Part 3 of the Fire ( Scotland) Act 2005 as amended and the supporting Fire Safety ( Scotland) Regulations 2006 which came into force on 1st October 2006, now form the primary fire safety legislation for Scotland. As a result of this legislative change, fire certificates which were previously issued under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 as amended, which covered certain healthcare premises or parts thereof, ceased to have any statutory effect as of 1st October 2006.

The Scottish Government has published general guidance to support the new legislative framework at http://www.infoscotland.com/firelaw/ and also sector-specific guidance including a Healthcare Premises Guide. The guidance in the healthcare premises document is applicable to general fire safety in healthcare premises, primarily hospitals and treatment centres (premises where invasive and other procedures are undertaken, placing a reliance on staff for evacuation) and is complimentary to NHSScotland Firecode which provides technical benchmarks.

The Healthcare Premises Guide excludes small medical practitioner and dental practice premises only if treatments are unlikely to affect the ability of patients to respond to an alarm of fire. For further information on these types of premises refer to the practical fire safety guidance contained within the Offices, Shops and Similar Premises Guide.

Parts of premises may be substantially put to a functional use which falls within the scope of another fire safety guide. Where there is multiple functional use within premises, it may be appropriate to check whether there is a specific fire safety guide which is more appropriate for that area.

Legal Duty
The legal duty which is imposed by the legislation seeks to achieve safety in the event of fire and can be considered in terms of seven general requirements:

• Carrying out a fire safety risk assessment of the premises;
• Identifying the fire safety measures necessary as a result of the fire safety risk assessment outcome;
• Implementing these fire safety measures using risk reduction principles;
• Putting in place fire safety arrangements for the ongoing control and review of the fire safety measures;
• Complying additionally with the specific requirements of the fire safety regulations;
• Keeping the fire safety risk assessment and outcome under review; and
• Record keeping.

Who Must Comply With These Duties?
The responsibility for complying with these fire safety duties sits with the employer and other persons who have control of the premises to any extent, such as managers. Contractors and volunteers working on site may also have some responsibilities. Employers are required to ensure the safety of employees so far as is reasonably practicable.

Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997
NHS MEL(1997)79 gave notice of the requirements of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 which came into force on 1 st December 1997. These Regulations ceased to have statutory effect as of 1 st October 2006. As a result, any fire safety risk assessments carried out in pursuit of compliance with these regulations will require to be reviewed under the terms of the new fire safety legislation

Further information on the new Fire Safety Legislation for Scotland including supporting guidance can be found on the Firelaw website.
http://www.infoscotland.com/firelaw/

Further information on NHSS Firecode can be obtained from Health Facilities Scotland, 4th Floor, Empire House, 131 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2RX.
Tel: 0141-332-3455 Fax: 0141-332-0703
 Email
Web: http://www.hfs.scot.nhs.uk/