Fire Safety Regulations Guide

Emergency Plans

You need to have an emergency plan for dealing with any fire situation.

The purpose of an emergency plan is to ensure that the people in your premises know what to do if there is a fire and that the premises can be safely evacuated.

If you or your organisation employ five or more people, or your premises are licensed or an alterations notice requiring it is in force, then details of your emergency plan must be recorded. Even if it is not required, it is good practice to keep a record.

Your emergency plan should be based on the outcome of your fire risk assessment and be available for your employees, their representatives (where appointed) and the enforcing authority.

In small offices and shops the emergency plan may be no more than a fire action notice.

In multi-occupied, larger and more complex offices and shops, the emergency plan will need to be more detailed and compiled only after consultation with other occupiers and other responsible people, e.g. owners, who have control over the building. In most cases this means that a single emergency plan covering the whole building will be necessary. It will help if you can agree on one person to co-ordinate this task.

Checklist

• Do you have an emergency plan and, where necessary, have you recorded the details?
• Does your plan take account of other emergency plans applicable in the building?
• Is the plan readily available for staff to read?
• Is the emergency plan available to the enforcing authority?