Your questions answered - September 23

Q: I manage health and safety on a building site, and one of the hardest things is getting people to wear RPE. Also, if they have beards it doesn’t always fit properly. What’s your advice?

First, it’s important to say that under health and safety regulations, like Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), employers should make the prevention and control of exposure to hazardous substances their first priority, before they consider the use of Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE). This means reducing dust and toxic substances at source to a minimum.

Where you do use RPE it must be able to provide adequate protection for the individual wearer. It is also the case that no single type of respirator will pass a face fit test on, or be acceptable to, every worker, and there are different types of RPE. This means it must work for both men and women, as well as BAME people and – as you say – many masks do not function fully if facial hair is present.

The HSE has a useful guide on using RPE: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg53.pdf

The British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) also has useful links to further guidance and information, as part of its Fit2Fit accreditation scheme: https://www.fit2fit.org/resources/

Q: Who is responsible for fire safety in residential and commercial buildings?

Fire safety in commercial buildings is the duty of those in control of the premises, known as the ‘responsible person’. This can be the landlord or building owner, or a separate individual designated as the responsible person.

The responsible person is required to implement and maintain fire safety standards in commercial and residential buildings, including workplaces, Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) and flats.

Under the new Fire Safety Order, these duties have expanded and become more detailed. This includes that:

• Between April and October 2023, all existing buildings have to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), and all new buildings must be registered before occupation. 

• The BSR must be sent a safety case report by the responsible person to show that they have undergone a fire risk assessment and taken all reasonable measures to control these risks.

• The responsible person needs to provide fire safety instructions and information on fire doors for commercial and residential buildings. 

• They must also provide residents with a fire strategy plan, including instructions for reporting a fire and what to do in case of a fire, based on the evacuation strategy for the building.

• For residential and commercial buildings above 11m, the responsible person must now perform annual checks on private or individual entrance doors (which must also now be fire doors) and quarterly checks on all fire doors in the common areas.

• They must also provide fire safety instructions and fire door information to residents.

Q: Do you still need to install an evac chair on all the upper floors of a commercial building?

As mentioned above, the person in charge of the building – be that a business owner, employer, or landlord - is responsible under fire safety regulations for appointing a competent person to carry out a fire safety risk assessment. As part of this, how disabled, elderly, and other vulnerable people will be able to evacuate must be taken into account. This not only covers commercial property, only used by employees, but also public buildings.

An evacuation, or ‘evac’, chair are usually wheeled chairs with strong metal frames and tracks. They are intended for use by anyone who needs help moving in a fire emergency, including disabled or injured people.

How many evac chairs you should install in a building will depend on the size and shape of your building. Getting a chair for every floor may be expensive and unnecessary. But do note, government guidelines for fire and safety say that evac chairs are preferred as they still operate if the building loses power.

Don’t forget to submit YOUR questions to policy@britsafe.org