The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Fire safety
Fire safety is vital for your community space, both in terms of keeping people safe and also protecting the building itself. This section will outline your responsibilities around fire safety, and what you can do to think through any risks and plans.
Your community space, its contents and activities must comply with the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and The Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The legislation requires you to take fire safety measures, including:
- a way of warning of a fire (like a fire alarm and smoke detectors)
- fire-fighting equipment (like fire extinguishers)
- an escape/ evacuation plan
- staff training and instruction
- emergency procedures.
To make sure you’re complying with the legislation, you will need to do various things including:
- assessing the risk of fire in your space
- identifying what action you need to take as a result of assessing risk
- implementing these fire safety measures, using risk reduction principles
- putting fire safety measures in place
- regularly reviewing your approach, and repeating risk assessments
- keeping records.
It’s likely that as the people running a village hall, you will know the space best. However, part of your assessments should be whether you have the skills to make a good assessment or whether you will need some outside expertise. If you feel you need some help, you should look for a qualified person or company who can make this assessment of your behalf.
You should be able to show that you have done everything you can to prevent a fire. Some of the evidence you can show of this could include:
- Fire risk assessment
- Emergency fire safety action plan
- Fire safety policy
- Records of fire drills
- Records of maintenance of fire safety features
- Records of fire safety training.
Scottish Government Fire safety guidance for existing non-residential premises (2022) provides practical advice.
Scottish Government also has Guidance on carrying out a fire safety risk assessment for people responsible for non-domestic premises.
All new buildings must be designed to mandatory standards set out in the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Similarly, buildings which undergo extension, structural alteration or change of use should also meet the standards (and be subject to building warrant approval, where required). See: Scottish Building Standards technical handbook for nondomestic buildings.
You should also consider the Furniture and Furnishing (Fire) (Safety) regulations when procuring furniture and fittings for your community space, whether it is new, second hand or repurposed.