Do you own, lease, or manage a residential or public property? If so, the onus of ensuring the safety of these buildings and their occupants falls squarely upon you. But how exactly do you go about this?
Well, there are many aspects of a building’s safety to consider. These may include issues relating to the building’s structural integrity, fortification against burglaries, or water damage. However, our focus here will be on fire safety. Specifically, we’ll be discussing how fire risk assessments can help you protect your tenants from potential fire hazards and why it’s not only a moral obligation but also a legal requirement.
The Importance of Fire Risk Assessments
Fire risk assessment is a methodical building inspection carried out by a fire risk assessor to ascertain the likelihood of fire hazards and recommend suitable measures to mitigate such events.
If you do not carry out an adequate in-depth fire risk assessment, ensuring fire safety in your living or working space becomes a speculatory measure without any safety guarantees in the event of a fire emergency.
A fire risk assessment helps you conceptualise an effectual system for dealing with fires and protecting lives and property in case of a fire mishap. Designing this system may entail the following considerations:
- Potential fire sources, e.g., gas, electrical wiring, and home heating equipment
- People and property at risk in the event of a fire emergency
- Emplaced fire safety measures such as fire escapes, smoke alarms, sprinklers, fire extinguishers, and escape routes
Why Fire Risk Assessment Is a Legal Requirement
Before 2021, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) of 2005 was the statute governing fire safety in buildings in England and Wales. Under this law, individuals managing a building are tasked with carrying out risk assessments to identify fire hazards and implement mitigation measures to curb such occurrences.
However, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the RRO has been amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021, which further clarifies the areas of occupied residential buildings to which the Regulatory Reform Order applies, such as external walls, windows, balconies, cladding, insulation, and shared entrance doors.
Navigating Fire Risk Assessment
Whether it’s put into writing or not, a veritable fire risk assessment must contain two essential parts:
The first section entails the review, which analyses the premises for fire safety weak points. Part two, on the other hand, must contain a list of requirements that must be acted upon for a building to be compliant with fire safety regulations. This may include recommendations for installing alarms, exit signage, or fire escapes where they are absent. Furthermore, the fire risk assessment should be reviewed regularly within a period no longer than five years. However, within this period, a new risk assessment is required if:
- The building has been repurposed for use other than originally intended
- The building structure or layout has changed due to renovation or remodelling
- The number of occupants has increased
Conclusion
Delineating the legal necessity of fire risk assessment has been the purpose of this article. Hopefully, now the legal importance of fire risk assessment is no longer lost on you. Suppose you require fire risk assessments Croydon professionals to assess your building for fire safety weak links and make recommendations to rectify such. In that case, GF Fire Solutions is the leading fire risk assessor serving London and surrounding areas.
