Fire Risk Assessment – Solent Fire Safety Services

What is a Fire Risk Assessment?

A fire risk assessment is an organised and methodical look at your premises, the activities carried on there and the likelihood that a fire could start and cause harm to those in and around the premises.

Typical aims of a fire risk assessment are:

• To identify the fire hazards and people that may be at risk.

• To reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable.

• To decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to ensure the safety of people in your premises if a fire does start.

The term `where necessary’ is used in the Fire Safety Order, therefore when deciding what fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary you will need to take account of this definition.

The terms `hazard’ and `risk’ are used regularly for any risk assessment process so it is important that you have a clear understanding of how these should be used.

• Hazard: anything that has the potential to cause harm.

• Risk: the chance or likelihood of that harm actually occurring.

If your organisation employs five or more people, or your premises are licensed or an alterations notice requiring it is in force, then the significant findings of the fire risk assessment, the actions to be taken as a result of the assessment and details of anyone especially at risk must be recorded.

The Responsible person may have to consider help to compile the Fire Risk Assessment to make sure its ‘suitable & sufficient’. If they believe that they can not do this, then they should appoint someone who is deemed competent to do this for them. A competent person in the eyes of the law can only be regarded as competent if they have appropriate training, experience, knowledge or other qualities. A very grey area indeed.

To carry out an assessment on simple premises may be straightforward. Plenty of advice on how this can be achieved is available from government websites. Many people though underestimate the size of this task on larger or more complex premises. If you are not sure exactly what is required, please contact us for free impartial advice. Our assessors have many years experience in the Fire Service and can prove competence. They are also fully insured to carry out this very important task & produce a professional report that fully complies with fire safety law.

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