In the effort to keep its constituents safe from blazes, HM’s government has found it necessary to come up with several fire safety regulations. One of which is the FSO (Fire Safety Order) 2005. And to give you an idea on what this entails, here are some things that you may have to know about FSO 2005.
• This fire safety regulation is applicable to you if you are an employer of 5 or more staffs.
• Carrying the regulation out requires you to be or to appoint a responsible person for your organization. Having a responsible person is very important because he/ she will be in charge of fire risk assessment, education of other employees, implementing changes in the workplace and general safety of the office/ workplace from blazes or fires.
• As mentioned one of the major tasks of the “responsible person” is to conduct fire risk assessment regularly. No big deal right? But know that this task is not at all simple. This is because apart from checking the place/ office for the presence of fire hazards and the people who are at the greatest risks, he would also have to act on his assessment and do whatever he can to remove or at least minimize those identified hazards and risks. Sometimes he also has to head housekeeping efforts, purchase firefighting tools as needed and install fire safety signs that remind everybody what they should do once an alarm sounds.
• Apart from fire risk assessment and securing firefighting and safety tools, the person in charge should also take on to himself to educate everybody else about fire safety and fire prevention. And since he is required to impart knowledge, the responsible person needs to have proper training and enough information to fulfill his job well.
• To distribute work and divide areas of responsibility, the person in charge also has assign one or two marshalls that will stand up, take charge and lead everybody to safety once a fire alarm sounds.
• For everybody’s safety, the responsible person should also predetermine fire exits that can be used during an emergency. Exits as required needs to be found easily. If not, safety signs have to be installed to lead people towards them. In addition, the marshall or the person in charge should also make sure that exits are not blocked by obstructions and/ or locked.
• Along with the exits a safe place should also be identified. This safe place is where employees and other staff will stay until a fire out is finally declared.
• Finally, to make sure that everybody is ready should an actual emergency happens, the responsible person should also take charge in facilitating fire drills every now and then.
Those are some of the things that you should know about FSO (Fire Safety Order) of 2005. If you look through them again, you will notice that everything revolves around the responsible person ensuring the safety of everyone in the workplace or office.
