Fire risk assessments: the all-important checklist

If you are responsible for fire safety in your business or organisation, undertaking a fire risk assessment is the first thing you should turn your attention to.

The fire risk assessment underpins and informs every other fire safety procedure you may put in place at your work premises. It helps you to identify risks and problems and find ways to address them, as well as generally improving safety for everyone within the business. More importantly, conducting and reviewing a fire risk assessment is legally required for all UK business premises.

The following is a series of questions and points to consider when undertaking your fire risk assessment. Remember – your risk assessment won’t be complete until you have looked at everything the checklist.

Identifying hazards – look for:

• Sources of ignition (i.e. heaters, electrical equipment etc)
• Flammable materials and their proximity to sources of ignition

People at risk

Although everyone is at risk in a fire, the risk may be greater for some people e.g. visitors, children, disabled and elderly people.

Taking action

After evaluating your findings, you can start to remove risks and implement fire safety measures accordingly. These measures include things like planning escape routes, fitting fire alarms and implementing fire awareness training.

Record your findings

Keep a detailed record of your findings and actions, so that they may be used as part of future fire training.

Review

Make sure to review your risk assessment regularly, especially if you change your building in any way.