Fire Warden | Duties, Responsibilities, Roles & Designation

Table of Contents

It is a known fact that fires pose a serious threat to businesses in terms of damaged property, injuries and, in serious cases, fatalities.

They are mainly caused due to negligence and are easily preventable if the right fire safety measures are taken by those responsible.

Regardless of the position you hold in an organisation, you must be well acquainted with the proper safety plans and policies to minimise the risk and be prepared in the event of an emergency.

According to the UK fire safety regulations, you are responsible for fire safety in your workplace if you are the owner, employer, landlord, occupier, or anyone in a controlling position such as the building manager or risk assessor.

As the responsible person, your duties include carrying out a fire risk assessment and reviewing it regularly, informing staff members and employees about the risks identified, putting in place and maintaining appropriate fire safety measures, planning for emergencies, and providing the occupants of the building with adequate fire safety instructions and training.

A big part of these duties includes appointing a fire warden who plays a key role in fire emergencies and undertakes both preventative and reactive duties.

Read on to find out the duties and responsibilities of fire wardens and the legal requirements that all commercial property owners must adhere to:

FIRE WARDEN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Fire wardens are individuals who have undergone proper training to take the necessary steps to prevent fires from erupting and are an integral part of any organisation.

They also play a crucial role in case a fire breaks out by trying to minimise the damage and assist other people with safe evacuation.

While the responsibility for implementing safety measures such as fire alarms and fire-fighting equipment lies with the responsible person, the fire warden must make sure the arrangements are in place.

Fire wardens, sometimes also referred to as fire marshals, undertake set duties that are both preventative and reactive. Let’s look at both in detail:

PREVENTATIVE DUTIES

A fire warden’s duties may vary depending on the size of the building, the nature of its contents, and the number of occupants. Their day-to-day activities to prevent fires from erupting include:

General housekeeping practices including proper storage of flammable materials and ensuring that waste disposal is properly handled.
Ensuring that all fire exits and evacuation routes remain available at all times and removing any obstructions.
Checking the fire exit signs regularly and fire doors every week to ensure that they are not blocked from the outside.
Checking fire-fighting equipment such as fire extinguishers to ensure they are clearly signed and in the right place, positioned above floor level.
Ensuring that all manual call points are visible and clearly indicated by a sign and an emergency fire action notice.
Ensuring that the emergency lighting is functional by checking it once every month.
Ensuring electrical safety checks and PAT testing.
Testing and regularly maintaining the smoke and fire alarms.
Carrying out annual fire drills and training the occupants on the best practices during a fire emergency.
Maintaining records of all fire safety activities including maintenance checks, fire drills, and any faults in the system as well as the action taken to fix them.

REACTIVE DUTIES

While the principal role of a fire warden is to prevent fires from breaking out, they are also equipped to deal with situations should one occur. In which case, the fire warden’s set of reactive duties include:

Guiding others in the instance of a fire hazard and being the one who responds to it by taking the necessary steps to minimise the risk.
Raising the alarm through a manual call point and calling the emergency services without wasting any time.
Directing the occupants towards the nearest and safest route and assisting people who need help such as children and those with disabilities.
Checking all areas, including the rooms, toilets, and any isolated areas, to ensure no one is left behind and everyone is accounted for.
Taking roll calls at assembly points and preventing anyone from returning inside.
Taking action to minimise the spread of fire by using fire extinguishers or other fire-fighting equipment, so long as it is safe to do so and still be able to evacuate safely.
Reporting to the fire service personnel when they arrive.

FIRE WARDENS – LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

According to UK legislation, every business must appoint fire wardens, the number for which are dependent on several factors.

As a general rule of thumb, a fire warden should be able to conduct a proper check of the entire place and reach a place of safety within 2.5 minutes of hearing a fire alarm.

Based on these numbers, if your building is large and spread over different floors, you may need more than one fire warden to cover the entirety of the area.

In addition to the size of the premises, the number of staff, and the nature of the business, you must consider the following before deciding how many fire wardens your business needs:

The number of high-risk occupants, such as the young, elderly, and disabled,
Shift workers so that fire wardens are always on-site whenever there are people present,
Absences and sick leaves so that an alternative warden can be arranged, and
The number of flammable materials present on the site.

Once the fire wardens are appointed, they must be properly trained to competently carry out all the duties and fulfil their responsibilities.

In addition to trained fire wardens, every individual in the building must know what to do in the event of a fire. Find out more about your responsibilities as defined in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005.

REGULATORY REFORM (FIRE SAFETY) ORDER (RRO) 2005

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is a comprehensive order that replaces all previous fire safety legislation.

It is a guide that outlines those who are responsible for fire safety and the safety measures to put in place for minimising the risks of fires.

Under the legislation, the responsible person is given the duty to appoint fire wardens and take steps to prevent and reduce the impact of fires in the workplace.

As a responsible person, you must undertake a thorough risk assessment of your premises which includes the following steps:

Identifying all the potential hazards and checking all areas of the building where a potential fire could start. This includes checking the sources of fuel and ignition, and the building’s heating and electrical installations.
Identifying the people at risk including all the employees, staff members, customers, and visitors. Some may be more susceptible to fires than others due to the nature of their work, such as those working in commercial kitchens or with flammable materials.
Evaluating the extent of the risk and taking preventive measures to reduce them.
Recording all the major findings and coming up with an action plan that must include fire drills and emergency evacuation plans.
Reviewing the findings and updating them as necessary.

The purpose of a fire risk assessment is to understand a property’s unique fire safety requirements and take the necessary steps to counteract the issue.

It includes training occupants, staff members, and employees, conducting fire drills and making evacuation plans, and installing and maintaining fire safety equipment such as portable multi-purpose fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, fire hose reels, emergency lighting, and fire alarm systems.

Expanding on the RRO, the British Standard: BS 5839 recommends that you must have your premises, facilities, and equipment, including your fire alarms, installed and regularly maintained by a competent person at least twice a year.

The inability to comply with the RRO and the British Standards for fire safety may land the business owner/responsible person in trouble with heavy fines and prosecutions.

FIRE SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Further discussing the duties and responsibilities of fire wardens, they must make sure that the building is equipped with adequate fire safety equipment, depending on the level of risk.

It is not a legal requirement for every business to have a fire alarm system in place. You are only required to have one if the building is large, stores high-risk substances such as chemicals, and undertakes high-risk activities such as cooking.

Every business, however, is required by law to have an appropriate fire detection system that can easily detect the threat and warn the people in and around the premises.

Some of the most common fire safety equipment includes:

Portable multi-purpose fire extinguishers,
Sprinkler systems,
Fire hose reels,
Fire alarm systems, and
Emergency lighting.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS

According to the UK fire alarm regulations, someone competent and reliable must be chosen to install a fire alarm at your premises.

They must understand the various types of fire alarm systems and be familiar with all the different models, identify which grade and category of the system are required, and have good knowledge of the British Standard BS 5839.

All fire alarms work on the same principle: a smoke or heat detector detecting the presence of a fire and sounding an alarm, or someone manually operating a call point (break glass unit) to sound the alarm and warn others in the building.

The systems may also incorporate signalling equipment that sends an instant alert to the fire rescue services via a monitoring centre.

The placement of the sensors plays a pivotal role in how effective the system will be since they are what detect the presence of a fire.

As is obvious, there is a no “one size fits all” approach when it comes to installing sensors and detectors in commercial buildings.

Individual buildings have specific needs and require careful planning, designing, and a thorough risk assessment to choose the best type of detectors and the ideal places to install them.

Ideally, they must be installed on the ceilings all across the building to provide full coverage and, depending on the size of each area, more than one detector may be required.

They must be placed on each storey and in every room, taking into account the architectural design and layout of the building to provide maximum protection and to ensure that all the occupants can be warned of the threat ASAP.

The detectors or manual call points are connected to a fire alarm system that sounds an audible and sometimes visual alarm to alert the occupants of the building.

Fire alarm system come in two different types: conventional fire alarms and addressable fire alarms.

Conventional fire alarms are more suited to smaller businesses, such as individual offices, because instead of identifying which device has been activated on the system during a trigger, they identify the floor or the zone that the device is linked to.

They are not very precise since the zones do not give the exact location of the fire. If a business has four floors, and each floor is a different zone, a conventional fire alarm would help identify the floor that the fire erupted in, but not where exactly on the floor the threat is.

Addressable fire alarms systems are much more complex and best suited to businesses spanning across a large area due to their ability to pinpoint the exact activated device during a trigger instead of just identifying the zone.

Each device on the system has an address or location, and each device is monitored from a central location. This makes them the perfect choice for businesses that are at a higher risk of fires, such as restaurants.

FIRE ALARM MAINTENANCE

Fire alarm maintenance is just as important as the proper installation of the system and must be undertaken with responsibility since a faulty fire alarm can result in false alarms or, in a worst-case scenario, prevent it from triggering at all in the event of a fire.

The efficiency of a fire alarm system isn’t just a legal requirement but could also be a matter of life and death, which is why it is very important to take the appropriate safety measures.

Two types of maintenance checks are carried out in a commercial building. One is undertaken by the users of the system, including the fire wardens, and are carried out weekly or monthly depending on the type of tests being carried out.

The second type of test is carried out by a competent person, such as a trained engineer, and is done a minimum of two times each year.

The weekly tests carried out by the user aim to ensure that all the devices and components of the fire alarm system are working effectively, that there is no issue with the signals being received by the control panel, and every person in the building can hear the alarm.

Monthly tests by the users include checking the backup power systems such as the batteries and generators to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

The results of both the tests, including the location of each device being tested, are recorded into a system logbook and any faults are reported and rectified immediately.

During a professional maintenance check, a trained engineer follows a fire alarm maintenance checklist and inspects the logbook for all reported incidents, carries out a visual inspection of the building and the system for any obvious signs of damage and deterioration, and conducts a thorough inspection of all the devices and components.

CONTACT CALDER SECURITY

At Calder Security, we offer you a comprehensive solution for all your fire safety needs and guarantee the best service in all of Yorkshire and beyond.

Our professional services include commercial fire alarm installation, maintenance, monitoring, and repair.

We understand that every commercial building is different and the specification of the system depends on several factors including the type and size of the building, the nature of the business, and the number of employees and staff.

We can help you cut through all that and advise you on the best fire detection system for your building that complies with British Standards, HSE, Building Regulations, and Fire Officer Guidelines, in addition to meeting the requirements of business insurance.

We understand fire regulations and provide professional maintenance checks and reminders for when the checks are due to help you stay compliant with the law.

We also offer maintenance contracts that ensure the system will be looked after and all its servicing needs will be taken care of, leaving you, the owner and user, carefree and at ease.

We offer various levels of monitoring via a 24-hour monitoring centre using Dualcom and BT Redcare signalling, which is the most secure alarm monitoring system and the largest supplier of intelligent alarm signalling services in the UK.

Our engineers are highly skilled and can restore your system to full working order in one visit. We offer a 24-hour call-out service for customers and can also repair fire alarms not installed by us thanks to our extensive knowledge and experience.

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Fire Warden – duties and responsibilities