What is a fire risk assessment?

Contents
1. Overview 2. What is a fire risk assessment?

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force in England and Wales on 1 October 2006. Similar provisions came into effect in Scotland, via the Fire Safety (Scotland) Act 2005. In Northern Ireland, there is currently a consultation to bring the legislation in line with the rest of the UK, part of which has been implemented under the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. Until the new regulations come fully into force and the consultations produce new legislation in Northern Ireland, (the Fire Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1984 is still applicable. If you are:

• Responsible for business premises
• An employer or self-employed with business premises
• Responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes
• A charity or voluntary organisation
• A contractor with a degree of control over any premises

then you need to act now to ensure you have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in place.

Good management of fire safety is essential to ensure that fires are unlikely to occur; that if they do occur they are likely to be controlled or contained quickly, effectively and safely; or that, if a fire does occur and grow, everyone in your premises is able to escape to a place of safety easily and quickly. The risk assessment that you carry out will help you ensure that your fire safety procedures, fire prevention measures, and fire precautions (plans, systems and equipment) are all in place and working properly. The risk assessment should identify any issues that need attention.

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. The aims of the fire risk assessment are:

• To identify the fire hazards.
• 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 terms ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’ should be understood as the following:

• Hazard: anything that has the potential to cause harm.
• Risk: the chance of that harm 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 must be recorded. You will probably find it helpful to keep a record of the significant findings of your fire risk assessment even if you are not required to do so.