Legislation & Standards

What you need to know about the "Fire Reform Order"

As part of the Government's commitment to reduce death, injury and damage caused by fire, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO 2005) was introduced on 1 October 2006. This legislation has made the law easier to understand and comply with. This applies to non-domestic premises - i.e., not your own private home. The legislation also applies to the voluntary sector and self employed people with premises separate from their homes.

The main emphasis of the changes made by the RRO 2005 is towards fire prevention:

Fire certificates were abolished and ceased to have any legal status.
Under the RRO 2005 a 'responsible person' must be appointed for each premises.
The 'responsible person' is required to carry out an assessment of the risks (fire risk assessment) of fire and take steps to preferably remove, but if not, reduce the risks.

The risk assessment has to take into consideration the effect a fire may have on anyone in or around the premises. This will need to be kept under regular review.

A series of guidance documents has been produced. These are available for download below. Some of the guidance documents have not yet been published, these will be available as they are produced.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the guidance documents: