<P> Building regulations (England and Wales) were not retrospective in their effect . Therefore, when minimum fire safety measures were improved in revised issues of the building regulations documents, existing buildings were not required to adopt these new minimum standards unless they were being altered or extended . Thus "as originally built" buildings were exempt from the new rules from 1974 until the advent of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 . This order requires adequate and sufficient general fire precautions suitable for the current users and use, of any given building, to be provided by the responsible person for each building . </P> <P> This did lead to a rather unsatisfactory mishmash of fire safety in the English and Welsh building stock . The Fire Safety Order 2005 now requires the responsible person for each building to carry out or commission from a competent person a fire risk assessment to ensure that the general fire precautions within a particular building are fit for the purposes that that building is being currently put to . The current use of an old building by today's occupiers and users has to be taken into account, in arriving at the appropriate general fire precautions . Thus both proportionate and appropriate remedial "fire safety" works may be necessary to discharge the responsible persons legal duty, to control or reduce the risk to life from fire in a building . </P> <P> In 1937 the Factories Act 1901 was extended to cover means of escape in case of fire . The Act required that the factory owner have a plan of escape in case of fire and brought in the first rudimentary fire certificates . </P> <P> Before 1947, issues of fire safety were in the hands of the local authority, and the legal enforcement of issues under the Factories Act and Office Shops and Railway Premises Act were dealt with by the local authority, having usually devolved this down to the fire brigade . The introduction of the Fire Services Act 1947 gave the fire brigade its first responsibilities for fire safety . Section 1 of the Fire Services Act defined the duties of a fire brigade and further went to say under section 1, sub-section 1 paragraph F, commonly referred to as 11 (F), that a fire brigade must give advice and assistance on matters of fire prevention if so requested by any person . The Act did not however give any other powers to the fire brigade in terms of inspection and enforcement . </P>

Why was the fire safety and safety of places of sport act 1987 introduced