This review will look at regulatory activity by English fire and rescue authorities in relation to the statutory requirement on businesses to comply with the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
It will look at the issues faced by businesses, in particular small and medium-sized ones (i.e. those with 250 or fewer employees), including:
- How and where companies access information about fire safety issues, their legal obligations, and how to comply with the law;
- What information they need, and how they would prefer to access advice and guidance on fire safety matters;
- Activity undertaken by fire and rescue authorities to support business compliance;
- How the full range of regulatory activity (see below) impacts on the running of businesses;
- The interaction businesses have with fire and rescue authorities on the business premises;
- Any ‘knock-on effects’ arising from compliance with fire safety legislation – for example, where action to meet fire safety regulations leads to additional requirements to meet other sets of regulations.
Regulatory Activity
“Regulatory Activity” in this context includes;
- provision of advice on compliance with the law;
- fire and rescue authority audits of premises, inspections visits and assessments of premises and equipment;
- any requirements to make formal applications, or provide specific information;
- any requirements on businesses and their staff to attend courses or obtain particular qualifications;
- formal enforcement proceedings taken against individuals or organisations in the event of failure to comply with regulations (we cannot consider comments on specific cases unless all proceedings have finished – but we can consider general evidence in relation to enforcement proceedings).
We are interested in examples of good practice that is helpful to business in meeting their obligations, and suggestions for improving the way things work.
We would also be interested to learn of issues encountered where third parties are encouraging companies to undertake unnecessary compliance activity eg. where regulation does not actually require a company to do something, but they are led to believe it does.