Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Fire safety foundations
11
Health and safety arrangements
Employers are required to make, give effect to and 
in certain cases record appropriate health and safety 
arrangements. These arrangements should cover plan-
ning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of 
preventive and protective measures.
Health surveillance
It is a requirement of the regulations that employers 
ensure that, where appropriate, adequate health surveil-
lance is provided for employees at risk of exposure to 
substances and activities that have the potential to cause 
ill health.
Health and safety assistance
Employers are required to appoint one or more competent 
persons to assist them to comply with their obligations 
under safety legislation. Should more than one person 
be appointed, there must be adequate arrangements for 
ensuring cooperation between them. Preference should 
be given to appoint ‘in company’ where competent 
persons are available.
Procedures for serious and imminent danger
Employers must establish and implement procedures to 
be followed in the event of serious and imminent dan-
ger to persons working in their respective undertak-
ings. Common procedures are likely to be established 
for fi re, bomb and environmental release. More specifi c 
procedures will also be required for danger areas such 
as exposure to asbestos, or rescues from confi ned 
spaces or from activated fall arrest devices (harnesses).
Contacts with external services
In further support of the arrangements for serious and 
imminent danger employers are required to ensure 
that any necessary contacts with external services are 
arranged, particularly as regards fi rst aid, emergency 
medical care and rescue work.
Information for employees
Employers are duty bound to provide information to their 
employees on, for example, the arrangements for emer-
gencies, competent persons and the risks to their health 
and safety identifi ed by assessments. Information should 
also be provided on the preventive and protective meas-
ures required to prevent harm occurring. Where a child 
is employed (under school leaving age) by an employer, 
such information that would normally be provided to 
an employee will also be required to be provided to a 
parent.
Cooperation and coordination
Every employer and self-employed person who shares 
a workplace with any other employer or self-employed 
person is required to cooperate with that other person 
so far as is necessary to enable him to comply with his 
statutory safety obligations.
In addition there is also a requirement to coordinate 
the measures taken in compliance with statutory health 
and safety obligations with measures by other persons 
and to provide those other persons with specifi ed health 
and safety information particularly in relation to the 
fi ndings of risk assessments.