The new fire safety regulations came into force in October 2006
and require the vast majority of all property occupiers to carry
out a detailed fire risk assessment and to comply with its recommendations.
Failure to do so can result in a very large fine or even imprisonment.
Risk assessments are required and you must show that not only have
fire risks been identified that steps have then been taken to prevent
accidents and injury to employees.
Is a machine tool a fire risk? It is difficult to argue that
it is not - there are many hundreds of fires on machine tool of
all types in the UK in any given year.
How can fires be prevented if machines are not fitted with an
appropriate fire extinguisher safety system? - There is probably
no other satisfactory method available.
The person responsible? - This is "the employer where the
place of work is under its control" or "the person
in control where they have an obligation for its repair and maintenance"
In practise for most engineering companies/users of machine tools
the person responsible and therefore liable in case of an accident
will be:
The Owners/Directors
The Factory Manager or Managing Director
The Health & Safety Officer and/or The Head of Maintenance
The responsible person must then nominate a "competent person"
to carry out the new requirements to meet the new laws - failure
to do so will result in a breach of the regulations leaving the
responsible person open to charges if things do go wrong. The
nominated competent person must have received suitable training
and have sufficient experience to carry out his duties under the
new act.
This person must carry out fire risk assessments and take whatever
action is required and to carry out works and install any fire precautions
that the assessment recommends. If the assessment fails to take
into account any machine tools that may be on-site and then fails
to recommend that suitable fire protection equipment is fitted then
it is doubtful that the necessary fire safety recommendations will
have been met!
The responsible person needs to establish the means and route of
escape in case of a fire, a suitable fire alarm system, and to
provide and maintain fire fighting equipment. The full risk
assessment needs to be fully documented if the business employs
more than 5 people.
Enforcement of these new regulations is carried out by a local
fire authority who appoints inspectors (as is currently the case)
to enter premises to inspect records and ensure compliance with
the new regulations is being made.
The price for not complying with the new regulations range from
a fine of £5,000 in a magistrates court up to an unlimited
fine and / or 2 years in prison if the case is held in the high
court.
