Can you carry out your own fire risk assessment?
A commonly asked question by hotelkeepers, building owners and those liable for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk assessment?
In this blog post, we’re going to clarify why it is possible– but may not always be the proper choice to make. Who are we? Find Out More
The short answer is ‘Of course – you can conduct 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 building, what you do, and any risks you can identify from the limited knowledge you have. If in doubt get in touch Find Out More
You could possibly even do your own research, perhaps even go to a fire safety training course. This may have been satisfactory prior to 2005, as the fire service used to check out your property and carry out an audit to deliver you with a fire certificate. But, since then, the requirements and law for fire safety became much more strict and things changed noticeably.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was effectively introduced in 2006– was created to remodel fire safety in England & Wales, to introduce the requirement for a suitable and adequate 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 scrutiny, but the meaning has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment can only be carried out by a competent professional.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with adequate training, credentials, experience and attitude. A competent person needs to have obtained specific training in relation to fire risk analyses, they must have some form of certification to back that up, experience in assessing your type of property, and the right approach to ensure they’re able to communicate the findings effectively. All of the above can be achieved for your fire risk assessment by using outside assessors.
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