What is a Fire Risk Assessment and Why Does Your Business Need It

A fast-track guide to why you need a Fire Risk Assessment

Safeguarding employees’ lives is a priority for any business but a responsible employer should protect livelihoods too. A Fire Risk Assessment is a vital part of this duty of care, but many smaller businesses wonder where to begin. This Q&A is a quick guide to what, why and how – and if after reading you want to know ‘when?’, just call us.

Published

31 January 2022 17:22

Q: What is a Fire Risk Assessment?

A Fire Risk Assessment takes a detailed look at your premises (and how they are used) from the perspective of fire prevention. It helps you and your employees understand fire risks and take steps to mitigate against them.

Q: Does my business need a Fire Risk Assessment?

By law, all businesses must carry out a Fire Risk Assessment to identify fire risks and hazards in their premises and take appropriate action to meet fire safety compliance requirements. If you have five or more people working at your premises, your fire risk assessment must be a written record. 

Q: What happens if we don’t have a Fire Risk Assessment?

If you don’t have a fire risk assessment and your business lacks the proper fire and safety precautions the business owner could face prosecution. This could result in a costly fine or even, if found guilty of extreme negligence, a prison sentence.

Q: What does a Fire Risk Assessment look at?

There are five key elements to a Fire Risk Assessment. These are:

Identifying the fire hazards

Identifying people at risk
Evaluating, removing or reducing the risks
Recording the findings, preparing an emergency plan and providing training
Reviewing and updating the fire risk assessment regularly

Q: Why choose Securitas UK to carry out your Fire Risk Assessment?

Understandably, most organisations don’t have the knowledge or time to do a fire risk assessment for themselves – that’s not the business they’re in! But this is one of our key areas of expertise, and all our fire safety consultants have many years of experience. You can have full confidence in the quality of our service because we undergo an annual external audit that examines all aspects of our fire safety risk assessment activities to confirm our continuing accreditation.

Q: What happens after a Fire Risk Assessment has been carried out?

We can help your business put in place any fire prevention or safety measures that the assessment indicates are required. This might be training for your staff (including Fire Marshall training) and the supply, installation and maintenance of equipment such as alarms, extinguishers and signage. Whatever you need, we’ll make sure you get it.