A generally asked question by property managers, building owners and those accountable for managing fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk analysis?
In this article, we’re going to clarify why it is feasible– but may not normally be the correct conclusion to make. Who are we? Fire Risk Assessment
The short answer is ‘Without a doubt – you can execute 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 define your structure, 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 even do your own analysis, perhaps even attend a fire safety course. This may have been acceptable prior to 2005, as the fire service used to check out your property and carry out an audit to provide you with a fire certificate. Having said that, since then, the requirements and law for fire safety became much more rigorous and things changed considerably.
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 requirement for a suitable and adequate 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 meaning has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk analysis can only be carried out by a competent person.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with adequate training, qualifications, experience and attitude. A competent person needs to have acquired 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 property, 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 external inspectors.
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