18.11.2019

Fire safety

Anyone applying for a licence also needs to comply with fire safety law, specifically The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

You need to make sure a Fire Risk Assessment is carried out by a competent person in order to:

• Identify the fire hazards,
• Identify the persons at risk,
• Eliminate or reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to persons,
• Determine what physical fire safety arrangements and management controls are necessary to ensure the safety of relevant persons.

The Responsible Person

The Fire Safety Order requires the “Responsible Person” to act upon the significant findings of the Fire Risk Assessment to reduce the risks to persons in case of fire. Where a fire risk assessment already exists it should be reviewed to ensure that it takes account of any changes that you propose to make and also to ensure that it makes adequate provision for the safety of ALL persons (staff and customers) who may be at the premises. Clearly, the fire safety arrangements required for a three day festival attracting 20,000 people will be very different from those placed on a basement nightclub.

Communication

Communication between club owner/manager, promoter and the fire, police and environmental health services is vital.

The safety lessons and requirements which are the responsibility of the venue owner must also be known and understood by the promoter who may, to a large extent, be running the entertainment.

The National Fire Chief’s Council provides a comprehensive event organiser’s checklist and a range of regularly updated documents to be incorporated into event management plans which are available from https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/Event-safety