Fire Minister Brandon Lewis has said regulatory compliance in fire safety needs to be made “as easy as possible” for businesses that seek to protect their staff.
Speaking at a Chief Fire Officers Association association convention this month, a year after being appointed to his post, Lewis said that businesses were seeking a “more constructive and collaborative relationship” with fire authorities and fire safety officers.
In August, a government report reviewed how the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was being applied and enforced in England and Wales, particularly in relation to SMBs. Among the written responses was a clear indication that businesses felt approaches to enforcement varied across the country. Businesses reported “significant inconsistencies” in enforcement decisions.
This particularly frustrated large businesses, which sought Primary Authority to be applied to fire safety regulations in order to address the cost of inconsistencies among fire services across the country. Primary Authority rules allow a business that operates across council boundaries to nominate a specific local authority to deal with, ensuring consistency in licensing and enforcement processes across the business.
In his speech to the CFOA conference, Lewis said that this review had articulated clearly the aspirations of the business community with regard to the way the Fire Safety Order is enforced.
It is not that businesses think that enforcement powers available under the Fire Safety Order are overused. They don’t. All agree that where public safety is a real and unmanaged risk, it is right that enforcement action is taken.
However, what businesses want is a more constructive and collaborative relationship with their authorities and fire safety officers. One where they can approach and rely on consistent, sound, and proportionate advice on compliance from their fire safety officers, and on consistent and proportionate enforcement action by their fire and rescue authorities.
He went on to say that an announcement about the use of a Primary Authority with respect to fire safety laws will be announced shortly, following successful pilot schemes. He also praised the CFOA for supporting these pilots.
The FIA’s chief executive, Graham Ellicott, said today in a press release that the FIA echoes the minister’s calls for a more constructive relationship between businesses and fire services.
The FIA looks forward to working with CFOA and fire and rescue service where appropriate on these matters and in particular believes that the advent of a Business Engagement Forum, possibly based on the Scots model, will be a good thing for all stakeholders in the fire world.
The August report stated that the “fundamental difference of opinion” between fire and rescue authorities as to how to carry out their enforcement activities was making it “impossible to provide a simple single statement of what businesses can expect from fire and rescue authorities.” Lewis was not clear as to whether the government would provide clearer guidance to fire chiefs. Instead, he mentioned “localism” and said the sector should agree on its own standards for what an efficient fire authority would look like.
The full transcript of Brandon Lewis’s speech is available here.
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