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Community Safety Directorate - New Fire Safety Law
The Scottish Executive has changed fire safety legislation. The changes are designed to make the law easier to comply with by reforming and rationalising current fire safety laws contained in numerous other pieces of legislation.

The changes took effect from 1st October 2006. The legislation that brought about these changes is The Fire Scotland Act 2005:Part 3. It affects all non-domestic premises and it applies across Scotland. The emphasis is towards risk reduction and fire prevention.

Fire certificates will no longer be issued as the responsibility for complying with the Fire Safety Regulations rests with the 'duty holder'. This may be the employer, the owner, the occupier or any person who has control of any part of the premises. If there is more than one responsible person they must all take reasonable steps to work with each other.

If you are the duty holder you must carry out a fire risk assessment, which will focus on the safety of persons in the event of fire. The risk assessment should take account of the following.

• Identify people at risk.
• Identify fire hazards.
• Evaluate the risk and decide if existing fire safety measures are adequate.
• Record fire safety risk assessment information.
• Review of fire safety risk assessment.

If you employ five or more people you must record your risk assessment and any significant findings.

Part 3 of the Fire Scotland Act 2005 applies to almost all premises and covers nearly every type of building and structure. For example:

• Offices and shops
• Premises that provide care
• Community halls
• Pubs, clubs and restaurants
• Schools
• Tents and marquees
• Hotels and hostels
• Factories and warehouses

It generally excludes domestic premises occupied by a single family group.

Further information is available from the Scottish Government website www.infoscotland.com/firelaw.