Fire Safety legislation applies a risk based approach and requires all places of work to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment. This is an organised appraisal of your work activities and the workplace to enable you to identify potential fire hazards, and to decide who (including employees and visitors) might be in danger in the event of fire. The risks arising from the hazards are then evaluated and your fire precautions are assessed to decide if they are adequate, or whether more needs to be done.

Fire Risk Assessment is an essential activity and the law places the responsibility of this on the 'Responsible Person'. This could be the owner or manager of a business. The Fire Risk Assessment also has to be carried out by a 'Competent Person'. This doesn't mean you have to employ someone else to carry out the assessment, it just means that whoever carries out the assessment must be familiar with the relevant legislation and understand how to apply it.

For more information about your responsibilities and guidance on how to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment call us for some free advice or visit  http://www.communities.gov.uk

There are several guides to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. Each guide applies to a specific business, and depending on the type of business offers advice and outlines ways to reduce the risk of fire. In some cases two or three guides may apply to your business. (you can download  copies of the  guides at the communities website)

There are other useful free guides to help in carrying out a risk assessment provided by the Fire Protection Association and Business Link