Introduction to Fire Safety Management

15.32
The Workplace (Health, Safety 
and Welfare) Regulations 1992 
(SI 3004)
These regulations defi ne a workplace as:
any premises or part of premises which are 
not domestic premises and are made avail-
able to any person as a place of work, and 
includes any place within the premises to 
which such a person has access while at 
work and any room, lobby, corridor, staircase, 
road or other means of access to or egress 
from that place of work.
They apply to all workplaces (including temporary work-
places) with the exception of docks, construction sites, 
mines and quarries.
The regulations place duties on both employers 
and persons who have control of workplaces (with the 
exception of self-employed persons in respect of their 
own work), to comply with the requirements and to ensure 
that the workplace and any equipment, devices and 
systems to which the regulations apply are maintained in 
an effi cient state, in effi cient working order and in good 
repair.
The requirements are summarised below under the 
broad headings of health, safety and welfare.
Note:
These headings are not used within the regula-
tions although they do provide a useful way of summa-
rising the principal requirements.
15.32.1 Health requirements – regulations 6 to 11
➤
Enclosed workplaces should have effective and suit-
able provision for ventilation by a suffi cient quantity 
of fresh or purifi ed air, including a visible or audible 
warning device in the event of failure of the system 
where appropriate for health or safety reasons
➤
The temperature in all workplaces during working 
hours should be reasonable (at least 16ºC), and heat-
ing or cooling methods which result in the escape of 
injurious or offensive fumes, gas or vapour should 
not be used

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