Fire

Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and Fire (Scotland) Act 2005

General fire safety requirements are explained under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006.​

Legislation states that those who are responsible for premises must manage fire safety on those premises. This includes:

• owners
• employers
• managers
• employees
• others occupying non-domestic premises

This requires that you put fire safety measures in place for:

• planning
• organisation
• management
• control
• monitoring
• review

These measures should be appropriate to the size of the premises and the nature of the activities.

You can find out more about your duties on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service website.

Fire risk assessment

Those responsible should take steps to prevent and reduce the impact of fire on the workplace and carry out a fire risk assessment of their workplace. The assessment should identify details of anyone that may be especially at risk. It should be in writing and reviewed regularly.

Emergency plan

You must nominate people to undertake any special roles which are required under the emergency plan. You need to provide them with specific training to allow them to fulfil their duties. You should also provide guidance to employees about fire precautions in the workplace through:

• information
• instruction
• training

You must consult your employees, their elected representatives or appointed trade union safety representatives about nominating people to carry out fire safety roles.

If you share a workplace, then you need to co-operate to control and reduce fire risks. In addition, you should inform each other of any significant risk which could affect the safety of employees.

While creating an emergency plan, you should establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services. You also need to ensure that emergency services can gain access to your premises in an emergency.