Do I still need to get a fire risk assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic?

,The short answer to this question is – yes!

You need to ensure your buildings are fire safe and this means having an up to date and relevant fire risk assessment in place. Remember, your fire risk assessment is your opportunity to investigate your premises and fire safety procedures to ensure legal compliance. Failure to have an up to date fire risk assessment is against the law and you could face prosecution for not doing it. If your fire risk assessment is more than a year old, why not get in touch with us to discuss your requirements?

Fire safety and the new normal

At last the UK is starting to look a bit more ‘normal’ – many businesses, schools and organisations are getting back to work. New COVID-19 security measures have been put in place and work is starting to get done once more. It is great to see people back at their desks and people returning to the high street. 

One thing that is really important to remember, with the return to work, is that you must keep your fire safety measures up to date. Of course, COVID-19 safety is vital (and we can help you with that), but you must also make sure not to neglect your other legal duties.

You must make sure your fire risk assessment is up to date- that means it should have been reviewed by a competent person in the last 12 months or sooner if you have had any changes to your business.  If, after the pandemic, your business, school or shop is going to work differently to how it used to, you will need to update your fire risk assessment. Your old assessment may fundamentally be out of date as your business has changed. Many companies are opening up their premises but with a reduced amount of staff or with lots of staff working from home. This means the way the fire evacuation may have worked previously, may not be suitable anymore. Other issues that may affect your fire safety measures could be the controls you have put in place to mitigate the risk from COVID-19. Any controls you put in place must not obstruct fire exits or make the building unsafe by blocking fire extinguishers for example.

You need to make sure that your evacuation arrangements still work. Have you got enough fire marshals for the way the business works now? Many companies furloughed staff and these might have been key fire safety staff. You need to review your staff training and ensure you have adequate safety arrangements in place.  It might be worth conducting a fire drill, offering some fire safety refresher training and reviewing your safety protocols in general. We can help with all of these items. We have a great range of online training courses including fire marshal training. Why not check it out?

When was your fire safety equipment last serviced?

You need to ensure that you have not missed vital safety inspections such as emergency lighting checks and fire alarm servicing. Also, when were your fire extinguishers last checked over? Now is a great time to visit your documentation and to rectify any issues that might have arisen also. Have a look through your fire log book and check it is up to date.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been awful and sadly way too many lives have been lost. Thankfully, the crisis is easing and all being well the UK will get back to something like normal soon. JCH Safety are working across Coventry and Warwickshire to help businesses get back to work. We can help with all aspects of fire risk assessing and health and safety. 

Please feel free to get in touch to find out more!