A regularly asked query by property owners, building owners and those accountable for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk assessment?
In this post, we’re going to discuss why it is feasible– but may not always be the appropriate conclusion to make. Who are we? Fire Risk Assessment
The short answer is ‘Certainly – you can carry out your own fire risk assessment’, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk assessment and filling out the areas to describe your property, what you do, and any risks you can identify from the limited understanding you have. If in doubt get in touch Pyro Fire
You might even do your own research, perhaps even go to a fire safety course. This may have been reasonable prior to 2005, as the fire service used to visit your building and carry out an audit to deliver you with a fire certificate. However, since then, the requirements and law for fire safety became much more rigorous and things changed dramatically.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was effectively introduced in 2006– was developed to remodel fire safety in England & Wales, to bring in the need for a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment to be carried out for all non-domestic premises.
The words ‘suitable and sufficient’ when used in law, were certainly brought under examination, but the definition has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment can only be carried out by a competent man or woman.
‘Competent’ can be defined as somebody with enough training, qualifications, experience and attitude. A competent person must have acquired specific training in relation to fire risk evaluations, they must have some form of certification to back that up, experience in assessing your type of building, and the proper approach to ensure they’re able to communicate the results effectively. All of the above can be achieved for your fire risk assessment by using external inspectors.
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