Understanding Your Responsibilities as an Employer

Your fire marshals are a key part of your fire safety plan and have a number of important duties which will help keep your employees and customers safe from fire. The number of fire marshals you need depends on the nature and size of your organisation, there is no set number. The level of fire risk in your business will dictate how many fire marshals you should have. If you feel unqualified to determine the risk level of your premises, or uncomfortable doing so, then check your Fire Risk Assessment, as it should have classified your premises for you.

When calculating the fire risk of a premises we need to take into account two main things: 

1) ‘hazards’ – how likely is it that a fire will occur, and 

2) ‘severity’ – how damaging could a fire be if it did occur.

 

Low fire risk

Where there is hardly any risk to life safety because some or all of the following are true:

• there are few combustible or highly flammable materials

• there are virtually no sources of heat which could ignite a fire

• the premises are well maintained and traditionally built, e.g. of brick and stone

• there are no high-risk groups of individuals, such as the young, elderly, or disabled

• occupants could escape quickly and safety in the event of a fire

• fire safety measures are adequate and well maintained

Notes & Examples: only a small number of premises will fall into this category, examples being a stonemason’s workshop and some small shops and offices.

 

Medium (Normal) fire risk

Where there is an average risk to life safety because some or all of the following are true:

• there are some quantities of combustible or highly flammable materials

• there are some sources of heat which could ignite a fire

• the premises may not be traditionally built

• there is a small number of high-risk individuals, such as the young, elderly, or disabled

• a fire is likely to remain confined or to spread slowly, allowing people time to escape

• fire safety measures are adequate and well maintained

Notes & Examples: most premises fall within this category e.g. bigger offices and shops, warehouses, and most factories and light engineering plants.

 

High fire risk

Where there is a serious risk to life safety because some or all of the following are true:

• there are substantial quantities of combustible or highly flammable materials

• there are sources of heat which could easily ignite a fire

• there is an unconventional layout or construction making it harder to exit easily

• a fire could spread rapidly

• there is a large number of high-risk individuals, such as the young, elderly, or disabled

• fire safety measures are poor

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Note: generally, these premises fall into 2 categories:

1) those where there is a high risk of a fire occurring, such as restaurants or catering kitchens, industrial premises which house flammable liquids or gases, or use a lot of heat in their processes, and –

2) those where it would be difficult for the occupants to escape, either because of the nature of the occupants, such as in hospitals, care homes, childcare nurseries and schools; or because of the convoluted layout of the building, such as in some HMOs (‘homes of multiple occupation’).