FireNet Community
FIRE SERVICE AND GENERAL FIRE SAFETY TOPICS => Fire Safety => Topic started by: Thomas Brookes on July 24, 2008, 03:50:08 PM
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Im not going into to much detail on this as I don't want to cause myself and others to much hassel.
Anyway I have just done a Fire Risk Assessment for a building where the owners use the ground floor and they rent out the 1st and second floors.
As part of my assessment I asked if they had, had a copy of their tennants risk assessment as they should all share information. No the two tennets have not done a Fire Risk Assessment for there offices, they say they dont need one.
How come I ask.
Well the top floor say although they employ 20 people most are out on the road and apart from odd days theres never more than 5 people in the office.
and the first floor that only has three people in it so she does not need one.
I assured them that if they employed anyone and that if they had members of the public visiting them they should have one.
Who are the tennets I asked.
Top floor is ******* Union and first floor is ****** ****** MP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Out of all the people and organisation in the country I would have thought both these would have been hot on this issue.
One represents employees working rights and the other one helped pass the RRFSO.
The mind boggles
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I've caught Unions out on fire safety in their own offices many a time, even where their H&s reps are based - they are oblivious to it compared to accidents etc.
So no surprise!
The 1st floor doesn't strictly need a written FRA (or record of significant findings) though & could say it was in their head - but if you question them on significant findings and controls you'll probably catch them out as not having looked at the risk at all, let alone written anything down
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Message for the tenants: So thou has sown, so shall thy reap.
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Let he who is without sin....
I could take you to many fire stations with no fire alarms, inner rooms and no vision panels, no fire drills or tests on emergency lighting- need I go on?
I visited a FB Training HQ in the Capital city recently and spotted numerous BS wedges and duff self closers....
At least the politicians are up front and exempt the HMG buildings from the laws that the rest of us must obey.
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What that nice new building in Union Street Southwark, perhaps not.
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FireNet is not the place to name and shame individual organisation please. Much as I'd love to, we don't have the funds to fight any accusations false accusations.
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I don't think HMG is exempt just because they are HMG. If the build is solely for the purposes of the Crown, then yes, but the example above also has other occupiers.
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I well remember spending a day sitting in a large meeting room in Luxembourg with 400+ other people discussing fundamental and far-ranging testing and classification standards for fire protection. Building was one of the main EU 'head office' locations, where the Directives that we know and love eminate from. So far as I could glean, there was only one means of escape from the (very large) room; the green escape signage was text-only (just said "Notausgang", so far as I recall); there were no call points or fire warning notices and... the walls were carpeted!
'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (Who shall watch the watchers themselves)!?