As a building owner or occupier, you have legal duties to manage fire risk. To do this, you must have a fire risk assessment carried out by a competent person. To ensure this is done properly, you should select a fire risk assessor who is third-party accredited. This article aims to answer your questions about third-party fire risk assessor accreditation schemes.
Background:
Most, if not all fires, can be avoided. Fires destroy lives, families, and businesses, and many businesses do not recover after a serious fire. Therefore, it is very important that you have an up-to-date fire risk assessment in place.
Fire is serious business. In the year ending March 2021, there were nearly 62,000 primary fires in the UK. These fires led to 240 fire-related fatalities. This is according to Home Office: Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics. These figures are way too high. JCH Safety area committed to making workplaces, schools and community buildings safer.
Your Questions Answered:
Do I need a fire risk assessment?
The answer is yes. Fire risk assessments must be carried out by law. If you are responsible for a building, such as a property owner or an occupant, you must have an up to date, suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. The only buildings that do not normally require a fire risk assessment is a single private dwelling used as a private home. Otherwise, if you’re a property owner or occupant, you have a legal responsibility to identify fire hazards in your property and take appropriate action to limit/mitigate them. In other words, you need a fire risk assessment.
If you occupy or own a commercial or public building such as a factory, warehouse or offices; a place of assembly such as a church or community centre; run a school, an entertainment venue or a licenced premise (pub or hotel); or have a building with multiple dwellings within it, you must take appropriate steps to manage fire risk.
Can anyone carry out a fire risk assessment?
The answer is no. People carrying out fire risk assessments must be competent. You wouldn’t let just anyone fix your gas boiler, you would expect them to be third party certified and registered with Gas Safe for example. This way, you know that they will be suitably trained and competent to safely carry out your gas repairs. In the same way, the person carrying out your fire risk assessment should be trained and experienced and therefore able to provide proof of this. With 240 deaths mentioned above, it is obvious how serious fire risk assessments are. Done properly, they save lives.
The person you select to carry out your fire risk assessment should be third party accredited so that you know they have the necessary skills and expertise to help you manage your fire risks. When choosing someone to carry out your fire risk assessment, check that they have first been assessed by a recognised, third-party accreditation scheme such as the one managed by The Institute of Fire Safety Managers that we are registered with.
What happens if I don’t have a suitable fire risk assessment in place?
If someone who isn’t competent produces your fire risk assessment, there is a very good chance that the fire risk assessment they produce will not be suitable. In basic terms, it could be dangerous. Quite simply, failure to have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment in place is against the law. It is negligent and there could be legal consequences. In the same way a car needs to have a suitable MOT, carried out by a professional, your building’s fire risk assessment needs to be competently carried out.
This means if you do not have a fire risk assessment, which has been prepared by a competent person, you could be prosecuted. You must bear this in mind when you appoint someone to help you prepare your fire risk assessment. If it is not done properly, you as the responsible person, are liable.
If there was a fire in your premises, and you have not met your legal duties, you risk severe fines or possible imprisonment.
Fire risk assessments are serious and done properly, they save lives.
How do I find a suitable fire risk assessor?
This is easy to do. There are several professional third-party accrediting bodies that assess fire risk assessor competence. By using fire risk assessors who have been assessed by one of these third party accreditors, means you can have peace of mind when selecting the best person for you. There are five main third-party accreditation schemes for fire risk assessors. These are:
–Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM)
-Warrington Fire
-BAFE
-Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)
-The Institution of Fire Prevention Offices
When choosing your fire risk assessor, ensure they are members of an appropriate fire risk assessors register. Simply Google the scheme and look for the right fire risk assessor for your need.
How can JCH Safety help?
JCH Safety are professional fire risk assessors. We are fully insured, trained and competent. All of our fire risk assessments are carried out by competent, third-party accredited fire risk assessors. We are members of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers Tiered Fire Risk Assessors Register. To see our entry, click here.
As a business, we are specialists in carrying our fire risk assessments. We have a varied portfolio of clients, including schools, offices, businesses, pubs, places of worship, community centres and warehouses.
If you require a fire risk assessment, please get in touch to discuss your requirements.
We publish our highly competitive price. Please click here to get an instant price for your building based on its size. We are always very happy to discuss your needs and to help you calculate your cost if you are not certain of your building size. Please call or email us to find out more.
CALL NOW 024 7771 7503
JCH Safety Ltd are based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. We work across the Midlands from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. We go as far north as Manchester and often work as south as London. Many of our clients are based around Coventry and Birmingham. If you require a fire risk assessment, we look forward to hearing from you.