The law is pretty strict when it comes to Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs). If you own or are responsible for a non-domestic or commercial building, that building must have a recent, valid FRA that has been passed as compliant by an individual competent in the fire safety field.
At Commercial Fire Protection, our experienced and certified team of specialists carries out these FRAs for you, for your peace of mind, and the safety of your building and its occupants.
And because we pride ourselves on being open, transparent, and helpful, we also want you to understand exactly what an FRA involves, and what it will cost – and so we explore both topics in this blog, and introduce you to our new calculator tool that will help.
What is a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA)?
When we carry out an FRA for you, we break it down into five basic steps. Each of these can involve many detailed sub-steps, depending on the building and its circumstances, and some actions are exclusively your responsibility rather than ours.
We’ve written about this in more detail in a recent post, but to summarise, the five steps involved cover:
- Identification of any potential hazards – This is about anything that could lead to a fire starting or spreading, and so it’s a comprehensive category, covering everything from combustible materials, to electrics, to smoking, and more.
- Assessment of who’s at risk – Fire and smoke are dangerous to everyone, but if your building has elderly, very young, or mobility-impaired occupants, the risk to them is much higher.
- Actions to be taken – This can be wide-ranging, covering anything from placement of fire extinguishers, to developing or updating a Fire Emergency Evacuation Plan (FEEP), to fixing damaged compartmentation and other passive fire protection (PFP) assets – and much more besides.
- Documentation and communication – We keep a record of all the fire safety measures taken (we can carry out this work too) and document the results of your Fire Risk Assessment. It’s your responsibility to ensure everyone in your organisation knows what to do in the event of a fire, according to the findings of the FRA.
- Regular review – If you have read our previous article Fire Surveys for your Commercial Property, you will know that you must review your FRA, and the actions taken in line with it, on a regular basis. Some events, in particular, should automatically trigger a review: a fire or a narrowly avoided one, for example, or changes in the building’s use or layout.
Who’s competent to carry out an FRA?
Although you can, theoretically, carry out an FRA yourself, the legislation concerned (the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005) is quite clear that you must be seen in the eyes of the law as competent to do so – and for many building owners or managers this is a critical stumbling block.
It’s for this reason that they often choose to work with a trusted partner to deliver their FRAs, but the lawmakers also strongly advise you to be sure that the partner concerned is accredited, certified, and a member of the appropriate professional organisations.
Still need Help? Get a Free, Online Quote Today
If the time is right for you to go ahead with an FRA, you’ll want a reliable quote without fuss and without delay – and at Commercial Fire Protection, we’ve made this as rapid and straightforward for you as it could possibly be.
Simply type a few details into our online FRA cost calculator, and you’ll get an instant quote, valid for 30 days. All you have to do then is get in touch with us to arrange a suitable date and time.
Fire Risk Assessments are vital, so at Commercial Fire Protection we believe they shouldn’t be made difficult.
You can also request your FREE Guide to Fire Protection Compliance here. If you still need help understanding what a Fire Risk Assessment is, then please feel free to contact Commercial Fire Protection via our Telephone: , Email: hello@commercialfireprotection.co.uk, or through completing our Contact Form.
