By law, all businesses of a certain size are required to carry out a fire risk assessment. This assessment should be carried out on a regular basis and be used to identify any potential hazards or risks in terms of fire safety. Although each assessment should be detailed and accurate, they are fairly straightforward to carry out.

Complete a Diagram of the Building

Initially, it is a good idea to complete a drawing of the premises in question. This should include separate sheets for each floor and room. The drawings do not have to be exactly to scale but should be a fair representation of the building. The positions of all fire safety equipment, such as extinguishers, alarm points, and fire doors, should be marked clearly on the drawings. Any potential hazards which you identify during your assessment which may increase the likelihood of fire should also be clearly marked. These could include portable heaters or stores of combustible liquids or materials. After recording all of your findings, an emergency evacuation plan should be put in place and kept on file. All staff should be aware of evacuation procedures.

Fire Equipment Testing

As part of the assessment, a record should be made of the dates when all pieces of fire safety equipment were tested. This should include alarms, extinguishers, fire barriers, and sprinklers. Recent events have shown the importance of ensuring all equipment is in good working order. As reported by both the Express and the Daily Mail, a small fire in the iconic Shard building in London was recently put out by fire sprinklers.

Automist Installers in Bristol

One of the newest alternatives to fire sprinklers which may well be included on many more fire risk assessments soon is the Automist system.
Ongoing Requirements

Fire risk assessments should be revisited on a regular basis. During these reviews, the ongoing training requirements for all staff should be updated and another walk-through of the building should be completed to ensure that no new hazards have emerged.

The fire risk assessment is not just a legal requirement. It is also potentially a life-saving exercise that should never be taken for granted.