What is a Fire Risk Assessment?
A fire risk assessment is an organised look at what in your workplace and within your
business activities has the potential to cause a fire, what people could be affected by this
and what controls should be implemented as a result of the findings, to reduce the risk of a
fire to the lowest possible levels.
The following points are considered during an assessment to ensure that it is suitable and sufficient:
- Construction of the building and structural features
- Use of the building
- Lives at risk
- Fire warning and detection
- Means of fire fighting
- Means of escape with detailed travel distance calculations
- Sources of ignition
- Combustible materials
- Training
- Electric and gas installations, plant and machinery
- Fire Safety Management
Why should I have a Fire Risk Assessment?
Put simply it is a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
(RRO) for all places of work to have an up to date fire risk assessment. This must be in
writing if you employ over 5 persons within your businesses.
See below for a selection of premises that require a fire risk assessment under the RRO:
- Offices and shops
- Places of entertainment
- Industrial premises
- Warehouses and storage facilities
- Construction and demolition sites
- Animal premises
- Common areas of flats
- House of multiple occupation
- Residential care homes
- Hospitals
- Motor Repair Facilities
- Crematoria
- Transport facilities
- Hotels and hostels
- Clubs, pubs and restaurants
- Marine vessels
- Data centres
- Places of worship
- Schools and nursery’s
- Shopping centres
- Waste transfer facilities
Who must carry out a fire risk assessment?
In order to carry out a fire risk assessment you must be deemed a “Competent Person”. This
means that you must possess the relevant skills, knowledge and experience regarding fire
safety. Put simply in all but the simplest of premises (E.g. A Small single storey shop) you
should hold some degree of fire qualification in order to satisfy the requirements of the
RRO.
What makes us competent?
- Our assessors possess the required level of skill, knowledge and experience before being employed by the company (Copies of training certificates and accreditations are able to be viewed on request)
- We will only carry out a fire risk assessment where we feel we have the necessary experience of the type of building and or activity to be assessed.
- We have an in depth knowledge of Building Regulations in particular Approved document B.
- We have an in depth knowledge of a wide range of British Standards with regards to fire safety.
- We are members of a wide range of accredited bodies such as IFE, FPA, FIA, IOSH, IIRSM, OSHCR, and NICEIC.
- We use consultants who are listed on the IFE approved list of fire risk assessors.
- RHSS Fire are listed on the FIA Approved Fire Risk Assessors Register.
We are on the FIA Fire Risk Assessors Register
Whose responsibility is it to organise a fire risk assessment?
The 'responsible person' is someone who has control, or a degree of control, over premises or fire-prevention systems within premises. If you are the responsible person, you must make sure that everyone who uses your premises can escape if there is a fire.
The people you need to think about include anyone who might be on your premises, including employees, visitors or members of the public. You need to pay particular attention to those who may need special help, such as elderly or disabled people or children.
You must:
- carry out a fire-risk assessment and identify possible dangers and risks
- think about who might be particularly at risk - you may have disabled employees, or people who work with hazardous chemicals
- get rid of the risk from fire, as far as reasonably possible
- put in place fire precautions to deal with any risks that remain
- make sure there is protection if you use or store flammable or explosive materials
- have a plan to deal with emergencies
- record your findings and review them as and when necessary
- If you are the responsible person, you must make sure that the fire-risk assessment is carried out.
How can RHSS Fire Help?
Let RHSS Fire conduct your fire risk assessment and be safe in the knowledge that you are
employing a highly qualified consultancy whose consultants will be a member of the Institute of Fire
Engineers or equivalent, and all this at highly competitive rates. In addition to this we will
be happy to deal with any notices which you may have been served by your local fire authority
prior to our employment, further allowing you to carry on with the things that matter most to
your business.
Once complete we do not believe in just leaving you with your assessment, we will sit down
with you and report our findings and explain how this will impact upon your business. If after
this you still have any concerns / queries we are just a phone call away 365 days of the
year.
Call the team on 0333 577 0148 to enquire about how we can help you today.