Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Inspection and maintenance
All work equipment must also be adequately and suit-
ably maintained in an effi cient state to prevent break-
down and/or risks of fi re, health or safety. A programme 
of planned preventive maintenance (PPM) must be 
implemented to ensure that work equipment is kept in 
effi cient working order and in good repair and the fi re 
risks are reduced to a reasonable level. The frequency of 
maintenance should be determined by:
➤
The frequency of usage
➤
The environment in which the equipment is used
➤
The variety of operations the equipment is used for
➤
The criticality of failure.
If a logbook is provided with the equipment, it should 
be kept up to date and available. Where a logbook is 
not provided with the equipment, the employer does 
not need to provide one although they should develop 
a system for recording maintenance work that has been 
carried out.
Where work equipment involves a specifi c risk (e.g. 
risk of fi re) the employer should restrict the use and 
maintenance of the equipment to those given the task 
to use it. An example of which would be an electrician 
using electrical testing equipment.
In all cases the inspection and testing must be 
carried out by suitably qualifi ed and competent staff. It 
is therefore important that prior to providing any piece 
of work equipment an employer or responsible person 
must consider, plan and take account of the detailed 
arrangements for the safety inspection and planned 
preventive maintenance of any such equipment.
Information, instruction and training
In order to reduce the risks associated with work equip-
ment, all persons, including operatives, supervisors, 
service engineers and cleaners, must be provided with 
adequate information and instruction covering the safe 
use of the work equipment.
The exact level and nature of the information, 
instruction and training provided by an employer will 
obviously be dependent upon the complexity of the 
equipment and the magnitude of the associated risks. 
There are various ways in which the training can be 
delivered, for example:
➤
From the manufacturer/supplier – suppliers or manu-
facturers of work equipment should in all cases pro-
vide some basic safety information as required by 
section 6 of HSWA. In addition they may also provide 
specialist training either on or off site for more com-
plex equipment or tasks, e.g. the servicing of pres-
sure vessels
➤
From the user – it is sometimes the case that larger 
companies will have a training department that will 
ensure that professional and competent trainers 
provide initial and routine information, instruction 
and training to all those who use work equipment
➤
On the job – often training relating to equipment will 
be given on the shop fl oor as part of the supervisory 
process. This may take the form of a competent 
operative talking through the job and directly super-
vising the actions of those receiving the instruction 
and training.
If a piece of work equipment that is not 
intrinsically safe (i.e. spark proof) is installed 
within a potentially fl ammable or explosive 
atmosphere it could cause a fi re or explosion.
In relation to fi 
re safety it is particularly 
important to ensure that moving parts of 
machinery are subject to planned prevent-
ive maintenance to prevent the equipment 
being a source of ignition.
If a rotating or moving part is not suitably 
lubricated in line the manufacturers’ guid-
ance the machine may be liable to dry out 
(running dry) causing excessive friction. This, 
in turn, creates a source of heat.
This source of heat, if added to the poten-
tial for it to come into contact with contami-
nated lubricant, can increase the potential 
for a fi re, as was the case at Kings Cross 
Underground station where a serious fi re 
started in the escalator.

---