FSO and the Licensing Act

[AM]

I had a meeting with a BCO who, when commenting on the means of escape from lecture theatre, said that if the area becomes licensed, the fire officer will tell you what he wants and you'll have to do it otherwise you won't the license irrelevant of the fire stategy.

Now, as all occupants are now relevant persons under the FSO, and the appropriate means of escape etc should be determined under the risk assessment, I was under the impression that the enforcement procedures should mean that, the Licensing Act should not be used to enforce fire safety legislation by the backdoor. Not granting a license is almost like a prohibition, but without the legal attachments that one served under the FSO would have.

Assuming that the BCO is not just blowing smoke, is this the case, or is the licensing system still being used by Fire Safety depts in a similar manner to the old Licensing/Ents regime?

[kurnal]

The BCO is wrong.
Your interpretation of the relationship between the legislation is correct, although the licencing act did predate the Fire Safety Order by a couple of years or so.

The Licensing Act is focussed on the applicant showing the licensing Authority how he/she proposes to satisfy the licensing objectives, one of which is Public Safety. They will demonstrate this through their operating schedule, and the fire safety risk assessment  carried out under the Fire Safety Order is the vehicle for demonstrating this. Hence Licenced premises, irrespctive of whether they are workplaces or not, must record the findings of their fire risk assessent.

The Fire Authority is a Responsible Authority, who must be consulted and who can lodge representations about applications. But they must always use their powers under the Fire Safety Order to enforce Fire safety issues.

[jokar]

As Kurnal states, that is correct.  have a look at the sections of the Licensing Act Section 182 Guidnace which was redone in July 2007 to fit alongside Article 43 of the Order.