4 Key Steps To Fire Risk Assessments

Fire risk assessments are designed, implemented and acted upon in order to minimise the potential of fires and to maximise the safety of individuals during a fire. Every workplace must partake in these assessments and ensure that all employees are educated to them and made aware of all actions and that the safety of all visitors or customers to the business is delivered. These assessments take only a few key forms and are incredibly simple and beneficial to follow. Let's learn the steps, some examples and provide a basis for you to build on.

The few and easy 4 key steps:

Know what the fire risks are:

This element of fire risk assessments is perhaps the most detailed, sometimes obvious and sometimes not at all obvious and thus a huge learning and educational tool. There are going to be some fire risks at our workplace, flammable liquids, materials, machinery, areas of extreme heat or risk such as electrical rooms. Identifying these and the smallest risks, such as where are cardboard boxes with items stored? In the electrical room? If so, this should never be the case and presents a huge risk. Is the fire door constantly being left open? This will only allow oxygen in to feed a fire and renders the door useless.

Who is going to be most likely to be part of a fire and who runs the greatest risk from it?

There will be some employees who are in more hazardous positions, jobs and geography than other employees. Somebody working in a cafeteria of an office might be at greater risk for fire than the person at a desk. This person needs to be identified and educated to the greater risks. If a fire breaks out in a business and there are visitors or customers, do they stand a greater risk than the employees? Most likely since they don't know all of the exits or layout of the environment. As part of fire risk assessments, identifying the people most at risk will greatly help prevent fire and minimise and event.

Act on the information:

This is the evaluation process when you gather all of the data, look at it and decide to act. Implement policies which can prevent fires, such as smoking in some areas, practice fire drills; design escape routes, manage flammable liquids and their placement. There is an absolutely huge amount of actions which can be taken to prevent fire and make sure in the event one breaks out that everybody knows where extinguishers are, where to exit, what doors to close or not open. This is the action step. Training is key in this step.

Capture it:

Write all of the information down on paper, take photos, draw diagrams and routes, whatever helps to be used as reference and training. All meetings and discussions of fire prevention and actions should also be recorded to make note they were delivered and who was present.

By following only a few fire risk assessments as a process, safety is delivered and all other events minimised.