Fire marshals post COVID return to office

[Pippin]

Hi
We have an office that typically houses 300 people but in the recent months we've all been working from home. We are due to start returning to the office in potentially July, but with a different work ethic. We'll be predominently working from home, but can hot desk maybe one/two days a week. There will be no staff on site perminently, and there will be no regular shifts. The building has security and we have two floors. Where I used to have 3 fire marshals per area so the multiple areas could do a sweep of the building, I have no chance of doing this now.

I also have a similar issue with the First Aiders.

I am hoping that some readers will be able to offer advice in this situation. Thanking you in advance.

[witsd]

With first aiders, you may be able to get away with having more people trained to a lesser degree - perhaps having taken the 1 day course. Ultimately you'll need to do a risk assessment to determine what level of coverage your premises require.

With the fire marshalls, you could simply increase the level of training for all staff, ensuring that everyone knows how to do the basic FM responsibilities (check immediate area for other people, get out, prevent reentry). If you have more in-depth PEEPs though, I can't see a simple way around having permanent, competent fire marshals on site.

Using (or partially using) the building security may also be worth exploring – are they your staff? Even if not, can they meet the FRS and access / read / reset your fire panel?

If staff sweeping their immediate area isn't going to pick up on everyone due to individuals working alone / far apart, then you'll also need to consider your lone working risk assessment and tie all of these aspects together.

[Pippin]

Thank you for your response.

I will investigate further on the first aid training requirements and with regards to the fire marshals, like you, I can really find no other way than to train everyone on a more details evacuation protocol. We will be having people in every room I imagin but it will just be a lot fewer, and different potentially daily.

Any other thoughts from people would be very beneficial.

Thank you again @witsd

[ddlh]

Hi - in my experience the landlords security are trained as first aiders as they will be called to any incident onsite and that skill is essential. Also depends on the operation carried out and how far from a hospital or medical centre you are. So ensure your F A risk assessment is robust - you will need it if something goes wrong.

As for fire wardens, again the fire risk assessment should be robust and will indicate the "risk" areas in your block - if any. Again liase with your land lord and see what security are required to do in event of an alarm - again they may be first on the scene of any alarm and you could possibly help with sweeping the area.

But I have come across landlords who do not like their staff being used by the hiring companies - after all the duty of care is yours - but I doesnt hurt to ask until you can get your own training done and understand the requirements - the situation in ll offices will be fluid for a while to come.

Dave

[Pippin]

Hi
Thank you for this update. We do own the buildings, so a landlord is not involved, although we do have security which are responsible for helping to sweep the buildings. They are not first aid trained, but we are looking into this.

[stephen1974]

First Aid
Who provides first aid to the security staff if they are not first aid trained?
Do you have other businesses close by, ie next door, that you could approach for help? they may not wish to but it doesnt hurt to ask.
Have a written procedure in place for calling the emergency services and have this on display in prominent places, such as a reception area, main entrance, employee notice boards, first aid station.

Fire Marshalls
You're screwed. I've never found anyone who has resolved the issue of fire marshals in a casual environment where you cannot guarantee the people you ahve trained will be present and no fire trainer and no fire service have been able to give an answer beyond, its your responsibility, good luck. Or, like above, and no offence ddlh, you will get the 'your fire risk assessment should blah blah blah' which is the biggest cop out response in H&S in my opinion. The point of people asking the question is that their current procedures and FRA WILL NOT COVER THIS, otherwise they wouldnt be asking for help. (sorry ddlh, just one of my biggest bug bears).

How I would approach this.
Can you restrict the areas will be working in so there is less area to cover. I know people want to do the social distancing thing but fire safety takes precedent over covid-19. You can set up your work areas with both in mind. Ideally you will want people all in the same room or all on the same floor and you should provide a written evacuation procedure to cover the new circumstances. I wouldnt do sweeps of the building unless you can guarantee someone suitable is avilable to do it. Instead, hve a signing in and out book at the main entrance and in the written procedure the first person out, takes it. At least then you can do a roll call.

You will need someone to ensure the building is safe though at the start of each day, ie first exits and escape routes are clear etc. No getting around that.A clip board with map of escapre routes and exits with a tick sheet maybe be suitable for this. It shouldnt be to hard for someone carry out.

[Pippin]

The above advice has really helped thank you Stephen1974. Unfortunately we are in a residential area, so approaching other companies is not an option but it was worth a shout. I think signage is effeminately the way to go, and to remove our sweep process, as you say, i just don't have the resources.

We have a security badge system, and I'll see if this is something we can try to use as a role call.

[RPN_MSC]

Afternoon everyone.

I thought that I would bring this back to the top, given its pertinence as we are approaching national government's easing restrictions on working from home.

We are having the same discussions. Our offices are not running at full capacity and the staff in each day will vary. How can we safely manage that; particularly when there is only one person in the office? I can't help thinking that the HSE guidance needs to be updated to adapt to this new age of working.

We are still very much chewing the fat on this, so I would welcome any experiences of organisation's facing similar challenges.

Thanks, as always. This forum is always such a wealth of knowledge.