Fire Safety Law - July 2008

Fire Safety in Commercial Premises

The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and subsequent Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 introduced new fire safety laws to Scotland with effect from 1st October 2006. Previous fire safety legislation was repealed and replaced with a new fire safety regime. Fire certificates have now been abolished. If you have an existing fire certificate it is no longer valid. The new regime is based upon the principles of risk assessment and imposes an overriding duty to ensure, so far is reasonably practicable, safety in respect of harm caused by fire in the work place.

The regime affects owners, employers, employees, managers and others occupying non-domestic premises and houses in multiple occupation if they require a licence. It is therefore possible for more than one person to have fire safety responsibilities for any one property. The requirement will however be limited to what is necessary, reasonable or practicable in the circumstances and will reflect the level of control each occupier or responsible party has in relation to the property. The more control that you have the greater will be your responsibility. Each party with an interest is required to undertake a fire safety risk assessment and, thereafter, introduce appropriate fire safety measures. Each party with responsibility is required to cooperate with others and coordinate their fire safety measures. Further you must review your fire risk assessment regularly and update it if required.

Premises covered by the fire safety regime may be inspected or audited by an enforcement officer to ensure compliance with the law (in most cases the enforcing authority will be the local fire and rescue service). If the fire officer is not satisfied by the fire safety measures taken then a notice specifying the action required to bring the premises in line with the new law will be issued. Alternatively, if there is a serious risk of fire, a prohibition notice can be issued with the effect of restricting the use of all or part of the premises until the improvements are carried out. If the enforcement notice is not adhered to the penalty imposed may be up to two years imprisonment or an unlimited fine.

It is therefore important that any person in control of non-domestic premises should consider the fire safety risks and put in place appropriate controls in order that they comply with the regime.

For more information please email Corra Irwin or telephone 01463 239393.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is based on our current understanding of the law. It has been produced for information purposes only. Professional advice should always be sought before taking any action.

Macleod & MacCallum cannot take any responsibility for loss incurred through acting or failing to act on the basis of anything contained in this publication.