How many fire marshalls?

[Guest DebbiCar]

Hi

We have our offices in a 3 storey building. We have 5 employees across our 2 adjacent offices. Should we appoint fire marshalls for such a small amount of people, especially as they work part time? Also, how often should the property management company do a fire drill & test the alarms?

Thank for your help
Debbi

[Tom Sutton]

The decision how many competent persons (fire marshals) would be required to evacuate the premises quickly and safely belongs to the Responsible Person as defined by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 however I cannot see why he/she would require any with 5 persons who are suitable trained.

[Guest NaomiG]

Good Afternoon,

I am trying to find some advice as to whether fire wardens need to be trained by a certified person. Or can we train staff in house on how to tackle a fire, evacuation, extinguishers etc?

Many Thanks
Naomi

[Tom Sutton]

No reason why not providing the instructor giving the training knows what he/she is talking about. It would be a good idea for the instructor to attend an official training course/courses to qualify as a fire warden before imparting their knowledge.

[Guest Marina]

Many thanks

Another thing - can a back up (to cover holidays etc.) for fire marshal be someone who only had fire safety training but not fire warden training?
Also, in the new office they will be sharing it with other company who already have fire warden. Would that be enough for that fire warden to cover everyone *would be about 30 people in total).
About 10 of our staff members will be soon moving to different premises. Unfortunately our fire marshal stays at the old premises. Do we need a fire marshal for the new premises for just 10 people if they all had fire safety training?

Hi,

[Tom Sutton]

The Responsible Person (RP), in your case the employer, has to have, if necessary, competent persons to assist him/her to carry out their fire safety duties, which includes evacuating the premises in the event of a fire. These people sometimes are called fire marshals (FM) and to be competent need to be trained, also the FM's could train their own deputies making them competent.

When there are more than one RP they must co-operate and coordinate so it will depend on the evacuation plan how many fire marshals are required and you could decide between you, how many is needed, if only one fire marshal is required, who provides the FM and the other could provide the deputy. 

The need for competent persons depends on, if the premises are complicated, its size and the fire safety procedures that need to be implemented.