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Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
Online advisor - 5 posts
Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (the HSWA) places a general duty on an employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees, subject to a defence of so far as is reasonably practicable,. This duty requires employees to be provided with safe working equipment and adequate training as to the safe use of such equipment.
Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees health and safety whilst at work.
In addition, in a work environment where PCs are used the employer must comply with the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (the DSE Regulations).
Schedule 1 of the DSE Regulations sets out the minimum requirements for all workstations that must be complied with. This includes the following:
- the screen must swivel and tilt easily and freely to suit the needs of the operator or user
- the keyboard shall be tiltable and separate from the screen so as to allow the user to find a comfortable working position avoiding fatigue in the arms or hands
- the workstation shall be dimensioned and designed so as to provide sufficient space for the user to change position and vary movements.
The gist of these requirements is that each user shall be able to adjust a workstation according to their individual characteristics and requirements.
In addition, Regulation 2 states
"(1) Every employer shall perform a suitable and sufficient analysis of those workstations which ?
(a) (regardless of who has provided them) are used for the purposes of his undertaking by users; or
(b) have been provided by him and are used for the purposes of his undertaking by operators,
for the purpose of assessing the health and safety risks to which those persons are exposed in consequence of that use".
Having performed this assessment, the employer must reduce the identified risks "to the lowest extent reasonably practicable". The DSE Regulations are likely to apply as the definition of 'user' in Regulation 1 is "an employee who habitually uses display screen equipment as a significant part of his normal work". Guidance to the DSE Regulations helps clarify how often and for how long an employee must be using a visual display unit (a VDU) such as a PC before they become a 'user'. For example, if an employee uses a VDU for continuous or near continuous spells of an hour or more they will be deemed a 'user' for the purposes of the DSE Regulations.
Where one workstation is shared by more than one user, it should be assessed in relation to all those covered by the DSE Regulations.
The most certain way to avoid a breach of the DSE Regulations would be to provide each employee with a separate data PC in addition to their personal PCs and ensure that every workstation is tailored to the exact requirements of the user. Regulation 6 requires employers to provide training to ensure workstations are adjusted to the health and safety needs of each employee, and as long as this requirement is met, then the duty will be discharged.
If this option is not reasonably practicable it is vital to remember that every workstation must comply with the requirements of Schedule 1 and must be assessed in light of the users. This is an absolute duty.
Therefore, the shared workstation should be assessed to ensure it is capable of complying with Schedule 1 and the users should be given specific training on how to adjust the data PCs according to their personal requirements each and every time they use the workstations so that they comply with the requirements in the Schedule.
The revised Guidance to the DSE Regulations sets out a useful VDU workstation checklist at Appendix 5 that can be used in respect of the shared workstation to ensure that it can be adjusted to comply with Schedule 1 for each of the users.
Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH
Associate
Regulatory Unit, Litigation
Osborne Clarke
2 Temple Back East, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EG
DX 7818 Bristol
direct dial: 0117 917 4044
direct fax: 0117 917 4045
mobile: 07730731089
The material contained in this document is provided for general guidance only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice or to have any legal status. Appropriate legal advice should be sought on specific issues. No reliance should be placed or action taken on the contents of this document on its own.
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Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
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A Fire Certificate ("FC") is required for any BUILDING put to a designated use.
The basic position is that the application for a FC should be made by:
· the occupier (tenant) for buildings in single occupation;
· the owner of the building (landlord) where the building is in multi occupancy.
For example, in a three storey building with each floor occupied by a different tenant the owner would be required to apply for a fire certificate (provided the building was put to a designated use and the number occupying the premises at any one time exceeded 20 in aggregate). The FC will usually impose conditions on both the owner and occupier(s) and therefore both can be liable for any contraventions of a requirement imposed on them
In an identical building with just one tenant, the tenant (occupier) is responsible for making the application. The usual position will be that only the occupier will be responsible for complying with the FC?s conditions. The owner is unlikely to have to comply.
Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH
Associate
________________________________
Osborne Clarke
2 Temple Back East
Temple Quay
Bristol BS1 6EG
DX 7818 Bristol
direct dial: + 44 (0) 117 917 4044
direct fax: +44 (0) 117 917 4045
e-mail: kevin.bridges@osborneclarke.com
or contact our web site:
http://www.osborneclarke.com
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Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
Online advisor - 5 posts
The question refers to a refuge, therefore the building is assumed to be multi-story as refuges would not be necessary where horizontal evacuation to a final exit and place of safety was feasible.
Fire Safety legislation requires every employer to undertake a fire risk assessment. HSE guidance ?Fire Safety ? An employers guide? explains the steps required, which include identifying who might be in danger in the event of fire or while trying to escape, and the means of escape. As there is no specific legislation relating to means of escape of disabled people your assessment should consider how many disabled people are likely to be in the building at any one time, based on experience or research, so that you can assess whether the existing means of escape and number of refuges are adequate. If the assessment concludes that the means of escape/refuges are adequate for the numbers reasonably anticipated, the assessment should state this, and make clear the maximum numbers on which the assessment is based.
If the assessment shows deficiencies in the number of refuges (based on anticipated numbers) then more will need to be done, as simply limiting the number of disabled people admitted to the premises may give rise to a potential claim under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) on the grounds that the disabled person has been treated less favourably. The law has since October 1999 required service providers to make reasonable adjustments where it is impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to make use of a service. From October 2004 this duty is extended to cover physical features of premises. Reasonable adjustments should be made unless there is justification in not doing so. It may therefore be necessary to alter the existing refuge or provide additional refuges as well as ensuring a sophisticated and well rehearsed management plan is in place.
Your emergency evacuation plan should cover the specific needs of disabled people and emphasise the action employees should take in the event of fire in respect of these individuals. Ultimately your duty (under fire law) is to ensure that disabled people can leave the premises safely. Therefore, a high level of fire safety management (i.e. employees charged with the responsibility of ensuring disabled people are evacuated to a place of safety) may sometimes justify a reduced level of structural separation or a shortage of refuges.
Ultimately, any decision you take must be derived from an assessment of how many disabled people are likely to be present at any one time balanced against your duties under the DDA.
Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH
Associate
Regulatory Unit, Litigation
Osborne Clarke
2 Temple Back East, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EG
DX 7818 Bristol
direct dial: 0117 917 4044
direct fax: 0117 917 4045
mobile: 07730731089
The material contained in this document is provided for general guidance only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice or to have any legal status. Appropriate legal advice should be sought on specific issues. No reliance should be placed or action taken on the contents of this document on its own.
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Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
Online advisor - 5 posts
The area of fire safety, including means of escape, fire fighting and fire detection are governed by the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997(as amended).
The aim of a fire alarm is to ensure that persons in the workplace are alerted to an outbreak of fire well before it becomes life threatening. The warning system should set in motion a planned evacuation of the premises.
The design of means of escape, and the provision of other fire safety measures such as a fire alarm system, should be based on an assessment of the risk to the occupants should fire occur. The assessment should take into account the nature of the building structure, the use of the building, the processes undertaken and/or materials stored in the building; the potential sources of fire; the potential of fire spread through the building; and the standard of fire safety management proposed.
The factors which have to be considered when assessing what standard of fire alarm is to be provided will vary widely from one set of premises to another. Therefore the appropriate standard will need to be considered on a case by case basis.
Health and Safety Executive guidance provides that in small workplaces the means of raising the alarm may be simple. For instance, where all employees work near to each other, a shouted warning 'Fire!' by the person discovering the fire may be all that is needed.
Where employees are dispersed more widely and it cannot be guaranteed that a shouted warning will be heard, a manually operated sounder (such as a rotary gong or handbell) or simple manual call point, combined with a bell, battery and charger, may be suitable.
In larger or more complex buildings, a suitable electrically operated fire warning system, with manual call points positioned both on exit routes and adjacent to final exits, should be installed. This should have sufficient sounders for the warning to be clearly heard throughout the workplace. The sound used as a fire warning should be distinct from other sounds in the workplace and, where background noise levels are high or employee's may have hearing impairments, it may also be necessary to install a visual alarm such as a distinctive flashing or rotating light to supplement the audible alarms.
All fire alarm systems should comply with BS 5839 (Fire detection and alarm systems for buildings).
Therefore audible alarms ought to be provided in larger buildings.
However, if a risk assessment can justify some alternative means of warning in the event of fire that meets the overriding principle (i.e. to ensure that persons in the workplace are alerted to any outbreak of fire well before it becomes life threatening) such means of warning are likely to be justified.
I would suggest that the entire building be fitted with audible alarms, including the tv studio's. The alarms fitted in the studio should be supplemented with flashing beacons etc, where it is operationally necessary to isolate the audible alarms i.e. during live transmissions. However, they should only be silenced when absolutely necessary and this should be clearly documented in a risk assessment.
Where the risk assessment determines that audible alarms will be silenced on occasions, alternative means of warning should be provided. Employees should receive information and training on the occasions when audible alarms will be isolated and on the alternative means for warning of fire that have been put in place to cover those situations.
If the building is a designated one to which a fire certificate applies then the fire certificate will stipulate the means of warning in the event of fire. Any changes that have been determined following a risk assessment would need to be notified to the local Fire Authority.
Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH
Associate
Regulatory Unit, Litigation
Osborne Clarke
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Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
Online advisor - 5 posts
Fire Safety Legislation and in particular the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (as amended), do not deal specifically with the requirements for fire doors. They are concerned generically with safe means of escape in the event of fire via emergency routes and exits. The legislation is supported by Codes of Practice and there is further guidance to be found in the Building Regulations 2000 and Approved Document B.
What is required in any given instance depends on an assessment of the risks to occupants should a fire occur.
It is necessary to consider both escape route doors and final exits.
Escape route doors:
Doors on escape routes will need to be fire doors if they are protecting an escape route.
· All fire doors are to be fitted with an automatic self-closing device but they are not required for fire doors to cupboards and service ducts, which are normally locked.
Final exits:
Final exits are to be not less in width than the escape routes they serve, and comply with the following:
· Be sited to allow rapid dispersal of people from the building;
· Have direct access to a street, passageway walkway or open space;
· Final exits are to be clearly marked, particularly when the exit from a stair that continues down, or up, from the point of final exit;
· Are to be clear of any risk of fire or smoke in a basement;
· Are to be clear of openings to such things as transformer chambers, refuse chambers, boiler rooms and similar hazards.
As final exit doors will lead to a place of safety and lead from a protected stairway etc, there is no requirement that they should be fire doors as there is no requirement that they provide fire resistance. Such doors would not need to be fitted with self-closing devices. If the fire risk assessment determines that the final exit door does require fire resistance properties then it ought to be fitted with a self-closing device, however this would be unusual.
Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH
Associate
Regulatory Unit, Litigation
Osborne Clarke
2 Temple Back East, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EG
DX 7818 Bristol
direct dial: 0117 917 4044
direct fax: 0117 917 4045
mobile: 07730731089
e-mail: mailto:kevin.bridges@osborneclarke.com
website: http://www.osborneclarke.com/
or http://www.osborneclarke.com/whatwedo/hns.asp for the regulatory unit
Regulated by the Financial Services Authority for investment business
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