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Posted By Adrian Clifton
I am unsure which way to go with this. Having read the Regs (The short guide. Not yet read the full versions) I am aware of the need for Responsible Person(s). As we are multi site owner/operators, I am looking for some guidance on whether to have a responsible person for each site or not. The cost of training is not particularly an issue. Each site has its own Manager who has overall responsibility for the building(s) on it, but there are also central senior managers covering one or more sites each.
How have those of you in multi site organisations tackled this issue?
Your advice and guidance, as allways, will be most welcome.
Adrian
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Posted By anon1234
The 'responsible person' is essentially the employer (where the site is single occupancy and you own the site - can be more complicated in other scenarios).
We have a variety of the various occupancy/ownership scenarios - in one area we have designated a manager as having the duties of the responsible person for 3 of our sites but in practice these duties are discharged through members of his team and subcontractors.
So in short you can have as many or as few as you like as long as it is clear who is taking the various duties on and there is some co-ordination.
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Posted By Ashley Wood
Adrian, the head of the company i.e CEO is the responsible person. The task of arranging or carrying out the fire risk assessments can be 'delegated' to a member of your staff or an outside contractor. But the responsibility always remains at the top. Providing each delegated member of staff is 'competent' i.e has sufficient knowledge or training, then you can have a 'competent' person at each location if you wish. Make sure that you are all working to the same level and that your reports are 'suitable and sufficient'. All reports should be in the same format to avoid confusion. The nomination of the 'competent person' is essential as they must have knowledge or be provided with the knowledge before they attempt the assessment. This can not be done from just a tick sheet as they will need fire awareness training and know the basics about fire and life safety. So, to re-cap, the task can be delegated to a competent person but the responsibility stays at the top!
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Posted By shaun mckeever
Adrian
Ashley is partly right. The CEO is the responsible person because at the end of the day the buck stops here. However if I give you an example of a recent scenario I have been involved with it might help explain that there are various levels of responsible person.
I act as a consultant for a managing agent with a large portfolio of buildings. Each building has an appointed site manager. On one building I made a recommendation advising installing some emergency lighting on an external escape route. The site manager did not have money in his budget and had to seek authority from his line manager who refused. The line manager has now assumed responsibility.
A couple of weeks ago the building experienced a serious fire from a tenanted area. The local fire safety officer visited the building after the fire and asked why there was no emergency lighting on the rear escape. He is now looking at prosecuting the line manager, not the site manager.
If we turned this on its head a bit and said that the line manager approved the installation of the emergency lighting but the site manager fails to take action then it would be the site manager who assumes responsibility and would be in the firing line.
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Posted By Ashley Wood
I agree that the manager has accepted culpability by overruling the line manager but ultimately the CEO would be the one that would take the fall if pursued by the F&RA, that's my interpretation! I would have thought that if there was a civil legal case brought against the company, then the manager would be the one that would be pursued?
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Although the CEO of a multi-site operation (retail say) would be the responsible person for the company, individual managers could well be the responsible person for their premises.
If, for example they allowed blocked fire exits, that would be within their control and they would be the responsible person in those terms.
Also, you can have temporary responsible persons for short-term events (see guidance booklets).
Alan
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Posted By Adrian Watson
The responsible person for an employed person is the employer i.e. the company, partnership etc as they are the legal person.
Regards Adrian Watson
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Posted By Alan Hoskins
Agreed Adrian, but I believe that the F&RS would still go after the manager in the circumstances I describe.
Alan
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