How to write a fire safety risk assessment
Although writing a fire safety risk assessment may not sound like the most exciting task, it’s a crucial step in ensuring the safety of your building, business, and people. And it’s clear to see why.
According to a government survey, in the year ending June 2022, there were 275 fire-related fatalities.
With care and due diligence, fires can be easily prevented. That’s why a fire safety risk assessment is so important.
Who needs to carry out a fire safety risk assessment?
A fire safety risk assessment is a recorded document that is legally required by persons responsible for a building, including employers. They are required to outline any fire risks and what measures are in place to mitigate these risks.
What to consider in your fire safety risk assessment?
GOV.uk advise that businesses should consider the following areas in their fire risk assessments:
- Emergency routes and exits
- Fire detection and warning systems
- Fire fighting equipment
- Removal or safe storage of dangerous substances
- Emergency fire evacuation plan
- Needs of vulnerable people, for example the elderly, young children or those with disabilities
- Providing information to employees and other people on the premises
- Fire safety training for staff
How many steps make up a fire safety risk assessment?
There are a few fire safety risk assessment steps you can take to create a comprehensive and effective fire safety risk assessment that will help you identify and mitigate any potential fire hazards. So, let’s get started!
Identify fire hazards
The first step of a fire safety risk assessment is to identify any potential fire hazards that might be present in your place of work.
This can be anything from electrical equipment, flammable materials, or heating sources. Identifying and recording all of the fire hazards in your workplace is crucial so there are no overlooked fire hazards.
Identify people at risk
Secondly, you need to find out which people are at risk of the identified hazards and why.
In this area of the fire risk assessment, you should consider a person’s equipment, workspace, medical issues, amongst a number of other areas that could affect an individual.
Evaluate, remove, or reduce the risks
Now you know who is at risk of what, you can begin to take action!
In your fire safety risk assessment, you should identify the risks that are easy to mitigate and evaluate how best to either remove or reduce them.
Record your findings, prepare an emergency plan and provide training
All of the information above should be recorded, as it will help reduce the chance of any risks going undetected in the next assessment.
As a result of these findings, you can come to a conclusion on what training needs to be in place, and also what should be done in case of an emergency.
Review and update
A key, yet often overlooked, step of a fire risk assessment is regularly reviewing and updating the important document.
All sorts of things change in the workplace, and new risks do develop more than you might think. For this reason, it’s crucial that you regularly review your fire risk assessment to ensure that it’s up-to-date and covering all current risks and hazards.
By following these simple steps, you can create a comprehensive fire safety risk assessment.
Writing a commercial fire risk assessment
You might not be comfortable writing the commercial fire risk assessment yourself, or you might not have the time to do so. In this case, a competent person is able to help. This can be someone in your organisation with the necessary skills and experience, like the fire warden.
Your local fire and rescue department should be able to offer you advice if you’re unsure your risk assessment has been carried out properly. However, they cannot carry out risk assessments for you.
Fire safety risk assessment training with iHasco
Need a helping hand with fire safety and risk management in the workplace? We’ve got you covered.
Here at iHasco, we can prepare your team for anything with our range of online training courses, including our library of Fire Safety Training courses!
Some of our most popular courses from this bundle include:
For more information on fire safety, take a look at our FAQ & resources section on our website. There are plenty of free supporting documents and videos that could be useful, as well as our most common FAQs. You can also download our Fire Safety Checklist to help you with your risk assessment.
Want to take control of fire safety in your business? Start with a free trial of our courses today. Alternatively, request a bespoke quote from our team and they will be in touch to discuss your training needs.
Marketing Executive