Who is Responsible for a Fire Risk Assessment?
Fire safety should always be the top priority for property owners. Without a proper fire risk assessment, the risk of a fire breaking out and causing harm or damage is increased. To prevent such incidents, the UK law mandates fire risk assessments to be carried out on a regular basis.
In this article, find out who is responsible for completing a fire risk assessment, what one entails and how regularly they should be carried out.
What is a fire risk assessment?
A fire risk assessment is the evaluation of fire hazards in a building. It identifies which areas of the building pose a fire risk and establishes the measures required to mitigate or eliminate that risk. Fire risk assessments are a key strategy to ensuring the safety of the occupants in a building
Who is the responsible person for a fire risk assessment?
The person responsible for completing a fire risk assessment depends on the type of property in question. For commercial workplaces, it is the employer or the person who has control over the premises. In residential buildings such as HMOs or flats, the landlord is responsible for completing a fire risk assessment.
Landlords are responsible for ensuring the safety of their tenants and must take necessary measures to prevent the risk of fire. This includes regular fire risk assessments and installing fire safety equipment such as smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.
If you are an employer or landlord, it is your responsibility to ensure fire risk assessments are conducted regularly and measures are taken in response. While you can do the fire risk assessment yourself, we strongly recommend that you hire a professional risk assessor to conduct it for you. Fire risk assessments are extremely important to ensuring the safety of everyone in your building, and so the assessments should always be conducted to the highest standards.
What is included in a fire risk assessment?
There are five key elements to be included in a fire risk assessment:
- Identifying hazards
- Assessing the risks
- Controlling the risks
- Recording your findings
- Reviewing the controls
You will need to consider:
- Emergency routes and exits
- Fire detection systems
- Fire fighting equipment
- A fire evacuation plan
- Staff fire safety training
How often should a fire risk assessment be renewed?
It’s important to ensure your fire risk assessment is up to date and relevant by reviewing it regularly. This typically means at least once a year, though it should also be reviewed whenever there is a significant change to the layout or occupancy of the building.
If you are an employer or landlord, you have a legal obligation to ensure that the fire risk assessment of your property is reviewed and updated regularly. Failure to do so can result in a hefty fine or even imprisonment.
At Property Checks, we are experts in property inspections and compliance.
We offer comprehensive fire risk assessments to ensure that your property and its inhabitants are safe from fires. Our company has fully trained fire safety risk assessors who go above and beyond the legal requirements to make sure your property is completely safe. We have a long history providing expert service and can provide fire risk assessments for multi-storey buildings, office spaces, public spaces and more.
Don’t delay — get in touch now to protect your property from fire.
