Fire Safety & Enforcement
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service have a team of Fire Safety Inspectors who carry out fire safety audits and offer advice to persons responsible for premises that fall under the Fire Safety Order.
When will we contact you?
Through our Risk Based Audit Programme we may contact you to conduct a fire safety audit of your premises, alternatively if you have had a fire or a complaint, a fire safety inspector may visit to gain further information and offer any advice necessary. The owners and managers of businesses, charities and other organisations must take reasonable fire safety precautions to ensure that non-domestic premises are safe for the occupants and those in the immediate vicinity under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order).
What to expect when a Fire Safety Inspector visits
We believe that prevention is better than cure and our inspectors will actively work with you to advise and assist with meeting the standard required.
Read this information to help prepare yourself for a Fire Safety Audit. We follow nationally agreed guidelines when carrying these out to ensure any advice given to you is consistent and proportionate to any risk in your premises.
Fire Safety inspectors are issued with a warrant that can be shown on request and gives them certain legal powers. These include, but are not limited to:
- Identifying the person responsible for the fire safety of the premises (the “responsible person”);
- Making relevant enquiries to ensure legislation is being complied with;
- Entering and inspecting the premises;
- Requiring to see relevant fire safety documents and making copies of these;
- Requiring assistance to be given and facilities to be provided to enable the inspection to take place;
- Taking samples as necessary;
- Testing any substance or dismantle equipment.
Audits
As part of the audit the inspector may wish to monitor the fire safety standards in all or part of your premises. The inspector may also wish to talk to members of staff to confirm their level of fire safety awareness.
During the audit the inspector will need to view the following documents where applicable to your premises:
- Fire Risk Assessment;
- Fire Precautions Log Book;
- Records of Staff Training and Fire Drills;
- Records of Testing and Maintenance of Fire-fighting Equipment (Extinguishers);
- Records of Testing and Maintenance for All Fire Safety Systems (including Fire Alarms, Emergency Lighting, Sprinkler System, Smoke Ventilation System).
For guidance on completing a fire risk assessment, visit our Fire Risk Assessment page and follow the links for small premises fire risk assessment.
Enforcement Notice Register
What is the public register?
As part of our work to keep Bedfordshire safe, Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service (BFRS) visits, inspects and audits fire safety measures in non-domestic premises. If we discover circumstances that could make premises unsafe, we can take action. This includes issuing legal notices, which require the responsible person to take action, usually within a specified time, to ensure the premises are safe.
As an authority responsible for enforcing the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, BFRS is required by law (the Environment and Safety Information Act 1988) to maintain a public register which gives some information about these notices.
Notices included on the register are:
- Alterations notices
- Enforcement notices
- Prohibition Notices
BFRS publish the required information on the National Enforcement Register hosted on the National Fire Chiefs Council website on behalf of all fire authorities. This provides a single point of contact to view notices served, either on an authority by authority basis, or nationally.
How the public register works
The register contains details of notices in calendar years.
Each entry on the register provides sufficient detail to convey the substance of the notice to which it relates, as required by the Environment and Safety Information Act 1988.
Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service is unlikely to provide full copies of notices, as they are generally exempt information by virtue of Section 30(1)(b) and Section 31(1)(a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
How long is information held for?
Entries will be held on our register for a period of five years, Notices served on individuals under the age of 18 will be removed sooner.
The information about Bedfordshire premises held on the public register is managed by the Protection Department of Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service.
You can view the NFCC Enforcement Register here.
BFRS Enforcement Policy Summary
The Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service Enforcement Policy Summary can be found here.
