:
113. The maintenance of accurate records can assist with the provision of fire safety standards, the review of a fire safety risk assessment and with staff awareness. Maintaining an up-to-date drawing or plan of the premises will assist in verifying that the fire safety measures that are in place are appropriate. Features which could be included in a plan are:
114. In some very small offices, shops and similar premises, record keeping may be no more than details of the significant findings and any action taken as a result of the fire safety risk assessment and a copy of the emergency fire action plan.
115. The range and type of records necessary will be more detailed for more complex buildings or those with a fire safety engineered design. In these cases a fire safety manual should be kept in addition to any other records. This type of fire safety manual should contain technical specifications, detail of the fire safety engineered design, an explanation of the operation of different systems and specific information on testing and maintenance.
116. Records of the maintenance and testing recommended in paragraphs 105 to 111 above, should be made and retained. It is for management to determine how long they wish to retain this type of record, but for the purposes of audit by the enforcing authority, records for a minimum period of three years should be available. Records can be kept in either an electronic or paper based format and should include: