YOUR FIRE SAFETY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
This advice leaflet has been provided to ensure that you are aware of your legal
responsibilities under The Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
and The Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010.
The legislation requires owners, occupiers and persons responsible for premises to
carry out a Fire Risk Assessment of their premises and to consider the risk from fire
to employees, persons legally in the premises and others who may be affected by
what takes place in the premises. The Risk Assessment must be kept up to date to
ensure that all fire precautions in the premises remain current and adequate.
The legislation applies to most premises (“relevant premises”) other than domestic
premises. This document deals specifically with those premises licensed by Council’s
for the following activities:
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Entertainment
Cinema
Approved Place for Marriage Registration
Approved Place for Civil Partnership Registration
Council Licensing Officers have powers to inspect licensed premises in order to
ascertain how you are complying with your legal responsibilities and, where
necessary, to take enforcement action.
As the appropriate person, it is your duty to ensure the safety of the public,
employees and others who could be affected by the way you run your business.
YOUR APPLICATION – WHAT TO EXPECT
As part of your application, it is now a requirement under the Fire Services Order to
provide a copy of your Fire Risk Assessment. This is required alongside all other
supporting documentation which will be listed in your application pack.
Following receipt of your application, the Licensing Officer will carry out an audit.
During the audit, the Officer will expect to view the following documents, where
applicable, to your premises:
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Fire Risk Assessment
Fire Precautions Log Book
Records of Staff Training and Fire Drills
Records of Testing and Maintenance of Fire Fighting Equipment
(Extinguishers)
Records of Testing and Maintenance of all Fire Safety Systems including Fire
Alarms, Emergency Lighting, Sprinkler System, Smoke Ventilation System
As part of the application process, the Licensing Officer will inspect the fire safety
standards in all or part of the building. The Officer may also wish to talk to members
of staff to confirm their level of fire safety awareness.
ENFORCING THE LAW
Where a breach of fire safety legislation is found, the Licensing Officer will decide
what action to take. The action will depend on the nature of the breach and will be
based on the principles set out in the Council Enforcement Policy.
Officers may take enforcement action in several ways to deal with a breach of the
legislation. This includes the following:
INFORMAL ACTION
Notification of Minor Deficiencies Form
Where the Council is of the opinion that you have failed to comply with any
requirements imposed on you by the Order, the above notification may be served on
you, in writing, by the Licensing Officer. The notification will identify the matters to
address and the steps considered necessary to remedy them.
The Notification of Fire Safety Deficiencies is not an Enforcement Notice. It identifies
deficiencies which are required to be addressed to meet your legal obligations under
the Order and is issued by the Council before any formal enforcement action is
taken.
Action Plan
Where the Council is of the opinion that you have failed to comply with a series of
requirements imposed on you by the Order, consideration may be given to the use of
an Action Plan. This will identify the deficiencies, set out an agreed program of
remedies and prioritise the order of their completion.
The Action Plan is not an Enforcement Notice. It identifies deficiencies which are
required to be addressed to meet your legal obligations under the Order and is
issued by the Council before any formal enforcement action is taken.
As the appropriate person, a reasonable set of timescales will be agreed with you to
complete all the measures referred to in the Action Plan.
FORMAL ACTION
Enforcement Notices
Where the Council is of the opinion that, you have failed to comply with the
requirements placed upon you by the Order, you may be served with an Enforcement
Notice.
Attached to the Notice will be a Schedule specifying the matters that, in the opinion of
the Council, constitute failure(s) to comply with the Order.
The Schedule will also identify the steps that must be taken to remedy the specified
failure(s), to ensure that you comply with the Order.
Unless the steps detailed in the Schedule to the Notice are taken by the specified
date, it will be considered that you have not complied with the Notice and the Council
may consider a prosecution against you. You may, however, apply for an extension
of time.
Prohibition Notice
Where the Licensing Officer considers that the use of the premises involves, or will
involve, a risk to persons on the premises in the event of fire so serious that use of
the premises ought to be prohibited or restricted, then the Council may serve a
Prohibition Notice.
The Notice may prohibit use immediately or after a specified time and not allow it to
be used until remedial action has been taken. The notice will explain why the action
is necessary.
Legal Enforcement
The Council will consider prosecution where, for example, there is failure to comply
with the fire safety duties imposed by the Order and that failure has put one or more
relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire.
In addition, if there has been a failure to comply with any requirement or restriction
imposed by a Notice issued under the Order, then again consideration will be given
to prosecution.
Offences and Related Penalties
Failure to comply with the fire safety duties imposed by this Order, is a criminal
offence. In addition, failure to comply may result in your Licence being refused or
revoked.
Appeals
You have a right to appeal any Notice or decision of the Council and you will be
advised accordingly of the process.
PUBLIC REGISTER
You should be aware that in order to satisfy The Environment and Safety Information
(Northern Ireland) Order 1993, the Council is obliged to enter details of Alteration,
Enforcement and Prohibition Notices into a Register to which the public will have
access to via the NIFRS website. Entries will be kept for a period of three years.
Entries to the Register will be made within 14 days of the expiry of the right of appeal
or the disposal of an appeal against the content of a Notice at County Court. If a
Notice is cancelled on appeal, no entry will be made. Where a Licensing Officer is
satisfied that a Notice has been complied with, or it is withdrawn or amended by the
Council, a further entry will be made in the Register within 7 days to show this.
If it is believed that the entry for this Notice would disclose commercially sensitive
information, you should give written intent to Council within 14 days of service of the
Notice. An attempt will be made to resolve the matter and you will be further advised
of the appeals process concerning this issue.
GUIDANCE
To help you meet your obligations legislation and other guidance documents are
available to download at no charge from www.nifrs.org by following the ‘fire SAFE’
link.
Alternatively you can contact us at the following address for assistance:
Regulatory Services Section
Antrim Borough Council
Antrim Civic Centre
50 Stiles Way
Antrim
BT41 2UB
Tel No: 028 9448 1304
E-Mail: licensing@antrim.gov.uk