Fire door - H&S legislation - update

[^woody^]

Following on from this thread

A recent House of Lords ruling has now defined a fire door closer (and by implication - fire door) as "work equipment"

The Lords held that the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) was intended to apply to all equipment regardless of whether it was integrated into the structure of the installation or not.

This differs with current HSE guidance, which indicates the definition of work equipment would not cover permanently installed systems.

In the previous thread, there was debate on whether a fire door was work equipment. It was not at that time, but is now.

So there you have it.

The case in question is Peter Spencer-Franks v Kellogg Brown & Root and others [2008]

 

[joe-90]

I'll rest easy tonight now.

 

[mattylad]

And in laymans terms what blooming difference does that make to anything?

 

[^woody^]

It makes a difference to the posters who contributed to the previous 8-page thread.

 

[mattylad]

How?

That thread was all about blocking open fire doors, what has that got to do with a "door closer" being classed as work equipment?

Your going to get megawatt all upset now

 

[^woody^]

The thread went on the debate that a fire door was "work equipment" under HASAW and as such, propping one open was interferring with a "safety device" which was contrary to the HASAW act

 

[joe-90]

Hey woody, are you available as an after dinner speaker?

 

[^woody^]

I don't normally have dinner, just a quick kebab on the way home and then to bed

 

[joe-90]

You randy old devil.

 

[Shytalkz]

If you made up with the missus, Joe, so could you be