Fire Risk Assessment

Fire Risk Assessments:

If you are an employer, then you have a duty under the appropriate Fire Safety Legislation The Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (England & Wales), The Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations and The Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment.

Post Grenfell there have been numerous changes to Fire Safety Legislation which will affect all premises. This includes newly released amendments that came into force on 1st October 2023. The Introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 and specifically Section 156, has brought in Phase 3 of the Home Office plan for improving Fire Safety in higher risk Buildings. (Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 highlights residential buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises), but the changes affect all buildings and premises that are in the scope of The Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005. 

The Main Changes are –

The amendment will place new legal duties on responsible persons (RPs) to record their fire risk assessments in full.  

The amendment changes the previous requirement of having a written fire risk assessment only where there are five or more employees, to include all premises regardless of number of employees.  This means no matter what size organisation you are; you will have to record the findings of your fire risk assessment.   

The amendment has also changed what must be recorded within the fire risk assessment, as the word “significant” has been removed from article 9 (7)(a) of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Consequently, it is no longer just the significant findings of the risk assessment but all findings of the risk assessment, including the measures which have been, or will be taken by the responsible person.

Government Guidance:

Article 8 (1) (a) (b) requires you to take appropriate measures to reduce the risk of fire and the risk of spread of fire on the premises, as provided for within Article 4 (1) (a), to ensure the safety of employees and relevant persons who are not employees. 

The Fire Risk Assessment should record the methodology applied, and should make reference to any Legislation, Regulations or Standards used to arrive at the outcome achieved. The Risk Assessment should be retained on the premises and be available for inspection at all times.

Once a fire risk assessment has been carried out. The assessment will normally require a formal review (this will be detailed by the risk assessor in his report). You must, however, keep the assessment as a live working document.

BAFE Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment (SP205) Scheme.

Our company is proud to be BAFE accredited for numerous services, however, To maintain a position of impartiality we subcontract our fire risk assessments to an Independent BAFE SP205 accredited Fire Risk Assessor. In this way, there is no conflict of interest on our part.

The BAFE Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment (SP205) Scheme has been developed by BAFE with industry experts committed to providing quality guidance in relation to fire safety primarily emphasising the importance of fire risk assessments.