The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order

The Order divides into Articles, rather than regulations, but the basic hierarchy is similar to other health and safety law.

The Order applies to most “non-domestic premises”, including the voluntary sector and self-employed people with premises separate from their homes. Workplaces not covered are offshore installations, ships, fields, woods or other land in agriculture away from buildings, aircraft, locomotive or rolling stock, mines and boreholes.

Responsibility for complying with the Order rests with the “responsible person”, defined in Article 3. In a workplace, this is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, for example, the occupier or owner.

In all other premises, the people in control of the premises will be responsible. If there is more than one responsible person in any type of premises, all must take all reasonable steps to work with each other.