Fire Safety

You should test your fire alarm once a week at work.

The ‘Responsible person’ should conduct the fire safety risk assessments.

Fire Drills should be conducted normally every 3 months if working in a place where there are serious fire hazards, but in some workplaces, it could be every 6 months.

If you discover a fire the first thing you must do is raise the fire alarm, then you tell everyone to evacuate if they haven’t begun to do so anyway.

Yes. If you set off a fire alarm when there is no fire, you are subject to a £2500 fine or 12 months imprisonment.

No. As of October 2013, no first aid training course can claim to be HSE Approved. However, any first aid training courses should be able to show that they meet the criteria set by the HSE. You can find out more on our blog about first aid training!

The legislation surrounding this question is actually very vague, and doesn’t give a definitive answer to the question. However, the type of work you carry out and the number of people that you employ will determine the number of first aiders that you’re legally required to employ. So, it’s always advised you carry out a first aid needs assessment, and regularly update it. In a high-risk workplace, it is advised that you have one first aider for every 50 employees you have. Find out more about low risk and high risk workplace first aid requirements on our blog.

This decision should be one influenced by your first aid needs assessment. However, a low risk workplace may contain the following:

• individually wrapped plasters of different sizes
• eye pads
• bandages
• safety pins
• disposable gloves

It is considered good practice to have a designated book in which you can report incidents in the workplace. In the long run, this will help you identify recurring accidents at work, and give you an idea of accident trends and help you be better prepared to deal with similar situations. However, this isn’t to be confused with an accident record book, which is required by law. But the two may be combined into one.

Though we are not able to give any specific advice on this issue, it is extremely unlikely that legal action would be taken against somebody performing first aid, as long as they were qualified and following best practices. We recommend that you seek legal advice or advice from your employer’s insurance on whether or not their policies cover first-aiders’ liability. You can find out more on our blog about the topic.