A regularly asked question by property owners, building owners and those responsible for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk evaluation?
In this short article, we’re going to explain why it is conceivable– but may not necessarily be the proper decision to make. Who are we? -
The short answer is ‘Certainly – you can perform your own fire risk evaluation’, there is virtually nothing stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk evaluation and filling out the fields to define your building, what you do, and any risks you can identify from the limited expertise you have. If in doubt get in touch -
You could even do your own analysis, perhaps even go to a fire safety program. This may have been reasonable prior to 2005, as the fire service used to check out your property and carry out an audit to deliver you with a fire certificate. However, since then, the demands and law for fire safety became much more strict and things changed substantially.
The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was in fact introduced in 2006– was created to reform fire safety in England & Wales, to introduce the need for a suitable and adequate fire risk evaluation to be carried out for all non-domestic premises.
The words ‘suitable and sufficient’ when used in law, were undoubtedly brought under examination, but the meaning has since been made very obvious:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk evaluation can only be carried out by a competent individual.
‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with enough training, certifications, experience and attitude. A competent person must have received specific training in relation to fire risk assessments, they must have some form of qualification to back that up, experience in assessing your type of property, and the proper approach to ensure they’re able to communicate the results effectively. All of the above can be achieved for your fire risk evaluation by using external assessors.
Find out More about our Fire risk assessments -