Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

PART 1 General
17.16.2 Interpretation – Articles 1–7
Here are a few of the more important defi nitions from 
the articles. For a full list consult the Order directly.
17.16 
Regulatory Reform (Fir
e Safety) Or
der 2005

---

Introduction to Health and Safety at Work
352
a) ‘Premises’ includes any place and, in particular, 
includes:
➤
Any 
workplace
➤
Any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or hovercraft
➤
Any installation on land (including the foreshore and 
other land intermittently covered by water), and any 
other installation (whether fl oating, or resting on the 
seabed or the subsoil thereof, or resting on other 
land covered with water or the subsoil thereof)
➤
Any tent or movable structure.
b) ‘Risk’ means the risks to the safety of persons from 
fi re. ‘Safety’ means the safety of persons in the event 
of fi re. ‘Workplace’ means any premises or parts of 
premises, not being domestic premises, used for the 
purposes of an employer’s undertaking and which are 
made available to an employee of the employer as a 
place of work and includes:
➤
Any place within the premises to which such 
employee has access while at work, and
➤
Any room, lobby, corridor, staircase, road, or other 
place:
➤
Used as a means of access to or egress from 
that place of work, or
➤
Where facilities are provided for use in connection 
with that place of work, other than a public road.
c) ‘Responsible Person’ means:
➤
In relation to a workplace, the employer, if the work-
place is to any extent under their control
➤
In relation to any premise not falling within para-
graph (a):
➤
The person who has control of the premises (as 
occupier or otherwise) in connection with the 
carrying on by them of a trade, business or other 
undertaking (for profi t or not), or
➤
The owner, where the person in control of the 
premises does not have control in connection 
with the carrying on by that person of a trade, 
business or other undertaking.
d) ‘General fi re precautions’ in relation to premises means:
➤
measures to reduce the risk of fi re and the risk of 
the spread of fi re
➤
the means of escape from the premises
➤
measures for securing that, at all material times, the 
means of escape can be safely and effectively used
➤
measures in relation to fi ghting fi res
➤
the means for detecting fi res and giving warning in 
case of fi re
➤
action to be taken in the event of fi re, including
➤
instruction and training of employees
➤
measures to mitigate the effects of the fi re.
These issues do not cover process related fi re risks 
including:
➤
the use of plant or machinery, or
➤
the use or storage of any dangerous substance.
Duties are placed on responsible persons in a workplace 
and in premises which are not work-places to the extent 
that they have control over the premises.
The order does not apply (Article 8) to:
➤
domestic 
premises
➤
an offshore installation
➤
a ship, in respect of the normal ship-board activities 
of a ship’s crew which are carried out solely by the 
crew under the direction of the master
➤
fi elds, woods or other land forming part of an agricul-
tural or forestry undertaking but which is not inside a 
building and is situated away from the undertaking’s 
main buildings
➤
an aircraft, locomotive or rolling stock, trailer or semi-
trailer used as a means of transport or a vehicle
➤
a mine other than any building on the surface at a 
mine
➤
a borehole site.
In addition certain provisions of the Order do not apply 
to groups of workers such as:
➤
occasional work which is not harmful to young 
people in a family undertaking
➤
armed 
forces
➤
members of police forces
➤
emergency 
services