The Fire Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1984

Enforcement N.I.

Enforcement of this Part N.I.

39 .F1   The Authority shall enforce the provisions of this Part and regulations made under this Part, and the Chief Fire Officer may authorise members of the fire brigade to act for that purpose.F1

F1 prosp. insertion by 1993 NI 7

Powers of authorised members of the fire brigade N.I.

40.—(1) Subject to this Article, an authorised member of the fire brigade may do anything necessary for the purpose of carrying this Part and regulations thereunder into effect and, in particular, shall, so far as may be necessary for that purpose, have power to do so at any reasonable time any of the following things, namely—

(a) to enter any such premises as are mentioned in paragraph (2), and to inspect the whole or any part thereof and anything therein;

(b) to make such inquiry as may be necessary for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (3);

(c) to require the production of, and to inspect, any fire certificate in force with respect to any premises or any copy of any such certificate;

(d) to require any person having responsibilities in relation to any such premises as are referred to in sub-paragraph (a) (whether or not the owner or occupier of the premises or a person employed to work therein) to give him such facilities and assistance with respect to any matters or things to which the responsibilities of that person extend as are necessary for the purpose of enabling the authorised member of the fire brigade to exercise any of the powers conferred on him by this paragraph.

(2) The premises referred to in paragraph (1) (a) are the following, namely—

(a) any premises requiring a fire certificate (other than premises in respect of which a fire certificate is in force or in respect of which the Authority has received an application for a fire certificate) or to which any regulations made under Article 34 apply;

[F2 (aa) any premises in respect of which there is in force an exemption under Article 26A from the requirement for a fire certificate with respect to them;]

(b) any premises such as are mentioned in Article 33 (1) (a);

(c) any premises to which Article 24 for the time being applies;

(d) any premises not falling within any of the foregoing sub-paragraphs which form part of a building comprising any premises so falling; and

(e) any premises which the authorised member of the fire brigade has reasonable cause to believe to be premises falling within any of the foregoing sub-paragraphs.

(3) The purposes referred to in paragraph (1) (b) are the following, namely—

(a) to ascertain, as regards any premises, whether they fall within any of the sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) of paragraph (2);

(b) to identify the owner or occupier of any premises falling within any of those sub-paragraphs;

(c) to ascertain whether, in the case of any premises to which Article 24 for the time being applies, any person has the overall management of the building constituting or comprising the premises and, if so, to identify that person;

(d) to ascertain, as regards any premises falling within any of the said sub-paragraphs (a) to (d), whether the provisions of this Order and regulations made under Article 34 are complied with, and, where a fire certificate is in force in respect of any such premises, whether the requirements imposed by the certificate are complied with.

(4) Where an authorised member of the fire brigade seeks to enter premises under paragraph (1) (a), he shall—

(a) except in case of emergency, give at least 24 hours' notice of his intention to the occupier, and

(b) produce, if required to do so, some duly authenticated document showing his authority; and

if it is shown to the satisfaction of a resident magistrate on a sworn complaint in writing—

(i) that admission to premises which an authorised person seeks to enter under paragraph (1) (a), has been refused to that person, or that refusal is apprehended; and

(ii) that there are reasonable grounds for entry to the premises for any purpose for which entry is required,

the resident magistrate may by warrant under his hand authorise that person to enter the premises, if need be by force.

(5) In the case of premises used as a dwelling or premises of any other description prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph, no power of entry conferred by paragraph (1) shall be exercised as of right unless 24 hours' notice has been given to the occupier; and for the purposes of this paragraph a description of premises may be framed in any of the ways mentioned in Article 22 (4).

(6) A person who—

(a) intentionally obstructs an authorised member of the fire brigade in the exercise or performance of his powers or duties under this Part; or

(b) without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed by an authorised member of the fire brigade under paragraph (1) (d).

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

F2 1993 NI 7

Restriction on disclosure of information N.I.

41.— [F3 (1)] [F3 Subject to paragraph (2),] if a person discloses (otherwise than in the performance of his duty or for the purposes of any legal proceedings, including an arbitration, or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings) any information obtained by him in any premises entered by him in the exercise of powers conferred by this Part, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

[F3 (2) Nothing in paragraph (1) prohibits the disclosure of information to an enforcing authority within the meaning of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 in order to enable that authority to discharge any function falling within its field of responsibility.

(3) The definition of “enforcing authority” in Article 2(2) and Article 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (enforcing authority's “field of responsibility”) shall apply for the purposes of this Article as it applies for the purposes of Part II of that Order.]

F3 1993 NI 7