Fire Risk Assessment
With over 40 years experience Exova Warringtonfire is widely accepted as one of the leaders in the field of fire safety in buildings. Fire risk assessment is one of our particular areas of expertise.
We know that a lot of business owners and managers are uncertain about the need for fire risk assessments. To help, we have given a short guide below
Why do I need to carry out a fire risk assessment?
Clearly, every organisation has an obligation to protect the safety of its staff. On top of that, there is a legal requirement. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order requires fire risk assessments to be carried out on the standards of safety on almost all places of work.
If this is not done the person responsible for that building may be at risk of being prosecuted. For example, in November 2009, a top retailer was fined £400,000 and had to pay £136,000 in costs for breaches of the Fire Safety Order.
The legal issues are covered in the this government web page.
I have had a fire certificate for years. Isn’t that enough?
Fire certificates used to be provided by the fire brigade under the Fire Precautions Act which was replaced by the Fire Safety Order so they are no longer relevant.
What types of buildings are covered by the Fire Safety Order?
It applies to almost all buildings where someone could be working.
Typical buildings that are covered include offices, shops, hospitals, cinemas, care homes, railway stations, warehouses, schools and the common areas of blocks of flats. This is not a comprehensive list so if you have any queries please contact us.
What level of expertise is needed?
It depends on the property. For small, simple properties it might be possible for the owner to carry it out as long as you familiarize yourself with the Government’s guidance documents
However, it is important to note that a large proportion of prosecutions are because the fire brigade does not believe that the assessment is good enough.
If you use professional fire risk assessors, it is still your responsibility to ensure that they are competent. For non-experts, that can be difficult, so that is why we ensure that all of our fire risk assessors are independently certified under the Fire Risk Assessor Certification Scheme , a third party certification scheme run by the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors. The scheme is the only one in the country that is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
So, if we carry out the fire risk assessment for you, you can be sure that it is carried out by a qualified assessor and backed by a company with the experience and expertise to make sure that you comply with the legislation.
What do I do now?
Click on this link which will take you to the page with our contact details, and we will be happy to help.
