How To Conduct Fire Safety Assessments
Fire safety assessments are essential to ensure that your premises are protected and compliant at all times. These assessments need to be performed regularly to ensure that any issues are resolved on time.
While official fire safety assessments should be performed by officials, like those at Axis Fire & Security, it is possible to conduct them yourself in between these reports.
Understanding what goes into a fire safety assessment and how to conduct one yourself can improve the standards across your business or premises. Being able to regularly assess your fire safety solutions and ensure that your premises are prepared for emergencies is extremely beneficial, and this guide can help.
What Is The Purpose Of Fire Safety Assessments?
Fire safety assessments are a legislation obligation for non-domestic premises in the UK and apply to a range of properties. These are not just a requirement, but also a proactive method to maintaining a safe business.
Regular fire safety assessments not only determine whether there are fire hazards present across the property but also whether your fire safety solutions are suitable, compliant with current regulations and in full working order. Performing these regularly ensures your business is prepared to handle an emergency and is a safe environment for people.
Failure to get your premises assessed for fire safety can result in legal issues and reputational damage for the business, as well as leaving you exposed to fire risks.
How To Conduct Fire Safety Assessments
While official inspections are required at non-domestic premises across the UK, per the British Standards and Regulations for Fire Safety, it is a good idea to perform them more regularly.
Understanding what goes into fire safety assessments and how to conduct them can be incredibly useful for property and business managers alike.
You can conduct fire risk assessments ahead of your official inspection to ensure that your premises will pass, as it is fully compliant. It is also a good idea for peace of mind, as you can rest assured that your property is protected per current guidelines.
Several steps go into performing fire safety assessments, including:
1) Preparation
The first step when conducting fire safety assessments is to get prepared. This means collecting all the relevant information and documents regarding your premises, such as prior fire safety assessment records, blueprints and layouts of the property, and information about current fire safety systems.
All of these will be assessed by the official inspector during fire safety assessments, so should be kept organised and up to date at all times. Taking the time to prepare your documents ahead of independent assessments makes it easier to carry out the inspection, as well as ensures you are organised when the official records take place.
2) Identifying Fire Hazards
Identifying the fire hazards that may be present across your premises is a pivotal part of fire safety assessments and informs all future decisions for your business.
When performing fire safety assessments, three main categories of fire hazards should be reported:
- Sources of Ignition: Anything that can light a fire, such as flammable materials, open fires, electrical equipment and overheated machinery.
- Sources of Fuel: Anything that can fuel a fire, such as paper, chemicals, waste and even furniture.
- Sources of Oxygen: Excessive availability or levels of oxygen present, such as oxygen tanks or ventilation systems.
Not only do the sources need to be reported, but also their storage, amount and location.
3) Identifying People At Risk
After identifying fire hazards, the next step involves identifying the people who are potentially at risk of these hazards.
The amount of people at risk will vary for each premise, but it is important to report all factors including any mobility issues, high-access areas, and vulnerable groups that may be present. These all contribute to the people at risk category and how safe your premises are deemed to be following the assessment.
4) Evaluating Fire Safety Systems
Once you have a clear record of the fire hazards and risks across your property, it is time to ensure that your fire safety systems are suitable. Fire safety assessments are a way of ensuring that your fire safety systems, from fire alarms to sprinklers and extinguishers, are fully functional and suitable for the needs of the premises.
Your fire safety systems need to also be fully compliant with the current regulations, as well as suitable for the size and purpose of your property.
During this part of the process, you will need to assess:
- Fire detection systems, such as smoke and fire alarms
- Fire suppression systems, such as fire extinguishers and sprinklers
- Emergency exit visibility and accessibility
- Functionality of evacuation plans
5) Record Findings And Implement Improvements
Following the completed fire safety assessments, it is vital that all findings are recorded along with the recommended improvements. This is something that will be done during the official inspection, and improvements need to be made ahead of the next one to keep your premises open and safe.
When you have completed your own fire safety assessment, you can report your findings and keep organised documents of all the work that has been done since to improve standards.
Working with professionals like those on our team can make this process easier, as we deliver recommendations, installation and maintenance services to get your premises back up to standard.
Future Fire Safety Assessments
It is vital to remember that fire saftey assessments are not just a one-time thing, as they should be performed regularly. Official fire risk assessments should be performed every six months, and regular testing of fire safety systems can be done weekly or monthly in between.
You need to play an active role in the safety of your business and fire safety assessments are a great way to stay ahead of the game.
Contact Us Today
To book your next fire safety assessment or to learn more about our services, please contact the team today.