Fire Safety Order Review Published

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published a new research report on the impact of the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), which was introduced in October 2006.

The RRO simplified the law on fire safety by replacing over 70 separate pieces of fire safety legislation.

Early in 2008, the DCLG commissioned qualitative research into how the Order was “bedding in” in England by means of face-to-face and telephone-depth interviews conducted with:

• 20 enforcers, primarily fire and rescue authorities (FRAs) but also other enforcers

• 15 representatives from the fire safety industry, including some third party fire safety consultants

• 45 businesses split across a variety of sectors and company sizes.

The subsequent report represents a collection of views, opinions and experiences of those who were interviewed.

The report’s early indications about how the RRO is working are fairly positive. It says that businesses and enforcers are “broadly satisfied” with the impact and effectiveness of the RRO.

The enforcing authorities are said to have welcomed the legislation, while businesses (when aware of the compliance requirements of the RRO) tend to understand and support the principle of a risk assessment-based approach to fire protection.

Most of the respondents able to give an opinion felt that the RRO was an improvement on previous legislation. However, the research did show that there are areas in which enforcers and businesses have concerns. These include:

• raising awareness of the requirements of the RRO

• consideration of more tailored advice to responsible persons

• clarification of who a responsible person is

• clarification of who may have an appropriate level of fire safety expertise to assist with delivering compliance with the RRO

• ensuring FRAs continue to take a supportive and educational approach to compliance.

Initial Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — Fire Research 3/2009 can be downloaded here

Source: Croner's

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