Fire Risk Assessments Fire Risk Safety Orpington Sidcup London

Supporting your business and keeping you safe from the risk of fire. . .

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Fire Risk Advice

Fire Safety legislation and its enforcement recognises the importance of fire safety management. Many requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 concern management responsibilities. The legislation imposes a general duty to manage fire safety properly, while Fire Inspection Officers, in “Policing” the legislation, will also consider the standard of fire safety management along with the physical precautions.

As a guide the key components in managing fire safety in any building to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order comprise:

A documented and periodically reviewed fire risk assessment (this is mandatory if you employ 5 or more staff)
A documented fire safety manual, setting out the buildings fire precautions, service and maintenance records, equipment records, fire drills, training etc. (this is mandatory if you employ 5 or more staff)
A clearly defined responsibility for fire safety. The ” Responsible Person(s)”
In house or external expertise in achieving compliance with legislation and fire protection policies.
Suitable fire procedures, including arrangements for the evacuation of disabled people if relevant.
Training of staff, and additional training for those with defined responsibility for fire safety.
Properly conducted fire drills.
Regular in house fire safety inspections.
Formal arrangements for periodic inspection, testing and maintenance of fire extinguishers and other fire safety equipment.
Inspection, testing and maintenance of plant and equipment (e.g. electrical installations).

We are here to assist you and provide you with professional advice and furthermore, we are just a phone call away.

Fire Risk Assessments

If you are an owner, landlord or occupier of a business or other non-domestic premises, you will be responsible for fire safety. You are known as the 'responsible person'.

As the responsible person you must:

carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises and review it regularly

tell staff or their representatives about the risks you have identified

put in place, and maintain, appropriate fire safety measures

plan for an emergency

provide staff information, fire safety instruction and training

We can help you with your responsibilities

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, a fire risk assessment is necessary in virtually all buildings in England and Wales, other than single domestic dwellings. We are normally employed either when a client does not have the necessary competence or when they do not have the time or resources to conduct the risk assessments themselves. A competent person may be regarded as a person with sufficient training and experience, knowledge, or other qualities, to enable them to carry the above defined task properly. A fire risk assessment involves a physical inspection of the building to determine the adequacy of the existing fire precautions and the need for any additional measures. However, of equal importance to the physical inspection is a review of fire safety management in the organisation and consideration of the human factors - how people will respond to an emergency and whether they will take appropriate action. In the case of a fire risk assessment aimed at satisfying the requirements of legislation, the objective of the risk assessment will primarily be the safety of the occupants of the building. While some of the recommendations we may make could also be beneficial to property protection, we would not be specifically addressing this or the objective of avoiding business interruption from fire. However, we do have the expertise to address these objectives, if required.

Fire Risk Strategies

The primary aim of a fire strategy is to design, manage, plan and co-ordinate appropriate fire safety procedures that reflect the organisation’s policy and objectives in relation to fire. Typically, these will be aimed at not only reducing the life risk but also to ensure the protection of business functions, buildings and other assets.

A suitable fire strategy should set a clear framework for fire safety throughout an organisation, and ensure that any specific objectives set by the organisation to meet policy principles are implemented and met. The strategy can also reflect and assist in the delivery of any wider corporate plans or objectives set by the organisation.

This can be done by:

prompting consideration of the fire safety requirements of the premises in question and of its occupants
widening the consideration of fire precautions with respect to broader objectives including life safety, property protection, business protection and environmental considerations
assisting in the review of fire system design criteria prior to the preparation of the designs
providing a framework for all future fire safety and protection works and for the integration of fire protection measures in multi-occupancy premises.

In this sense, a fire strategy may prove invaluable to senior managers for due diligence purposes and where requirements for a strategic approach to managing fire risk has to be considered in a wider business context.

Typically, a fire strategy represents the focus of attention over a defined period of time and determines much of the practical fire safety management requirements.

The objectives that drive the strategy will clearly vary for each organisation, but in general terms will be based on the fire safety management aspirations contained in the relevant policy, as well as more strategic business objectives.

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Fire Safety Law changed in October 2006 with the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. This new legislation placed an emphasis on risk assessment; it is a requirement of the Fire Safety Order that all ‘responsible persons’ carry out a fire risk assessment of their premises in order to ensure the safety of all employees and other ‘relevant persons’.

The risk of fire is an ever-present hazard in all premises, therefore as an occupier/employer you need to understand the scale of the risk and the potential consequences if a fire were to develop.

A fire risk assessment, apart from meeting legislative requirements, can offset more onerous prescriptive fire safety requirements by quantitative and qualitative assessment.

Building owners and operators alike, have responsibility for the safety of the occupants of their buildings. We have vast experience of providing bespoke fire risk assessments for a wide variety of premises and clients, including:

Healthcare
Schools, Nurseries & Play Groups
Educational establishments – Universities & Colleges
Care homes
Libraries
Offices
Hotels
Residential Buildings

Our competent fire risk assessors have a range of fire safety qualifications including, BEng - Fire Risk Engineering, Members of The Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE) and are registered on the IFE’s Fire Risk Assessment Register.

Our Fire Risk Assessment reports are easily understood and provide a compliant and detailed fire risk assessment in accordance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.

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