Antonia Brandes, a partner at law firm Fladgate Fielder, offers advice on complying with the planned changes to the fire safety regulations

The problem 
You are a hotel operator and restaurateur and have heard that the regulations relating to fire and safety are about to change. But what you don't know is whether this is going to make life easier or more difficult for you and if it will be a costly process.

The Law
Currently, fire safety is regulated by two main pieces of legislation - the Fire Precautions Act 1971 (FPA) and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (FPWR). The FPA requires certain non-domestic premises to have a fire certificate, based upon the number of employees, the floors on which they work and, for hotels and boarding houses, the number of guests that spend the night and the floors on which they sleep.

Certificates are drawn up following a site inspection by the fire authority - in practice, the local fire brigade - which must satisfy itself that the premises comply. The emphasis is on means of escape, and the certificate annexes a fire plan on which escape routes are shown. The FPWR regulate places of employment and require employers to undertake a fire-risk assessment of workplace premises, maintain necessary fire precautions and train employees to be aware of these precautions.

Expert advice 
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has drafted the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2004 to reform and unify the current system. If approved by Parliament, the new order will become law in 2006.

The new order will be similar to the FPWR, but with the following changes:

• Fire certificates will not be required for any premises. The new order will apply to all non-domestic premises with certain, very limited exceptions (eg, forests, agricultural land and offshore oil rigs).
• Responsibility for fire safety will transfer from the fire authority to the "responsible person", ie, the employer, where there is one; the person in control of premises for the carrying out of an undertaking; the owner; or any other person who to any extent exercises control over the premises. (Note: more than one person can be the responsible person.)
• Rather than the fire authority confirming what is required for compliance, the responsible person will have to carry out a fire-risk assessment, identifying the risks and putting in place appropriate fire precautions. The fire authority will enforce the new order by inspection and will be able to require works to be done by service of enforcement notices. In extreme cases it will be able to close premises until they are made safe by means of a prohibition notice.
• Hazardous premises - for example, those housing dangerous substances, which are currently dealt with by a number of different regimes - will now come under the same order. 
• The emphasis will change from means of escape to prevention of fire.
• Although the fire-risk assessment and staff training elements are similar to those embodied in the current FPWR, the people whom the responsible person must protect will widen from employees to include all persons in and around the premises, including firefighters.

In conclusion, if the new order passes into law, the system will be simplified, in that the same regulations will apply to virtually all non-domestic premises. But while the ODPM considers that most businesses will require only one or two hours' extra training, it acknowledges that a high proportion of businesses do not comply with the fire-risk assessment elements of the current regulations.

Given that the new order will shift the regulation of "means of escape" from the fire brigade, whose primary concern is fire safety, to self-assessment by a "responsible person", whose prime concern is running a business, the learning curve for some businesses will be very steep and the use of specialist consultants is likely to be costly.

Check list

• If the order passes into law, be ready to prepare for your fire-risk assessment late next year.
• Ensure any consultants are properly qualified.
• Remember that a fire plan will still be required.
• If premises are altered, be aware that the fire-risk assessment will need to be re<2011>evaluated and the fire plan altered.

Beware!
Failure to comply with the new order will be a criminal offence. And even if the responsible person appoints a consultant they will remain liable if that consultant is not properly qualified.

Contact
Antonia Brandes
Fladgate Fielder
020 7323 4747
abrandes@fladgate.com