From 6 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 any necessary changes
- pay particular attention to young people when carrying out or reviewing a risk assessment
For further information or assistance with carrying out assessments contact Anchor Health & Safety on info@anchorhands.co.uk
