Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Accountable Person
- The person or organisation legally responsible for the safety of a higher-risk or multi-occupied building, including its structure and common parts.
- Alcohol-based hand rub
- A fast-drying hand sanitiser containing alcohol; it kills germs but is flammable and must be kept away from ignition sources.
- Anaesthesia
- Medication used to prevent pain during surgery or procedures, which can leave a patient unconscious or unable to move and so unable to evacuate unaided.
- Area valve service unit
- A wall-mounted box of valves that lets staff shut off the medical gas supply to a particular area in an emergency.
- Arson
- The criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property.
- Automatic fire detection
- Devices such as smoke and heat detectors that sense a fire and trigger the alarm without anyone having to raise it.
- Biomedical engineering
- The team responsible for maintaining, testing and repairing medical equipment so it stays safe to use.
- British Approvals for Fire Equipment (BAFE)
- An independent body that registers and certifies competent fire safety companies and assessors against recognised schemes.
- BS 5839-1:2017
- The British Standard setting out how fire detection and alarm systems should be designed, installed and maintained in buildings.
- BS 7671 (IET Wiring Regulations)
- The British Standard for the safe design and installation of electrical wiring in buildings.
- BS 9999:2017
- The British Standard giving guidance on fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings.
- Building Safety Act 2022
- A law that strengthened the safety regime for higher-risk buildings, such as those over 18 metres or seven storeys tall.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Cause-and-effect matrix
- A plan that defines exactly what the fire system should do (for example which doors release or alarms sound) when a particular detector activates.
- Closed-circuit television (CCTV)
- A video camera and recording system used to monitor a site for security and safety.
- Cold smoke seals
- Strips fitted around a fire door that stop cool smoke passing through the gaps before a fire takes hold.
- Compartmentation
- Dividing a building into fire-resisting sections so that fire and smoke are contained and cannot spread quickly.
- Competent person
- Someone with the training, experience and knowledge needed to carry out a task safely and correctly.
- Controlled drug
- A medicine whose supply, storage and records are tightly restricted by law because of its potential for misuse.
- Corporate risk register
- A central record of the most significant risks an organisation faces, together with the actions being taken to manage them.
- Day-case unit
- An area where patients have a procedure and go home the same day rather than staying overnight.
- Duty to cooperate and coordinate
- The legal requirement for parties sharing a building to work together so that fire safety arrangements join up.
- Emollient
- A moisturising skin cream or ointment; some paraffin-based types can make fabric catch fire more easily.
- FD30 / FD60
- Ratings for fire doors, meaning the door can resist fire for 30 or 60 minutes.
- Fire and rescue authority
- The local fire service, which both responds to fires and enforces fire safety law.
- Fire-resisting subdivision
- Walls, floors and doors built to hold back fire and smoke for a set period and so create protected sections within a building.
- Fire risk assessor
- A suitably qualified person who examines premises to identify fire hazards and judge whether the precautions are adequate.
- Fire Safety Act 2021
- A law that made clear the Fire Safety Order also covers a building's structure, external walls and flat entrance doors.
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
- Rules placing specific fire safety duties on responsible persons in certain multi-occupied residential buildings.
- Fire-stopping
- Sealing the gaps where pipes and cables pass through walls and floors so that fire and smoke cannot travel through them.
- Firecode
- The set of healthcare-specific fire safety guidance documents, of which Health Technical Memorandum HTM 05-02 is the main design guide.
- Golden thread
- An accurate, up-to-date set of building safety information kept and shared throughout a building's life under the Building Safety Act 2022.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- The main law setting out employers' general duties to protect the health and safety of staff and others.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting out the fundamental standards that providers of regulated care must meet, enforced by the Care Quality Commission.
- Health Technical Memorandum (HTM)
- Official technical guidance on the design, installation and operation of healthcare buildings and systems; HTM 02-01 covers medical gases and HTM 05-02 and HTM 05-03 cover fire safety.
- Hierarchy of control
- A ranked approach to managing risk, preferring to remove a hazard first and using protective equipment only as a last resort.
- Higher-risk building
- Under the Building Safety Act 2022, a building that is especially tall or otherwise high-risk and so subject to stricter safety rules.
- Hot works
- Work that produces heat, sparks or flame, such as welding, cutting or soldering, which can start a fire.
- Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM)
- A professional membership body for people who manage fire safety, which maintains a register of competent practitioners.
- Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)
- A professional body for fire engineers that sets standards and maintains a register of qualified fire risk assessors.
- Intumescent strip
- A strip fitted to a fire door that swells in heat to seal the gap and block the spread of fire and smoke.
- L1 system
- The highest category of automatic fire detection under BS 5839-1, giving detection throughout all areas of a building for the earliest warning.
- Life safety
- Measures whose primary aim is to protect people's lives, as distinct from protecting the building or property.
- Lithium-ion battery
- A rechargeable battery used in many devices that can overheat and catch fire if damaged or charged incorrectly.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- Regulations requiring employers to assess and manage risks to the health and safety of staff and others.
- Medical gas pipeline system (MGPS)
- The fixed network of pipes that delivers oxygen and other medical gases to clinical areas.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- The body that regulates medicines and medical devices in the United Kingdom and issues safety guidance.
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or because it was caught in time.
- Nominated Individual
- The senior person responsible to the regulator for supervising how a service is provided.
- PAS 79-2:2020
- A published methodology setting out a structured way to carry out and record a fire risk assessment for healthcare premises.
- Passive fire protection
- Built-in fire safety features such as fire-resisting walls, doors and fire-stopping that work without any action being taken.
- Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP)
- An individual plan setting out how a person who cannot get out unaided will be helped to safety in a fire.
- Phased evacuation
- Evacuating a building in stages, area by area, rather than everyone leaving at once.
- Piped medical gases
- Gases such as oxygen delivered to clinical areas through fixed pipework rather than from portable cylinders.
- Portable appliance testing
- The routine inspection and testing of plug-in electrical equipment to check it is safe to use.
- Progressive horizontal evacuation
- A strategy of moving people sideways into an adjoining fire-safe compartment on the same floor, used where vertical escape is difficult.
- Provider Information Return
- Information a registered provider submits to the Care Quality Commission to show how it is meeting standards.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Regulated activity
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the regulator to deliver.
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- The main fire safety law for non-domestic premises in England and Wales, placing duties on the Responsible Person.
- Residual current device (RCD)
- A safety device that quickly cuts off the electricity supply if it detects a fault, helping to prevent fire and electric shock.
- Residual risk
- The level of risk that remains once existing control measures have been taken into account.
- Responsible Person
- The person who, under the Fire Safety Order, holds the legal duty for fire safety in a set of premises, usually the employer or person in control.
- Risk assessment
- A structured check identifying what could cause harm and what is being done to prevent it.
- Risk matrix
- A grid that scores a risk by combining how likely it is with how serious the outcome would be.
- Sedation
- Medication that makes a patient calm or drowsy, which can reduce their ability to react or escape in an emergency.
- Service user
- A person who receives care or treatment from the service; also called a patient or client.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- So far as is reasonably practicable
- A legal test meaning a risk must be reduced unless the time, trouble or cost would be grossly disproportionate to the benefit.
- Statement of Purpose
- A required document describing who a service is, what it does and where, shared with the regulator.
- Sub-compartment
- A smaller fire-resisting division within a compartment, giving an extra place of relative safety during evacuation.
- United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)
- The national body that checks and accredits certification and inspection schemes so they can be trusted.
- Waking watch
- Trained staff who patrol a building continuously to detect fire and raise the alarm when other fire precautions are inadequate.
- Wayfinding signage
- Signs that help people find their way around a building, including the routes to fire exits.