Introduction to Fire Safety Management

3.9.1 Duties of designers
Designers play a key role in construction projects. 
Contractors have to manage risks on the site, but design-
ers can often eliminate or reduce them at source.
Any designer of a structure or part of a structure 
must:
➤
Advise clients of their duties
➤
Take positive account of health and safety hazards 
during design considerations
➤
Apply principles of prevention during the design 
phase to eliminate, reduce or control hazards
➤
Consider measures that will protect all workers 
if either avoidance or reduction to a safe level is 
possible
➤
Make health and safety information available regard-
ing risks which cannot be designed out
➤
Cooperate with the coordinator and any other 
designers involved
➤
Design the building and its mechanical and engin-
eering services to fully comply with:
➤
The functional requirements of the Building 
Regulations which includes the provision of 
adequate fi re safety
When considering undertaking furniture res-
toration in a small section of a multi-occupied 
warehouse the fi re safety impact of introduc-
ing highly combustible materials and highly 
fl ammable chemicals into a warehouse situ-
ation must be assessed.
This assessment will need to draw information from 
a range of sources. Perhaps the most signifi cant sources 
of information relating to the safety of any building 
including the suitability and limitation of its use are:
➤
Operations and maintenance manuals which should 
be provided by those who manage the facilities 
Extract from Dangerous Substances 
and Explosive Atmospheres ACoP:
Certain gases (hydrogen, methane, propane 
etc) are extremely fl 
ammable and come 
within the scope of DSEAR. However the 
gases themselves can also act as asphyxi-
ants, reducing the quantity of oxygen in the 
workplace to the extent that life can be put 
at risk. As a result, they will also satisfy the 
defi nition of a substance hazardous to health 
for the purposes of COSHH. In these circum-
stances, employers will have duties to control 
the risks from those substances under both 
sets of regulations.

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