Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), business principles and responsible people have a duty to protect people in the event of a fire.
The responsible person must “ensure that the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of the premises are subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair” and the equipment must be serviced and maintained by a competent person.
The “Responsible person” would generally be the owner, landlord or business director or possibly a member of staff delegated with responsibility for fire safety. This would depend on the size and type of organisation. A “competent person” is someone qualified by training and experience to undertake service and maintenance of fire extinguishers.
For fire extinguishers and equipment, a visual inspection should be carried out together with a periodic maintenance programme. This may be a monthly or weekly visual inspections of all extinguishers and fire safety equipment, for example; to establish if the extinguisher has been discharged or damaged. A competent person would complete this.
BS5306:3 Code of Practice for Fire Extinguisher Service and Maintenance provides recommendations on how to conduct a visual inspection as follows.
- a) each extinguisher is correctly located in the designated place;
- b) each extinguisher is unobstructed and visible;
- c) the operating instructions of each extinguisher are clean and
legible and face outwards; - d) each extinguisher has not been operated and is not obviously
damaged or has any missing parts; - e) the reading of any pressure gauge or indicator fitted to an
extinguisher is within operational and safety limits; - f) the seals and tamper indicators of each extinguisher are not
broken or missing.
Records should be kept but if you employ 5 or more people, it is also a legal requirement to maintain a permanent Record of all servicing, maintenance and inspections which could be audited by the Fire Services Inspectorate.
Veriserv can review your existing provision for extinguishers and provide you with a suitable service and maintenance programme to ensure you comply with current fire regulations. As an NSI Gold standard company, Veriserv can also carry out a full fire risk assessment of your business premises if required. This would, for example, include Fire Alarm Systems, Escape routes, Extinguishers and signage.
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