Good management of fire safety in a premises which caters for large numbers of people in a restricted amount of space is essential. You should ensure that your premises complies with fire safety legislation and licensing objectives if applicable.
Make sure that you have all of your fire safety provisions in place and in working order. This includes having the correct signage and emergency lighting, ensuring that your escapes are kept clear to allow everyone in your premises to escape to a place of total safety easily and quickly in the event that a fire does occur.
Fire Risk Assessment
If you employ five or more people or if you are a licensed premises, you should keep a written record of your fire risk assessment and any significant findings. It should also be reviewed regularly, especially if any changes to the premises are made. This will identify what you need to do to reduce the risk of a fire occurring and keep you, your employees and your patrons safe. You need to have an emergency plan for dealing with any fire situation, and it should be based on the outcome of your fire risk assessment. The purpose of an emergency plan is to ensure that people know what to do if there is a fire and that the premises can be evacuated safely. An evacuation drill should be carried out on a regular basis to ensure your emergency plan then works.
The guide below is for all employers, managers, occupiers and owners both professional and amateur of premises where the main use of the building (or part of the building) is a theatre, cinema or multi-screen cinema or a combination of these. This guide also includes buildings converted to cinemas or theatres. The Fire Risk Assessment Guide for Theatres and Cinemas can be viewed here and contains further relevant information.
The pro formas here are intended to be used as guides for carrying out a fire risk assessment. Should you adopt one of these for your business premises, then it is important that the content captures any unique aspects of the premises’ design, as well as how the building is actually used.
If you want more information on fire risk assessments, fire extinguishers and risk information boxes click here.
Calculating Occupancy Figures
As the owner of a licensed premises, you will need to calculate the occupant capacity in order to assess the means of escape. We have produced some guidance on how you should do this.
Other Guidance
For further guidance on your responsibilities as an employer, business owner or landlord, please see:
Further Advice
If you would like further information or advice, please click here or Contact Us.
