Fire Risk Assessments

read time: 3 mins
21.07.17

Unfortunately the recent tragic events in London have brought fire safety to the forefront of all our minds. If you are a landlord, business owner, director, manager, employer or occupant you have a responsibility for fire safety.

A Fire Risk Assessment of your premises is a legal requirement under the Fire Safety Order 2005.

What is a Fire Risk Assessment?

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Sometimes referred to as the FSO or RRO) you must produce a fire risk assessment on your premise. It must include a comprehensive review of:

  • How a fire could start.
  • Who would be in danger?
  • The fire precautions in your premises to minimise the effects of fire.
  • A plan to deal with a fire should one start.

The fire risk assessment must also be communicated to everyone it affects and reviewed at regular intervals.

A fire risk assessment must also be produced for all non-domestic premises in England and Wales and is applicable if you are:

  • Responsible for business premises.
  • An employer or self-employed with business premises.
  • A charity or voluntary organisation.
  • A contractor with a degree of control over any premises.

 This assessment will:

  • Emphasise preventing fires and reducing risk.
  • Make it your responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone who uses your premises and in the immediate vicinity.
  • Remove the need for fire certificates (these no longer have any legal status).

 Why do I need one? 

  • Because it is the law. You must have a “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment and have it available on the site for inspection by the fire authority.
  • Your insurance company may refuse to pay on a claim for a fire, if you have not met your legal obligations under the Fire Safety Order 2005.
  • It is a fact that over 80% of businesses that have a serious fire do not recover.
  • It makes good business sense to prevent fire happening and to mitigate the effects should one start.
  • It helps prevent disruption to your business and minimise financial loses.
  • Failure to meet your responsibilities under the Fire Safety Order 2005 can lead to fines or imprisonment.

 Why chose Ashfords LLP?

  • Ashfords has qualified, knowledgeable and experienced fire risk assessors with a wealth of industry qualifications and third party certification. 
  • Using Ashfords' for your fire safety services gives you the peace of mind of knowing you have the back up of our expert legal teams.
  • We believe that a risk assessment should allow you to do something safely - not stop you from doing it at all.
  • Our assessments are site specific (as required by the FSO), we do not use generic tick box forms or computer generated solutions.
  • We will only make improvement recommendations if we find your current precautions to be insufficient. We often find that our clients are spending money on items they don’t need or have been oversold.
  • We will always provide you with the most cost effective and practical solution based on your business needs and our extensive knowledge and experience. 
  • We avoid complicated terminology and jargon: we write the assessment for you to help you manage your fire safety day to day. Our assessments are, however, supported with detailed technical specifications or appropriate British Standards where appropriate.

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