Fire Safety & Coronavirus

With the current situation in the UK regarding Coronavirus, thought should be given to your premises fire safety measures. 

Under the fire safety regulations, it is the role of the Responsible Person / Duty Holder to ensure they fulfil their fire safety obligations. Unless the Government postpones fire safety measures (Which is highly unlikely) or enforces a lockdown where everyone has to remain at home you should not cancel any fire related maintenance or works.

Any cancellations could lead to systems or equipment not working correctly, which could have devastating effects on your business and people if a fire breaks out in the premises. Insurances could also be invalid should systems or equipment fail to operate or maintenance goes over the recommendations as set out in British Standards for various disciplines.

There are many ways in which your fire protection provider can work with you to minimise contact with any staff who are still working in the premises which we have detailed below.

Any cancellations could lead to systems or equipment not working correctly, which could have devastating effects on your business and people if a fire breaks out in the premises 

Your fire protection provider must firstly ensure that anyone visiting your premises is not infected with the virus and reports good health. They should also ensure their staff have a means of cleaning their hands regularly during their visit.

• If you have staff, who are working from home it may be a good time to get any planned works completed due to largely empty premises. This minimises contact with large amounts of people.
• If you have large amounts of staff within the workplace consider asking your provider to carry out any maintenance or works during hours when there are no staff on site. Most businesses could carry out works during the evening or at weekends.
• If your premises has a relatively small amount of fire extinguishers you could ask your provider to carry out the maintenance outside. The only thing the provider would have to do is make a note on the certificate that they could not enter the building to ensure brackets; Signs and coverage have been checked.
• Technicians can sign any documents on your behalf providing you email the business to say that you are happy with the decision. These measures stop contact with the Technician.
• Any works involving dry riser systems and / or fire hydrants traditionally have minimal or no contact with anyone for the duration of the testing. We would strongly advise that these works are never cancelled as they are used by the fire brigade in the event of a large fire.

If we can be of any assistance to your business in these difficult times please contact us. We will do everything possible to assist you with your fire safety and ensuring you stay compliant with the fire safety regulations.