The London Fire Brigade now offers a fire risk assessment course: an interactive study programme designed to assist managers in meeting their legal requirements. The course focuses on those preventative and defensive measures that will help to successfully decrease fire hazards, while providing a complete look at the idea of fire risk assessment. The course material and handouts are used with reference to current legislation and “best practice” guidance.

New fire safety and risk assessment regulations affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on October 1, 2006. If you are:

• In charge of business premises,
  
• A manager or self-employed person with business premises,
  
• In charge of a section of a residence where that section is exclusively used for business purposes.
  
• A charity or voluntary organisation,
  
• A service provider with a degree of control over any premises,
  

…then you need to act now to make sure that you have an appropriate and adequate risk assessment in place.

Risk assessment is perhaps the most essential component of health and safety since it allows you to learn what can cause harm to people in your office or place of work. The simplest type of risk assessment is known as the “Five Steps” system, which is perfectly adequate for use by any workplace. There are always hazards in and around the workplace that can cause harm to staff, volunteers, visitors and other members of the public.

Hazards can range from objects that can cause someone to trip or fall, things that get hot that can burn, electrical dangers and hazards from equipment such as display screens. It is easy to ignore some hazards because they are familiar. In order to avoid this, use a floor plan of the building and mark on it where each hazard is. Consider the people that use the building and how the hazard might affect them.

You are required by law to do a fire risk assessment of your premises as the first step to protect people from the risk of fire. The fire risk assessment is not a “one off” procedure, it needs to be kept under review and modified where needed, for instance when the fire risk or hazard may have changed because of changes to building design, number of employees, etc.

Disabled people, children and the elderly must all be given special consideration. As you evaluate the risk, think about those things that are already in place to reduce it. “Risk” refers to the fact that someone might be harmed. Risk assessments must be done in writing if you have five or more employees, and this includes volunteers. The assessments must be dated and preferably signed, and filed in a safe place for future reference.

They must be reviewed periodically to ensure that they remain valid. Since you are more likely to spot hazards and make a judgement about the risk after the assessment is done, particularly if you have never done one before, it is a good idea to review them about every six months. If you have large or complex premises, the guidelines above can help you with the fire risk assessment, but you may need added information.

Whether a major industrial company or a small to medium enterprise, fire and its consequences pose a significant risk to any business. Whatever type of business you control, the chances are that you are an employer responsible by law for doing a risk assessment and protecting the health, safety and welfare of those who work for you. This is now a legal requirement, even if a fire certificate has been issued for the premises.