New Fire Safety Regulations – Are You Compliant?
At NYES, we understand the importance of creating a safe learning environment for students, staff, and visitors. Our Health and Safety team is competent and highly qualified, with extensive training in applying relevant fire safety legislation and best practices to school settings. While the Head Teacher may not be qualified or trained in fire risk assessments, they are still responsible for the safety of everyone who uses the site. This is where our expertise comes in.
New Fire Safety Regulations from 1st April 2025
Starting from 1st April 2025, several new fire safety regulations will come into effect in the UK. These changes aim to enhance safety protocols and provide better protection for vulnerable populations. One major change is that the person in charge of ‘hiring and firing’ and the safety of the building on a day-to-day basis will be liable, as the Responsible Person, if there is a fire-related accident. Therefore, a Fire Risk Assessment must be in place and completed by a competent person. A competent person means someone who is qualified and on a Tiered Fire Risk Assessment Register. A fire risk assessment will also need to be reviewed annually.
How NYES can help you to ensure your school is protected
NYES Health and Safety Service is dedicated to supporting schools. We have a team of dedicated and fully qualified advisors who will work closely with you to ensure you receive a fully compliant fire risk assessment.
Our advisors are equipped to conduct comprehensive fire risk assessments across a wide range of educational institutions, including primary schools and boarding schools. Each assessment will undergo internal verification by a fully qualified assessor, ensuring the highest standards of quality and compliance are consistently upheld.
NYES Health and Safety Fire Risk Assessments
Our fire risk assessments are designed to help schools achieve compliance and ensure the safety of all occupants. Here’s what our service provides:
- Everyone on our team is a competent fire risk assessor as required under the forthcoming British Standard, BS 8674: Built Environment – Framework for Competence of Individual Fire Risk Assessors – Code of Practice.
- Everyone on our team is a member of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM). We are committed to professional development, best practices, and improvement.
- As part of IFSM membership each advisor submits a number of fire risk assessments to the IFSM. This external evaluation ensures the risk assessments have the highest standards of compliance and safety.
- The team is part of the Tiered Fire Risk Assessors Register (TFRAR), which is a comprehensive register organised by IFSM. The register classifies assessors into three tiers based on competency. Our team is either already on the register or working towards inclusion.
- Each fire risk assessment is internally verified to ensure that each FRA we send out meets industry standards. This also fosters continuous improvements in our FRAs.
Our full Health and Safety Service package
The NYES Health and Safety Service provides further support for schools looking for other health and safety support.
There are many ways that our team can help you. We can tailor our service to suit your school. The team is here to deliver the best possible Health and Safety packages for you.
Our experts can:
- Provide assistance in meeting statutory obligations.
- Identify and help you to address changes in health and safety legislation.
- Support with avoiding the hidden costs and negative publicity of accidents.
- Carry out FRA’s for your establishment.
- Assist you in developing a health and safety policy.
- Help you to implement the health and safety policy, ensuring compliance with legislation and codes of practice, informing you of any changes as they arise.
- Our provided Bsafe accident software makes it easy for you to undertake data analysis on accidents and occupational illness, helping you to know whether your workplace is safe or if there is a need for change.
- Offer training courses in fire awareness and fire warden training, lone working, manual handling, working at heights, undertaking risk assessments, lockdown procedures and more.
- Provide you with reassurance through a dedicated helpline for any queries.
Our annual package also offers the standard three visits per annum by your Health and Safety consultant (one Health and Safety management systems review, one Workplace Inspection, one Fire Risk Assessment), free training – either a full day or two twilight sessions, and membership of CLEAPSS.
Visit our website for further details on the annual package.
Contact us for more information
Further information about the service is available here.
When you purchase our service, you get a dedicated, named Safety Risk Adviser. You can discuss this further by emailing nyes@northyorks.gov.uk or calling 01609 533222.