Fire Risk Assessment
To meet the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 any company or organisation with 5 or more employees (not necessarily working on the same site) or which allows members of the public onto the premises is required to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment and act on the findings of that assessment.
One fundamental aspect of any fire risk assessment is the requirement to provide training to all employees in Fire Safety and to familiarise them with the outcomes and recommendations of the fire risk assessment.
The Fire Risk Assessment process is a very important one. In 2004 (in England and Wales) the fire service attended 33,400 fires in non domestic buildings. These fires killed 38 people and injured over 1,300. ‘The order’ places the burden of responsibility for fire safety in the hands of employers, who are now responsible for fire safety within their organisations.
We review or develop Fire Risk Assessments through our Fire Safety Consultancy Service. During this process we review your fire safety procedures and your facilities and provide you with the information required to enable you to meet the high standards of fire safety set by ‘the order’.
Our approach is not simply to provide clients with a generic fire risk assessment which gets put on a shelf and ignored. Our risk assessment process is designed to enable you to actively improve the working environment from a fire safety perspective, to be able to understand the process, to share good practice and develop safe working systems throughout your team.
Our completed fire risk assessment is broken down into easy to understand sections which can be used as a fire safety policy document:
- Introduction & definitions
- Fire Safety Policy
- Scope of the Survey
- Details of the Facility – A summary of your building and facilities in regard to fire safety
- Summary of Areas Assessed – In reference to the fire safety facilities, we review their effectiveness, maintenance and testing schedules. We summarise the fire safety systems and procedures in place and any which were not observed which should have been present.
- Fire Safety Advice – This section provides the client with the information they require to understand the fire risk assessment process. It provides qualification of why recommendations have been made, fire safety guidance, the relevant ‘British Standards’ and other legislation which may be appropriate
The risk assessment comes with a set of appendices. Depending on the scope of the works required, these can include:
- Floor Plan – Indicating all the fire escape route, fire fighting facilities and equipment
- Fire Risk Assessment, Action Plan – A plan for the client to implement in order to reduce the risk from fire and meet their statutory duties. This includes time-frames and references individual responsibilities within the organisation for each aspect of the plan
- Emergency Evacuation Procedures – Comprehensive emergency evacuation procedure encompassing individual responsibilities.
- Visitors Emergency Evacuation Procedures – For premises where visitors are regularly on site an abbreviated version of the evacuation plan is provided for distribution during induction.
- Escape and Evacuation Procedures for Persons Especially at Risk – Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) detailing how specific groups of people who may have difficulty evacuating without assistance, will be accounted for within the overall evacuation plan. Including a PEEP Template, an example of a PEEP and an example of a standard PEEP.
- Emergency Services Contact Procedure – Detailed instructions for the person responsible for calling the fire brigade and their back-up.
- Evacuation Co-ordinator Check-list – Detailed instruction for the person responsible for co-ordination of a fire evacuation.
- Fire Safety Equipment Check-list – To facilitate the regular checks required by ‘the order’ of all fire safety equipment and facilities
- Fire Safety Training Record Sheet – To facilitate the recording of fire safety training required by the order.
We treat Fire Risk Assessments as ‘living documents’; that is to say it is not a document which remains static. When we carry out a risk assessment on behalf of a client, it is to make them aware of the risks from fire at their premises and to provide solutions to reduce risks identified. The client has a duty to appoint a ‘responsible and competent person’ to implement recommendations (action plan) and manage the identified risk.
As the workplace changes through expansion, diversification of the business or change of personnel, the risk assessment must be continually reviewed to accommodate these changes. The ‘responsible person’ will be accountable for ensuring appropriate changes to the risk assessment are implemented and that employees are made aware of these changes.
Once we have completed the risk assessment we meet with the client and the appointed responsible person to train them in the implementation of the risk assessment. They then formally adopt the risk assessment and the responsibility for implementation of the recommendation.
Risk assessments must be regularly reviewed. The time frame of any review will be determined by the assessment itself and indicated within the document.
For further information please Contact Us.