Fire service urges businesses to make fire safety a priority

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service urge businesses to make fire safety a priority.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) will be offering small and medium sized businesses a range of advice as part of the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC’s) Business Safety Week, which runs from 11th – 17th September. The week aims to help businesses understand their fire safety responsibilities, so they remain safe, legal, and compliant.

Many fires in the workplace are preventable and some businesses never recover after a fire. Helping businesses to manage their fire risks and hazards, and potentially to save lives and safeguard their businesses against financial and commercial loss is of key importance. Simple measures to reduce risks of a fire starting and ensuring staff know how to respond in the right way can help to keep people safe and makes business sense.

At this time of year many businesses will be preparing for the Christmas period and may also be impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. It’s important that businesses consider the risk of fire in any changes they make and ensure all staff are aware of fire safety in the workplace.

From 1st October new fire safety legislation comes into effect. This will mean that many businesses and building owners need to check if and how this affects them, to ensure they are complying with the regulations. The main changes are:

All businesses will need to record a fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements in full – regardless of the number of employees, and size or type of business.
There are increased requirements for cooperation and coordination between Responsible Persons in multi occupied buildings or those where the occupier and owner are not the same person.
In residential buildings with two or more domestic premises residents must be provided with information on the risks from fire and the fire safety measures provided to keep them safe.
There’s plenty of advice and support for businesses from MAWWFRS, so we encourage anyone that has questions or may not be sure about fire safety to contact us so we can help.

Gavin Tomlinson NFCC’s Protection and Business Safety Committee Chair said:

“Fire and rescue services are committed to helping all types of businesses reduce the risk of fire in the workplace and be compliant with fire safety law. We don’t expect businesses to be experts that’s’ why we are here to provide help and advice. “We encourage any business to work with their fire service to help prevent fires to help them remain productive, safe and legal.”

For more information on Business Fire Safety please visit our website.