A generally asked query by hotelkeepers, building owners and those liable for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk analysis?
In this blog post, we’re going to illustrate why it is possible– but may not necessarily be the appropriate choice to make. Who are we? Find Out More
The short answer is ‘Without a doubt – you can perform your own fire risk evaluation’, there is nothing at all stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk evaluation and filling out the fields to describe your building, what you do, and any risks you can identify from the limited expertise you have. If in doubt get in touch Pyro Fire
You could possibly even do your own research, perhaps even attend a fire safety program. This may have been reasonable prior to 2005, as the fire service used to visit your building and carry out an audit to provide you with a fire certificate. Having said that, since then, the criteria and law for fire safety became much more strict and things changed drastically.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was in fact introduced in 2006– was designed to reform fire safety in England & Wales, to introduce 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 undoubtedly brought under scrutiny, but the meaning has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk evaluation can only be carried out by a competent man or woman.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with sufficient training, qualifications, experience and attitude. A competent person must have received 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 correct 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 outside assessors.
Find out More about our Fire risk assessments Find Out More