Roles and responsibilities

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Who has responsibility for fire safety in the University and what responsibilities do they have?

The key responsibilities for Deans and Heads of Service Groups are listed below.

You must:

Ensure effective governance on fire safety issues
Allocate resources (time and money) for heads of schools/services, safety supervisors and fire wardens to carry out their tasks

Heads of Schools and Services are responsible for fire safety management including the key responsibilities listed below.

You must:

Release staff to attend and provide fire safety training
Ensure sufficient competent, trained fire wardens are appointed
Ensure designated fire wardens carry out their duties
Ensure/ Allow sufficient working time for these duties to be carried out
Ensure all staff and postgraduates are aware of the fire safety standards
Ensure operational fire risk assessments and routine checks are carried out
Ensure all minor building work is authorised by estate services
Ensure that all fires and fire alarm activations are recorded on the university’s incident reporting system (Sentinel)
Where there is more than one School or Service in occupation of a building, the occupier with the most space must take the lead role in co ordination and co operation in respect of fire safety matters
Where identified by the fire risk assessment a written local emergency plan should be produced and communicated appropriately
Where identified in the fire risk assessment, measures need to be taken to eliminate or reduce the risk from dangerous substances. If this is not possible then appropriate controls must be put in place and communicated to all staff

Fire Warden

The original Fire Warden role has been replaced with three new roles agreed at Health and Safety Committee. See the document ‘Roles and actions for Fire Wardens.‘

You must:

Be deemed competent by attendance at the programmed Fire Warden training
Train all staff and postgraduates on induction and at regular intervals
Carry out departmental / operational fire risk assessment
Carry out six-weekly checks of the existing fire precautions
Organise and implement an annual fire evacuation drill
Any faults found in fire precautions or fire fighting equipment must be brought to the attention of Estate Services helpdesk or Fire Safety Managers as appropriate
Assist in the evacuation of the building

The key responsibilities for members of staff are listed below:

You must:

Evacuate on hearing of a fire alarm
Be responsible for your own safety
Know the evacuation procedures
Raise any specialist requirement
Take reasonable care of others
Co-operate with your employer on fire safety issues
Do not interfere with anything provided for fire safety
Report any fire safety problems, eg blocked fire exits
Report any accident or near miss to your local safety supervisor who can update the University incident reporting system (Sentinel)

Carry out the duties as detailed in the fire safety policy:

Carry out electrical and structural fire risk assessments of University buildings
Carry out a fire safety audit of schools and services
Approve building plans
Carry out fire wardens’ and other staff training
Formulate policies for approval of the health and safety committee
Give advice when requested
Investigate significant fire incidents
Liaise with regulatory bodies

Ensure that all fire safety equipment is adequately maintained as detailed in the University fire safety policy, including:

Fire alarm and associated peripheral equipment (eg. automatic locks, door retainers, fire vents).
Fire fighting equipment, including dry risers
Fire resistant doors and partitions
Mechanical fire safety devices (eg. damping on ventilation systems, manually controlled fire vents, automatic fire shutters and screens).
External metal fire escapes