Fire Risk Assessment for Facilities Management
Fire risk assessment for facilities management organisations involves identifying potential hazards and assessing their severity, as well as the specific risks they pose. It’s important to get a fire risk assessment in facilities management to ensure the safety of you, your employees and the public.
Lanahan Risk Management Services aim to simplify the fire risk assessment process, ensuring that you’re legally compliant with all relevant legislation.
Is it necessary to have a fire risk assessment for facilities management businesses?
It is vital to have a fire risk assessment as a facilities management for the safety of yourself, employees and members of the public. It is also a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Fire risk assessments are essential to discover any shortcomings in your current fire safety plan and implement changes to reduce these risks, as well as protecting you from legal liability if an accident were to occur.
How facilities management fire risk assessments work
Facilities management fire risk assessments include a few systematic steps to review the building for fire hazards as well as outlining the level of risk. This assessment must be carried out by a ‘competent person’ who has experience and knowledge in fire safety.
Facilities Management organisations might collaborate with fire risk assessors to undertake fire risk assessments for their clients. Your business would need an FRA for your own premises, but generally, the premises managed for other commercial organisations would be where we offer support in this sector.
Our fire safety risk assessments for facilities management involve 5 key steps:
- 1Identify fire hazards - Create a list of potential hazards in your building, as well as combustible objects. No matter how insignificant you think it is, if it’s a risk, it needs to be noted.
- 2Understand type/who is at risk - Determine what kind of risk you’re dealing with. Are there flammable items? Who is most at risk/vulnerable?
- 3Evaluate, reduce, and protect from risk - Assess the level of this risk to work out how likely it is to occur. From there, you can work to remove the risk, or at least reduce it. This could be through implementing safety equipment such as extinguishers or fire blankets.
- 4Create a plan and train staff - For each risk, create a plan which states how this risk has been or will be managed. Yourself and the owners of the property should be aware of this plan and provide training to any members of staff.
- 5
Review regularly - Review your fire risk assessment plan regularly to find new risks and update plans accordingly.
Check out our fire risk assessment checklist for more information.
Protect your Facilities Management Business with a Fire Risk Assessment
UK legislation around facilities management fire safety
Facilities management businesses are subject to particular fire safety legislations which must be followed in order to ensure complete safety and legal responsibility. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 stipulates that legal responsibility needs to be placed on the ‘responsible person’; usually the business owner in this case.
This act mandates a fire risk assessment and the implementation of safety measures as mentioned above.
How often should a facilities management fire risk assessment be conducted?
A facilities management fire risk assessment should generally be carried out at least once a year to maintain fire safety. However, in higher risk environments, you should consider even more frequent risk assessments. This allows your building to reflect the changes you’ve made to keep safety procedures up to date.
You should also consider conducting risk assessments for your facilities management business, regardless of when the last one was, every time you make significant changes to the building:
Facilities management fire risk assessments by Lanahan Risk Management Services
Many facilities management managers are highly busy and cannot fit regular risk assessments into their schedule. This is where our fire risk assessment services are designed to help.
We have a plethora of knowledge when it comes to helping facilities management conduct fire risk assessments to keep your workplace safe, providing a number of steps you can take to protect your building.
We’ll explain all fire safety regulations to you in a way that is easy to understand, meaning you are following all legal requirements regarding fire safety. Get in touch to get started.
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