Analysis: fire safety and the facilities manager

Within a few years it is expected that the Fire Precautions Act (1971), at present only applicable to hotels, boarding houses, shops, offices and factories, will be extended to cover all buildings‐and the onus of compliance will be placed on the building owner or ‘the responsible person’: the facilities manager? Eric Marchant, of the University of Edinburgh's Department of Fire Safety Engineering, puts this vast subject into perspective.