A typically asked query by property managers, building owners and those liable for managing fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk assessment?
In this blog post, we’re going to illustrate why it is feasible– but may not necessarily be the correct choice to make. Who are we? Pyro Fire
The short answer is ‘Of course – you can execute your own fire risk evaluation’, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk analysis and filling out the fields 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 Find Out More
You might even do your own analysis, perhaps even go to a fire safety training course. This may have been satisfactory prior to 2005, as the fire service used to visit your building and carry out an audit to deliver you with a fire certificate. Having said that, since then, the criteria and law for fire safety became much more rigorous and things changed substantially.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was in fact introduced in 2006– was created to remodel fire safety in England & Wales, to introduce the need for a suitable and sufficient fire risk evaluation 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 interpretation has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment can only be carried out by a competent person.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with adequate training, credentials, experience and attitude. A competent person needs to have acquired specific training in relation to fire risk evaluations, they must have some form of qualification to back that up, experience in assessing your type of building, and the right approach to ensure they’re able to communicate the results effectively. All of the above can be achieved for your fire risk analysis by using outside inspectors.
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