What is a Fire Safety Risk Assessment?

A Fire Safety Risk Assessment is a systematic and detailed examination of premises and its use to determine the likelihood of a fire starting and causing harm to those in and around it. This assessment is legally required to be carried out for all non-domestic premises to ensure the safety of occupants.

The Fire Risk Assessment process involves identifying the potential sources of ignition that could start a fire (such as electrical equipment or flammable substances), the materials that might fuel a fire (such as paper, wood, or flammable liquids), and the people who may be at risk. Once these elements have been identified, the risk is evaluated, considering existing fire safety measures and their effectiveness. This risk is evaluated in terms of the likelihood of a fire occurring and the potential severity of the consequences if a fire were to happen.

Following the evaluation, a plan is developed to eliminate or reduce the fire risk to an acceptable level. This plan could involve implementing additional fire safety measures, improving existing measures, or changing how certain work activities are carried out. Regular review and updates to the fire risk assessment are also part of the process to ensure that any changes in circumstances are considered. A Fire Risk Assessment aims to reduce the risk of a fire starting, limit the spread of fire if it does occur, and ensure that all occupants can safely escape from the premises.

Who is legally responsible for ensuring a commercial building has a fire safety risk assessment?

The responsibility for completing a Fire Risk Assessment falls on the responsible person. This individual could be the owner, building manager, facilities manager, or the occupier of premises. In certain cases, the responsibility may also lie with the management company responsible for overseeing the building's safety.

The responsible person is tasked with ensuring that regular fire risk assessments are conducted, identifying potential fire hazards, and implementing necessary safety measures to protect the people at risk and the property. They must ensure that emergency plans are current and that all emergency escape routes are clear and accessible.

By fulfilling these duties, the responsible person plays a crucial role in maintaining safety in business environments and ensuring compliance with safety regulations.

What is a Generic Risk Assessment?   

Generic risk assessments cover common hazards for a task or activity. The idea behind generic risk assessment is to cut down on duplication of effort and paperwork. This type of risk assessment will consider the hazards for an activity in a single assessment. And be used where that activity may be carried out across different areas of the workplace or different sites.

A generic risk assessment will often be used for similar activities or equipment across different sites, departments or companies. It can act as a risk assessment template, covering the types of hazards and risks usually present for the activity.

It's important to remember that while the risks from an activity may be common across different sites, changes in the environment can affect risk levels, and even introduce new hazards. It's probably best to use generic risk assessments as a starting point for a site-specific risk assessment.

What is a Task Based Risk Assessment?   

A task based risk assessment is a formal process of identifying the hazards associated with each individual task to be performed, assessing the risk, and providing the safety controls to manage the risk. This type of risk assessment is very often used on one off type activities in a workplace, where the activity to be performed is not included within a companies normal day to day risk management portfolio.

What is a Site Specific Risk Assessment?   

Site-specific risk assessments are risk assessments that have been adapted to a specific site and contain the relevant information for that particular project. Site-specific risk assessments take into account the actual site conditions and type of project and address only the relevant hazards.

What is a Health and Safety policy and who needs to have one? 

A health and safety policy is a document that formalises an companies commitment to workplace safety and outlines the arrangements in place to manage risks.

Under UK law, organisations with five or more employees must have a written health and safety policy that is shared with all staff. . A well-structured policy ensures compliance with health and safety laws, improves workplace culture, and reduces the likelihood of accidents.

A Review Service For Existing Assessments:

If you already have risk assessments and you need them amended to include changes in you business circumstance or to your commercial building we are happy to review, update and re-endorse them.

If a previous owner has passed risk assessments onto you as part of a sale or change of tenancy, we can have the assessments fully reviewed and re-endorsed with you identified on the assessment as the new “responsible person”.