Fire Safety Matters Podcast – Episode 19

The Fire Safety Matters Podcast is hosted by the magazine’s Editor Brian Sims and Western Business Media’s CEO Mark Sennett and kindly sponsored by The Fire Safety Event, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham from 7-9 September 2021.

During Episode 19, Brian interviews Peter Baker, who has just been installed as the Chief Inspector of Buildings at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He has over 30 years’ experience with the HSE gained as an inspector and also as a result of a number of senior operational roles that have entailed dealing with a wide range of industries, among them construction.

Baker expertly led the HSE’s reform and delivery of the regulatory regime for the chemical and downstream oil industries and was subsequently appointed as the HSE’s Chief Inspector of Construction back in 2015.

From 2017, he then spearheaded the HSE’s involvement in the Government’s Building Safety Programme following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. As Chief Inspector of Buildings, he’s now at the very forefront of establishing the new Building Safety Regulator within the HSE and leading on the delivery of a stronger and more robust building safety regime for higher risk buildings.

As director of the HSE’s Building Safety and Construction Division, Baker also has executive Board responsibility for the HSE’s construction operations across Great Britain.

Key role

In terms of establishing and leading the Building Safety Regulator, Baker makes good use of his time being interviewed by Brian by outlining in detail the key focal points of his work at present – and across the next few months – for the benefit of Fire Safety Matters’ readers.

Baker is leading on the work aimed at providing independent and expert advice for industry, Government, social housing landlords and residents when it comes to building safety, but what is this aspect of his new role going to entail and why does he believe this task is so important? Listen to Episode 19 of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast to find out.

The competence of industry professionals and businesses is something we’ve focused on in great detail within the pages of Fire Safety Matters and on the magazine’s website (and deliberately so). In conversation with Brian, Baker airs his own views on the competence landscape as it stands at present and what changes need to be effected to ramp up standards.

The Building Safety Bill and the Fire Safety Bill are hugely important developments for legislation in the construction and fire sectors. In what ways does Baker feel this legislation will ensure that the new building safety regime is absolutely fit for purpose? In addition to delivering an answer to this key question, Baker goes on to pinpoint the core deliverables he would wish to see realised during his term of office.

Contractual arrangements

When it comes to ‘all matters legal’ in relation to fire safety, there’s no better expert to turn to than our regular Fire Safety Matters Podcast contributor Warren Spencer (managing director at Blackhurst Budd Solicitors) who, in point of fact, has prosecuted more cases under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 than anyone else. The list of such cases with which Spencer has been involved now stretches to over 200.

It’s well documented that more and more fire safety professionals are being considered for prosecution under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Generally speaking, fire safety professionals are not the ‘Responsible Person’ as defined in Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order. Rather, their liability and culpability stems from Articles 5(3) and 5(4) of that document.

Across the industry, there are some fire safety professionals who perhaps don’t fully appreciate the significance of Article 5 in respect of potential liability under the Fire Safety Order. Article 5(3) of the Fire Safety Order states: ‘Any duty imposed by articles 8 to 22… shall also be imposed on every person, other than the ‘Responsible Person’… who has, to any extent, control of those premises so far as the requirements relate to matters within his/her control.’

Further, Article 5(4) of the Fire Safety Order states: ‘Where a person has, by virtue of any contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation to (a) the maintenance or repair of any premises, including anything in or on premises or (b) the safety of any premises, that person is to be treated, for the purposes of paragraph (3), as being a person who has control of the premises to the extent that his/her obligation so extends.’

On this episode of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast, Spencer outlines five top tips that fire safety professionals should consider when engaging in a new instruction with a client. In conversation with Mark, he also previews next week’s online conference being run jointly by Fire Safety Matters and Blackhurst Budd Solicitors. ‘Enhancing the Fire Safety Order’ takes place on Friday 14 May at 10.30 and runs for two hours. Real life Case Studies will frame much of the content. Register your delegate place here.

Fire and Security Matters Awards 2022

To close Episode 19 of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast, Brian interviews Mark about the newly-launched Fire and Security Matters Awards, the inaugural edition of which is going to run on the evening of Thursday 28 April 2022 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Mark explains the reasoning behind launching such an awards scheme, details the supporting partners and sponsors who’ve already signed up to support the event and also talks about why it’s so important to recognise and reward talent and significant contributions in the fire and security business sectors.

The entry process is soon to open and Mark relays all of the necessary information as to how companies, individuals and project teams can submit their entries.

As always, the Fire Safety Matters editorial team also analyses the latest major news stories emerging from the fire sector here in the UK.

Listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast

You can listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast for free on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. To download the Fire Safety Matters Podcast on iTunes or Spotify, all you need to do is enter the term ‘Fire Safety Matters’ into the search box of your chosen platform.

Alternatively, you can listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast online at fsmpodcast.podbean.com or via our YouTube channel by clicking here.

*If there are any specific subjects you would like to see featured in an upcoming Fire Safety Matters Podcast please do contact us. You can do so on Twitter by using the hashtag #FSMPodcast. Alternatively, send an e-mail direct to bsims@westernbusiness.media