Managing Fire Safety
Arguments For Fire
Management
• Moral: ethical and responsible
behaviour
• Financial: costs of injuries and illhealth
• Legal: criminal and civil liability
Fire Terminology
• Primary fires – all fires in buildings,
vehicles and outdoor structures or any fire
involving casualties, rescues or fires
attended by five or more appliances
• Secondary fires – outdoor fires including
grassland, refuse and derelict buildings
• Chimney fires – occupied buildings where
fire confined to chimney
• False alarms – fire service called to fire
and find there is no incident
Cost Of Fire Incidents
• Statistics published by the office of the
Deputy Prime Minister: 2004 Fire Service
Attended:
– 900,000 fire and false alarms
– Fires 442,700
– Dwellings 442,700
– Buildings 97,700
Casualties From Fire
• 2004
– Fire related deaths 508
– Non fatal casualties (inc fire fighters) 14,600
• These figures are down 6% from previous
year.
Cost Of Inadequate Fire Risk
Management
• 2003
– Insured costs £672 million
– Indirect cost £81 million
– UK economy £6.6bn per year
– Fire and Rescue Service £1.7bn
– Average cost of commercial building £58,000
– Average cost domestic building £25,000
– Average cost of vehicle fire £4,700
Case Studies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Primark Warehouse
Buncefield Oil Termina
Bradford
Piper Alpha
Kings Cross
Sainsbury’s
Bhopal
Flixborough
LAW
Rules of human conduct, imposed
upon and enforced among the
members of a given state
CIVIL LAW
• Law concerning private and civil affairs
without direct involvement of the state
• Breaches usually remedied by
compensation
• Costs and damages normally covered
by insurance Employers’ Liability
(Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969
• Burden of proof: on a balance of
probabilities
SOURCE OF CIVIL LAW
• Common Law
Evolution of legal principles over time by
decisions of courts and judges - system
of rules or precedents which bind future
similar cases
Some common law offences are crimes,
(e.g. murder, criminal libel)
Common Law: Negligence
• Negligence is a tort - A Civil wrong.
• Three essential elements of proof on
claimant:
1. Duty is owed
2. A breach of the duty
3. Damage/injury
Employer’s Common Law Duty Of
Care To Employees
•
•
•
•
A safe place of work
Safe appliances and equipment
A safe system of work
Competent and safety conscious
personnel
• A duty of care owed by the occupier of a
building
Vicarious liability
• The principle that the employer is liable
for the torts of their employees, provided
that they are committed during the course
of their employment to a third party.
Breach of Statutory Duty
• A common law action based on statute to
protect employees - usually linked with a
claim in negligence (the double barrelled
approach)
• Claimant will succeed in an action for
negligence if a breach of statute law is
shown to have caused the injury
• Act or Regulations may prohibit right of
action in civil proceedings, e.g. HASWA
1974
Negligence: Defences
•
•
•
•
•
•
No duty owed
No duty breached
Volenti non fit injuria
Contributory negligence
Statute limitation
Injury not as a direct result
The Civil Courts
• The County Court: hears most civil cases
• The High Court: hears complex cases and
those where damages expected to be in
excess of £50000
• Employment Tribunals
Criminal Law
• Addresses public and moral wrong doing
• No absolute definition and may change
over time, e.g. drugs
• Health and safety offences initiated by Fire
Authority / HSE / EHO
• Prescribes punishment: e.g., fines,
imprisonment
• Burden of proof: beyond reasonable doubt
Source of Criminal Law
• Statute Law
• Law created by Parliament - rules of conduct to
be observed by persons to whom statute is
made applicable
• May take form of an enabling Act
• Sometimes enacted to remedy inconsistency in
common law - e.g. Law Reform (Contributory
Negligence) Act 1945
Duties
•
•
•
•
Absolute
Practicable
Reasonably Practicable
Reasonable
Crown
Court
Magistrates
Court
HSE
EHO
CPS
Punishment
of Guilty
Beyond all
Reasonable
Doubt
Statute
Law
Burden
Of Proof
Source
of Law
CRIMINAL
LAW
Instigator
of Action
Remedy
Sought
Civil Law
The
Aggrieved
person
Compensation
For
Injury
Loss
Damage
Caused
Balance of
Probabilities
Small
Claims
Set By
Precedence
County
Court
High
Court
Created by Dave West for HSFB
Common
law