Could you carry out your own fire risk assessment?

A regularly asked query by property managers, building owners and those responsible for handling fire safety is– can I do my own fire risk assessment?

In this article, we’re going to clarify why it is possible– but may not always be the appropriate decision to make. Who are we?  Fire Risk Assessment

The short answer is ‘Without a doubt – you can perform your own fire risk assessment’, there is virtually nothing stopping you from Googling an online design template for a fire risk assessment and filling out the areas to describe your building, what you do, and any risks you can identify from the limited understanding you have. If in doubt get in touch  Fire Risk Assessment

You could possibly even do your own research, perhaps even attend a fire safety training course. 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. But, since then, the demands and law for fire safety became much more rigorous and things changed substantially.

The law for fire safety – The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which was really introduced in 2006– was developed to change fire safety in England & Wales, to bring in the need for a suitable and adequate fire risk assessment to be carried out for all non-domestic premises.

The words ‘suitable and sufficient’ when used in law, were certainly brought under examination, but the interpretation has since been made very clear:
A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment can only be carried out by a competent expert.

‘Competent’ can be defined as someone with adequate training, qualifications, experience and attitude. A competent person must have obtained specific training in relation to fire risk evaluations, they must have some form of certification 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 assessment by using external inspectors.

Find out More about our Fire risk assessments  Fire Risk Assessment