From 6th April 2010, new regulations will clarify your responsibilities to consider the capabilities of your workers to carry out any fire safety-related tasks or assignments.
You will have to think about: -
· What a worker is able and unable to do when giving them tasks
· How these capabilities may affect their ability to deal with fire-related risks.
For example, you will have to consider a worker’s capabilities as regards fire safety if you ask them to work with petrol.
These regulations should not impose any extra burden on your business. They simply re-impose a duty that: -
· You had before the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force in October 2006
· Is implicit in your wider health and safety duties.
You are reminded that you have, and will continue to have, a general duty to: -
· Carry out a fire safety risk assessment to identify the general fire precautions you need to put in place
· Regularly review the assessment and make necessary changes
· Pay particular attention to young people when carrying out or reviewing a risk assessment
