Katherine Metcalfe

Partner, Pinsent Masons

Katherine is a litigator specialising in advice on health and safety, fire safety and environmental matters. Katherine works across the infrastructure, energy and real estate sectors. She is at the forefront of the firm's thought leadership on building and fire safety, advising clients on regulatory change occasioned by the Hackitt review of building regulations and fire safety. Having spent two years heading up the in-house legal team at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Katherine is uniquely placed to guide clients through the complexities of fire safety regulation across the UK. More broadly, Katherine has a wealth of experience in health and safety, environmental and fire safety law. For well over a decade, Katherine has provided pragmatic and down-to-earth advice to the firm's clients, including key players and household names, not only on immediate incident response, internal investigation, and investigations by regulators, but also on how to avoid an incident occurring in the first place. She frequently appears in courts and tribunals defending organisations charged with regulatory offences, representing their interests at Fatal Accident Inquiries and appealing enforcement action. She is a regular speaker at health and safety and fire safety events and provides training and advice on preventative measures.

Contributed to

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Fire safety law and offences in Scotland

Practice notes

This Practice Note explains the regulation and enforcement of fire safety laws for non-domestic premises in Scotland. It considers the requirements of Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, SSI 2006/456. It touches on fire safety in Scotland following the Grenfell Tower fire, including the Review of the Fire Safety Regime in Scotland for High Rise Domestic Property. It considers the scope of fire safety duties placed on Scottish employers and on persons who have control of relevant premises, the fire safety criminal offences which may be committed, the enforcing authorities for fire safety in Scotland as well as the enforcement powers available in response to fire safety offences and fire safety breaches in Scotland. It also explains the scope and purpose of prohibition notices, enforcement notices and alteration notices in the context of fire safety in Scotland.

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