A generally asked question by property owners,building owners and those accountable for dealing with fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk analysis?
In this blog post,we’re going to discuss why it is conceivable– but may not always be the correct conclusion to make. Who are we? Fire Risk Assessment
The short answer is ‘Certainly – you can carry out your own fire risk analysis’,there is nothing at all stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk analysis and filling out the fields to describe your structure,what you do,and any risks you can identify from the limited expertise you have. If in doubt get in touch Fire Risk Assessment
You could even do your own research,perhaps even go to a fire safety training course. This may have been acceptable 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 stringent and things changed noticeably.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005,which was really introduced in 2006– was designed to change fire safety in England & Wales,to bring in the need for a suitable and sufficient fire risk analysis to be carried out for all non-domestic premises.
The words ‘suitable and sufficient’ when used in law,were definitely brought under scrutiny,but the definition has since been made very obvious:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk analysis can only be carried out by a competent expert.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with enough training,qualifications,experience and attitude. A competent person must have obtained specific training in relation to fire risk assessments,they must have some form of qualification to back that up,experience in assessing your type of building,and the right attitude to ensure they’re able to communicate the results effectively. All of the above can be achieved for your fire risk analysis by using external inspectors.
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