A generally asked question by landlords, building owners and those liable for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk assessment?
In this post, we’re going to explain why it is feasible– but may not actually be the correct decision to make. Who are we? Pyro Fire
The short answer is ‘Certainly – you can perform your own fire risk evaluation’, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk evaluation and filling out the fields to define 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 analysis, perhaps even enroll in a fire safety program. This may have been acceptable prior to 2005, as the fire service used to check out your building and carry out an audit to deliver you with a fire certificate. Having said that, since then, the requirements 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 actually introduced in 2006– was designed to remodel fire safety in England & Wales, to introduce the need 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 interpretation has since been made very obvious:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk evaluation can only be carried out by a competent expert.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with sufficient training, certifications, experience and attitude. A competent person must have obtained specific training in relation to fire risk assessments, they must have some form of certification 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 analysis by using outside inspectors.
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