Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (The Order) came into effect in October 2006 and replaced over 70 pieces of fire safety law.  The Order applies to all non-domestic premises in England and Wales, including the common parts of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), as well as places of worship, schools, charity organisations and public buildings etc.

Fire Certificates no longer have any legal status.

The Order places responsibility for fire safety with the Responsible Person for the premises. Under the Order, the Responsible Person is required to carry out a fire risk assessment and put in place appropriate fire safety measures to manage the risk, based on the specific circumstances of their premises.

All of the guidance documents relating to Protection (Fire Safety) in all types of premises, other than single private dwellings, can be viewed on the GOV.UK web site.

The Order is enforced by periodic inspections (audits), carried out by officers of Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, the enforcing authority for the county of Suffolk. The Service follows a risk based inspection programme; this means that a premises risk is assessed by building and occupancy type, along with other significant factors.

Information about fire safety in locations other than the workplace can be found within the Prevention (Community Fire Safety) pages on this web site.

Contact details

By using online transactions you are helping us to save money which we can use to provide other services. You can view a full list of all the transactions on our website here. If you need further assistance with the topics discussed on this page, please use the following numbers to contact us.

Email: fire.admin@suffolk.gov.uk
Telephone: 01473 260588, 0900-1700 (Mon-Thurs), 0900-1600 (Fri)

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