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mark godley
Member - 3 posts
Hey,
I work for a large company. We have 800-1000 employees.
We have alot of EU workers starting within the last 6months, alot will of never heard a fire alarm.
There is 4 shifts throughout the week. There has not been a fire drill on most shifts for over a year.
Someone recently brought this to their attention and they have apparently done a fire drill on a night shift (note: this is the smallest shift)
Is there any laws on how many fire drills there should be, i think fire drills are a very important part of a safe wharehouse
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Julie Prezat
Member - 4 posts
Hi Mark,
There is, unfortunatly, no legal requirement about the frequencies.
Have a look on the link below, you should find an answer to your question:
http://www.iosh.co.uk/index.cfm?go=discussion.view&forum=1&thread=35052
regards,
julie.
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Charles Buckton
Member - 4 posts
Hi Mark,
I have the same problem with people on different shift patterns. What we do is firstly try and test the fire alarm on diferent days so that everyone knows what it sounds like. We then look at scheduling the fire drill (and for us that's one every 6 months) again on different days where possible to get maximum effect.
I also get our maintenance guys to block of an escape route which shows some interesting behaviour as most people will tend to either follow the crowd whilst evacuating or go the route that they know i.e. staff or main entrance rather than their nearest safest exit.
Regards Charlie
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Mike Kane
Member - 20 posts
The carrying out of fire drills is required by the Reguatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Government guidance to the Order requires that an employer undertakes fire evacuation drills as a component of the necessary employee training required under Article 15 of that Order.
The guidance states that "evacuation drills should be carried out at least annually, or at frequencies determined by the fire risk assessment..........."
It further states that "If you have a high staff turnover you may need to carry them out more often...."
In all cases 6 monthly drills are considered "best practice" in most circumstances and would be advised as a benchmark demonstrate compliance with the Regulations in case of any Legal dispute
Mike Kane
fireuk@msn.com
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