subject: What Comprises A Fire Risk Assessment? [print this page] A safe workplace is generally a happy and productive workplace, so managing safety is an important part of any businesses plans. One of the greatest threats to a working environment that isn't correctly managed is fire, but this can be combated through regular fire risk assessment and action planning.
Regularly assessing safety hazards in the workplace is an important part of meeting industry standards and providing a working environment that is sufficiently safe and secure for employees to go about their tasks. A fire risk assessment should be carried out by a 'responsible person' on a regular basis according to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and a subsequent action plan for safeguarding future good practice should be drawn up.
In order to ensure that these assessments are carried out thoroughly and responsibly, it can be beneficial to call in a specialist fire consultancy agency. They can establish the fire hazards within the building(s), the persons who are at risk from fire and ways in which to minimise that risk. All this is done as part of a professionally written action plan which can be made available to employees in order to make them aware of the steps that need to be taken in order to minimise the chance of fire.
In order to undertake a fire risk assessment, a consultancy agency can take the course of a working day to carry out a comprehensive audit of the fire measures that currently exist by observing and analysing the premises. Having taken in the practices and methods employed by staff, in conjunction with the standard, tidiness and design of the working environment, the agency is able to make their recommendations regarding how fire safe the premises are and how this rating can be improved.
A full assessment document contains a tick list of standards that must be met in order to comply with basic fire safety. This list covers a wide range of factors, such as the safety of portable heaters and whether there are a sufficient number of fire exits. Having received these observations, it is possible for a company to ascertain which elements of their fire safety need to be improved. These recommendations are detailed in greater depth within the accompanying action plan, which breaks down the actions that need to be carried out in order to reduce particular risks that have been deemed too great.
Fire risk assessment consultants are trained to ensure that the standard of fire prevention within your premises is sufficient. During an assessment they can also impart their knowledge on to employees, while advising them of the best practices for the future.
