Fire Risk Assessment - What All Uk Businesses Need To Know

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Not long ago the law changed in the UK, and now all British Businesses have a legal duty to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment on their place of work. If you are wondering whether it applies to your workplace, I can tell you that it does, unless you work at home, offshore, in a field, in the air or down a borehole!

The law which covers this is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which came into effect in 2006 for England, Scotland and Wales (and 2008 for Northern Ireland).

But if you aren't fully up to speed or haven't yet done a Fire Risk Assessment, there's no need to panic! With little help and advice it is a logical process that anyone can carry out for themselves.

The law now says that a 'Responsible Person' must be designated or all workplaces, and that this person has to undertake a Fire Risk Assessment. If your organisation employs five or more people, you also have to record the findings of your assessment.

A Responsible Person is defined as the owner, or person in control of the workplace. If you share a building with other organisations, the responsibility may be shared among several people. If you have responsibility for the other people in your organisation, it is safe to assume you will be the Responsible Person, even if other people are too.

It is an often quoted statistic that over 70% of businesses involved in major fires either don't reopen or fail within three years. A fire is something your business will definitely be a lot healthier without. We are all doing these Fire Risk Assessments because of the law, but it is actually just giving a formal structure to what we should be doing anyway in the best interests of our businesses.

I've spent the last twenty years running large public buildings, and for all that time have essentially been taking all the actions that the new Order requires of us, apart from recording it in this new way that the Fire Risk Assessment format gives us. It is basically what we should be doing anyway, and with a bit of guidance, the formal recording part doesn't need to hurt - particularly once you've done the Risk Assessment.

Unless you have a particularly large or complex business, you can probably carry out your own fire risk assessment, but if you do not feel confident about it, there are plenty of good fire consultants who can undertake this type of work for you. This also a useful option for those who simply do not have the time to spend on such matters.

About the Author:
Read detailed advice on carrying out your own fire risk assessment and read recommendations for the most reputable fire consultants on the author's website, which also offers free advice on PAT test regulations.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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