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Posted By T. Fowler
The organisation for which I am responsible operates on NHS Trust premises throughout the North of England. I keep being told by our staff that fire training is 'mandatory' and although this is usually on an annual basis their is the odd Trust that is talking about 6 monthly seminars.
Can I please check with members that my thinking is right on this one. As I understand it the frequency and content of training and information in fire precautions is arrived at by fire risk assessment and there is no legal stipulation, other than it be adequate. It may be that the Department of Health or Trusts themselves define a 'mandatory' period for refresher training and we'll obviously have to co-operate with them but, in terms of the legalities, is my thinking right?
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Posted By Martin R. Bessant
Dear Mr. Fowler,
Most NHS Trusts will require contractors to comply with their fire prevention procedures.
In the Trust I worked for until September, the requirement was for ALL Staff to attend an annual Fire prevention training session plus a requirement for night staff to have two sessions. The annual we could comply with, but had difficulties getting night staff to lectures etc. We were using an excellent training consultant to provide our sessions but still had difficulties with compliance.
The NHS now has to comply with a Dept. of Health Controls Assurance Standard on Fire Prevention and this requires adequate trained staff as well as the usual physical requirements.
Good Luck and hope this helps.
Martin Bessant
Ex - Chair Healthcare Specialist Group.
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Posted By shaun mckeever
Martin, there are organisations operating around Haringey and the SE who will provide training at night for night-time workers to help organisations to meet their obligations in respect of fire training.
As for the original enquiry, you are right in that there is no legal requirement to have training once every six months or twice a year unless a fire certificate has been issued and it is part of the conditions of the certificate. Having said that I believe that a 1 hour training session twice a year shouldn't place too much of a burden on business. A risk ssessment could of course indicate that training is required more frequently.
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Posted By James Dickerson
Martin, Get hold of a copy of Health Techical Memorandum 83 - Fire Safety Proceedures in Healthcare Premises - General Fire Precautions and HTM Policy and Procedures Section 3.(your fire officer should have them) The htm prescribes that fire training should be given to all new employees on induction and again within 12 months and thereafter annually and recommends training should be at least one hour in duration. Jim
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