Introduction to Fire Safety Management

3.2.10 Fire incident controller
The role of fi re incident controller is given to a person 
who will be responsible for the proactive and reactive 
roles of the fi re wardens/marshals and alarm verifi er. In 
addition they are the person responsible for coordinat-
ing any emergency evacuation including liaison with the 
fi re and other emergency services.
Further details relating to the above fi re specifi c 
roles will be included later in the book (Chapter 10).
3.2.11 Employees and self-employed persons
The safety role and responsibilities of individual employ-
ees will vary depending upon the size and nature of the 
organisation and the job description of the individual. 
For example, some employees will hold designated 
roles, e.g. fi re wardens whose duties will include the pro-
active monitoring of certain fi re risk control measures; 
some employees may hold designated roles relating to 
the purchase of plant or equipment that satisfi es certain 
statutory requirements; some individuals, as discussed 
above, may be directors or managers of companies.
Irrespective of the specifi c job role of any individual 
employee, the law imposes certain statutory duties on 
them as employees. Table 3.1 summarises those individ-
ual duties. It will be remembered that in addition to these 
duties, senior managers and directors are liable to be 
prosecuted as well as the body corporate.
In recent years in the UK there continues to be a 
growth in self-employed persons. These range across 
all industry sectors from home-based and peripatetic 
business consultants and advisers to the more traditional 
workforce of the construction or vehicle maintenance 
industries.
It is generally the case that the bureaucratic burden 
on such people is considered overwhelming. For a self-
employed person business continuity and cash fl ow are 
often priorities which leave little resources for research-
ing and implementing well-founded safety practices.
In the higher risk industries, for example, such as 
construction, the self-employed, although working as 
individuals, represent a signifi cant risk to others who 
may be affected by their work activities. Signifi cant 
statutory control of the risks associated with the self-
employed is imposed by, among other legislation, the 
HSWA and CDM.
THE RRFSO does not specifi cally place duties upon 
self-employed persons, in so far as the signifi cant duty 
holder is the responsible person although it may be the 
case that the responsible person is, incidentally, self-
employed for the purposes of the management of fi re.
The health and safety duties imposed directly on the 
self-employed are limited and contained primarily within 
the HSWA and the MHSW Regulations.
Figure 3.4
The reactive role of a fi re warden during 
evacuation

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