to work in the premises). However, the legislation also imposes duties on other persons who have control over the premises and on those who maintain premises or facilities such as fi re protection equipment; this will include landlords and managing agents. In England and Wales this person is known as the 'Responsible Person', in Scotland the 'Duty Holder' and Northern Ireland refer to the 'Appropriate Person'. Despite different titles, the duties are essentially to ensure safety of the people on the premises. A critical difference is that legislation in England and Wales extends to cover the communal areas of purpose built blocks of fl ats, which are not included in the legislation in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The regional legislation that defi nes the obligations of the person responsible for fi re safety is as follows: • In England and Wales the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.


• In Scotland the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 in conjunction with the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006.


• In Northern Ireland the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in combination with the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010.


Despite the use of different precise wording and the differences to how the legislation applies to households, the enactment of the legislation is very similar. The following will describe the general principles of enforcement to give an overview but details of the specifi c legislation that applies to your region may be found at the legislation.gov website.


ENFORCING AUTHORITY The Enforcing Authority is defi ned as: • Normally the Fire & Rescue Service for the area where premises are situated


BEST PRPRACTICE G BEST PRACTICE GUIDE TO FIRE SAFETY GUIDETO FE TOFIRE SAFEAFETY |23 FIRE SAFETY |


Enforcement T


he person with primary responsibility for compliance with the legislation is the employer, (i.e. the corporate body that employs people


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