Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Combating the risks at source
– this means taking 
steps to reduce the risks at source such as protect-
ing the external metal fi re escape staircase from the 
vagaries of the weather rather than putting up warning 
signage e.g. slippery when wet.
Figure 6.1
Practical fi re evacuation exercises are an 
essential way of providing information.

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General principles of control
103
Consultation and the arrangements for gathering 
information from workers and their representatives are 
particularly important if adaptation to the individual is 
to be addressed as part of the principles of control to 
prevent human error.
6.3
The hierarchy of risk control 
measures
The principles of control outlined above provide a basis 
from which to consider the adequacy of existing control 
measures, both those already in place and those that 
are likely to be required. The principles themselves do 
not provide a hierarchy from which to assist confi rma-
tion that the risks have been reduced so far as is reason-
ably practicable, neither do they establish a hierarchy of 
which control or series of controls to use.
The following is a summary of the preferred hierarchy 
of risk control principles as outlined in the HSE publica-
tion HSG65 as they relate to general health and safety.
Eliminate risk
by substituting the dangerous for the 
less dangerous, e.g.:
➤
Use less hazardous substances
➤
Substitute a type of machine that has a better 
guarding system to make the same product
➤
Avoid the use of certain processes entirely perhaps 
by contracting out.
Combat risks
at source by engineering controls and 
giving collective protective measures priority, e.g.:
➤
Separate the operator from the risk of exposure to a 
hazardous substance by fully enclosing the process
➤
Protect the dangerous parts of a machine by 
guarding
➤
Design process machinery and work activities to 
minimise the release, or to suppress or contain, air-
borne hazards (LEV)
➤
Design machinery to be operated remotely and to 
which materials are fed automatically, thus separat-
ing the operator from danger areas such as moving 
blades, etc.
Minimise risk
by:
➤
Designing suitable systems of working
➤
Using personal protective clothing and equipment; 
this should only be used as a last resort.
HSG65’s hierarchy refl ects that risk elimination and the 
use of physical engineering controls and safeguards to 
control risk can be more reliably managed rather than 
those that rely solely on people, particularly when they 
are prone to error.
The hierarchy shown above relates to the manage-
ment of occupational safety and health issues, the hier -
archy is very often extended slightly following a very 
similar layout enabling the effective management of both 
the primary and secondary fi re hazards to be considered.
The hierarchy is shown below: