New Fire Safety Legislation

The Fire Safety (England) (Employees' Capabilities) Regulations 2010 came into force on 06 April 6 2010.

These regulations have been issued to close the percieved gap in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO). They require that employers delegating fire safety tasks to employees take into account the fire safety capabilities of the employees to whom these tasks are delegated. This "new" fire safety legislation formalises a duty which was (arguably) already implicitly present in the existing legislation, i.e., the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Regulation 2 of this new legislation requires the employer to take employees’ capabilities into consideration when entrusting them with fire safety responsibilities:

Every employer must, in entrusting tasks to employees, take into account their capabilities as regards health and safety, so far as those capabilities relate to fire.

This is an example of legislation being used to enforce the application of common sense. Fire safety is essential to the safe running of all businesses. If you need help with any aspect of your fire safety (or your health and safety), please contact us through our website.