fire and rescues services, civil contingencies and resilience (UK)
The UK Fire and Rescue Service’s response is covered by legislation, guidance and national frameworks, and includes important information relevant to the protection of cultural heritage and the salvage of contents.
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 makes provision about fire and rescue authorities and their functions, employment by, and powers of employees of, fire and rescue authoritiest, education and training.
A major fire involving an abandoned convent in Massueville, Quebec, Canada
© Sylvain Pedneault, 2006 |
"An employee of a fire and rescue authority who is authorised in writing by the authority for the purposes of this section may do anything he reasonably believes to be necessary: a) if he reasonably believes a fire to have broken out or to be about to break out, for the purpose of extinguishing or preventing the fire or protecting life or property; d) for the purpose of preventing or limiting damage to property resulting from action taken as mentioned in paragraph a), b), c)." Paragraph 44.1, The Fire and Rescue Services Act |
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005 entered into force in October 2006. The RRO places the onus of the fire safety in buildings on the shoulders of the 'Responsible Person', in particular, the employer, the person in control of the premises in connection with the carrying on of a trade, the owner, and any other person who to any extent exercises control over a place. Fire risk assessment can be prepared by experienced professionals or with the help of standard fire safety risk assessment guides. Local FRAs may be able to advice on fire risk assessments.
Safeguarding cultural heritage is an element in the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which each FRA produces as a requirement of the National Framework 2008–2011. The document requires FRAs to consider whether buildings are listed and the significance of the collections when carrying out risk assessments for heritage sites: FRAs must take into account the nature of the property.
An intervention section of the New South Wales Fire Brigades in action
© WikimediaCommons, 2012 |
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) established local resilience forums and a resilience network which the heritage sector can seek aid from and contribute to. The Act divides local responders into 2 categories, imposing a different set of duties on each. Those in Category 1 are organisations at the core of the response to most emergencies (the emergency services, local authorities, NHS bodies). Category 2 organisations (the Health and Safety Executive, transport and utility companies) are ‘co-operating bodies’. They are less likely to be involved in the heart of planning work, but will be heavily involved in incidents that affect their own sector. Category 2 responders have a lesser set of duties – co-operating and sharing relevant information with other Category 1 and 2 responders.
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In Scotland the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 is supported by the document Preparing Scotland Scottish Guidance on Resilience 2012.
Through the Resilience Network Community, risk registers are produced, which include information that can be relevant to heritage organisations when identifying potential hazards to their buildings and collections. A common framework has been used across the UK. The role of individuals, communities and practitioners in resilience is stated in the Cabinet Office’s Community Resilience Development Framework.
Are you interested in this topic? Learn more in the article 'Preparing for the future: mitigating disasters and building resilience in the cultural heritage sector' by Fiona Macalister, 2015, Journal of the Institute of Conservation 38(2), pp.115-129).