Posted By s.micklewright Hi all, I know this has been partly covered before, but I am unsure as to what the law says. We have fire fighting equipment in place, is it law that persons shall be trained in their use? to what extent would the training be? (leaflets or physical use??) The premises are a low risk environment (office) we have Fire wardens, fire escape policies and procedures that are adhered to and adequate detection, I would not like our staff to tackle any fire, so I say get out and stay out until the pro's have done their job. whats the Law on training here? Thanks Simon

Posted By Heather Aston Simon You know someone's going to say "risk assessment" don't you? So it might as well be me! Seriously with the legislation all changing, no-one will dictate this any more, it has to be on the basis of risk assessment. In my opinion in this type of workplace you should explain to your staff - preferably on induction with the rest of their fire awareness training - what type of extinguishers you have, what to use them for and how they work. Get an extinguisher in the room and show them (wihtout actually setting it off...) Keep it very simple. I would not go for "live fire" training in this environemnt, but really that's up to you (it's good fun if you've got the space and doesn't cost very much) Heather

Posted By Tom Clark As Robin says this is a mixed bag throughout the country with some Fire Authorities saying leave the fire fighting to us. It also makes sense to have certain personnel able to tackle a ‘small’ fire with the appropriate extinguishers otherwise some may have-a-go hero may use the wrong extinguisher and endanger themselves and others. It also makes sense if a PC was to smoulder and catch alight to spend a CO2 on it and save a lot of bother, down time etc and remember if it can’t be put out with one extinguisher – get out. These are only ‘First Aid’ fire fighting equipment. Someone must still dial 999 for a Fire and Rescue response, just in case and to check that the item has been dealt with satisfactorily. I have been involved both in the Fire Service and in large organisations and can speak from experience – train certain personnel and save a lot of problems. If you decide along the no training route then you must get everyone out immediately. Why do we need extinguishers you ask – good question. The Fire Authorities who say get out and leave it to us must agree that we don’t need them. Then a case for having to use one to aid an escape if trapped arises. I could go on forever on the subject – Hose Reels is another one – if the fire is so big that it has to be tackled by a hose reel, then nobody should be in the building – ban their use for fire fighting and use them to wash down etc. The fire service won’t need them, they bring their own hoses because they won't trust them. Hope this helps. Tom

Posted By Tom Clark Heather I like to see the appropriate extinguishers in place for use by trained personnel on minor problems and for escape if needed, so I personally wouldn't like to see them go. Don't know how the insurance companies would react to a small incident burning a building down. Always a good idea to involve them in some decision making. For training inside - a Co2 gets the attention, but ensure an adequate supply of air through the room. Told you I could go on! Tom

Posted By Messy Just for clarification: Hose reels will indeed be used by the fire brigade in the event that insufficent fire crews are available, as a first aid measure, whilst reinforcements are en route. (Many brigades send as little a 4 Firefighters to fire alarm calls which is not enough to deal with any fire in large or high rise buildings which involve laying out hose from the fire engine.) Extinguishers: It is also NOT against procedures to use in house fire extinguishers. London Fire Brigade do not carry any CO2 and many appliances do not carry Dry powder. So in the event of an electrical fire they would rely on the occupier having suitable extinguishers