Final reminder - is your business prepared?
Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are issuing a final reminder to businesses to be ready for the changes in fire safety legislation for the 1 October 2006.
Under the new legislation, anyone who has control of premises will be responsible for carrying out their own fire risk assessment. This includes offices, shops, care homes, community halls, pubs, clubs, schools, sports centres, hotels and hostels.
County Fire Officer, William Brown said:
“This new legislation will replace existing fire legislation including fire certificates, which were previously issued by the fire and rescue service. The responsible person will now have the duty for assessing the fire risk for everyone who enters your premises including employees, visitors and members of the public.
This new legislation may seem a little daunting, but by taking a few simple steps such as replacing highly flammable hazards with less flammable ones you could reduce the risk within your premises.”
The fire risk fire assessment will help businesses to identify other possible dangers such as boxes blocking fire exists and hazardous materials being stored near heating systems. When the fire risk assessment has been completed the identified risks must then be reduced or controlled.
For further information and help on what you need to do to be prepared for the new legislation please log onto http://www.communities.gov.uk and then follow the fire and resilience link where you will be able to down load the latest guidance.
The Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service help line can also give further advice, Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 5 pm, on 01926 466282.