A typical fire risk assessment will follow a straightforward five step process, as recommended by government guidance. All businesses in the UK are required to have carried out a fire risk assessment, and they must keep a record of it too if they have five or more staff. The legislation relating to this is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Depending on the size and nature of your business, you may not feel qualified to carry out your own assessment, but as long as your workplace is relatively straightforward, and you have a degree of common sense, there is no reason why you should not be able to do your own assessment. The alternative is to use a specialist consultant, which you may wish to anyway if you feel you do not have the time yourself.
Step one is to indentify all fire hazards. The easiest way to do this is to have a thorough inspection of all parts of your premises, thinking about the three things which are required for a fire to start. These are a source of ignition, fuel and oxygen. Sources of ignition are relatively easy to spot – think of smoking areas, heaters or anything that involves a naked flame. Also bear in mind anything which has the capacity to get hot, including lighting and electrical equipment if it develops a fault. Fuel is anything which will burn, so look for any storage of paper, wood or other combustible material, as well as flammable liquids or gases that you use, and any materials or soft furnishings. The main source of oxygen is of course in the air, so look at how air can move around your premises, paying particular attention to fire doors.
Step Two is to identify any people who are at risk. As well as the obvious employees who work there all the time, do not forget to consider visitors and contractors, and pay particular attention to anyone working in isolation, those less able to move quickly and anyone who may have a language difficulty.
Having identified how fires may start and who is at risk, you now need assess the risk levels and put in place measures to minimise the chances of anything happening which could cause harm to anyone. This is step three and in many ways the most important part of the fire risk assessment. You need to consider each risk and see if it can be eliminated, or whether there are measures you can put in place to reduce the likelihood of it happening to an acceptable level.
Step four is to record the findings of your fire risk assessment. You are required to do this by law if you have five or more employees, and your local fire authority may ask to inspect it. It does not need to be sophisticated, but must record what you have found and what you are doing to manage the risks. Free forms are available online to help you record your findings.
Your fire risk assessment is now complete, but the fifth stage in the process is to review it at regular intervals. How often you must do this is not specified in legislation and will depend on your situation, but annually is a good start. The things to look out for are any changes in your workplace which could have an impact on the risk of fire or the risk to people. If you change the layout of your premises or install new machinery or materials, that is the time to revisit your assessment to ensure it is still appropriate.
Read a detailed guide to carrying out Fire Risk Assessments here.
Sunday 26 July 2009
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Emergency Lighting Testing – How and When To Test Your Emergency Lights
All places of work are required to provide adequate means of escape, and these routes and exits need to be properly covered by emergency lighting, so that they are visible even in a power cut. In the UK these requirements come under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which places a duty on the ‘Responsible Person’ to ensure these measures are in place.
The nature and extent of emergency lighting will vary with different premises, and the time that the lighting is required to stay on for could be between one and three hours. The basic function of this is so that there is enough lighting to get everyone safely out of the building in an emergency, but the longer the lighting last the better. In order to ensure that the lighting is functioning properly and able to last as long as it needs to, the emergency lighting system must be tested regularly.
Some of the more modern systems will be capable of testing themselves, but the majority of buildings will have older emergency lighting which requires manual testing. How this is done will depend on the system in place, but the usual method is to use a special switch with a ‘fishtail key’ to trigger the lighting.
The best way to organise your testing is to be systematic about it and keep an accurate record in a logbook. You should carry out different tests at regular intervals, weekly, monthly, six monthly and annually. Daily checking is recommended for premises with maintained lighting (emergency lights which stay on all the time). This just needs to be a visual check to ensure they are all working, and deal with any which are not.
A monthly check should include cutting the power to all lighting, just to ensure that all non-maintained bulbs (ones which only come on in a power cut) are working. If you do not have a testing facility with a fish key, you can do this through your fuse box.
Every six months it is a good idea to cut the power for at least one hour to ensure the batteries last long enough. At least once every year you have to carry out a ‘full discharge test’ which involves cutting off the power and letting the entire system discharge. It is preferable to get a qualified electrical engineer to do this and check the whole system at the same time. When you carry out a full discharge test, you should time this so that your premises are not in use for the following 24 hours, as the batteries will all be drained and the emergency lighting therefore not working.
You should use a special form to record every time you carry out a test. There are forms available online free which you can download. The form should record the date of the test, the result of the test, any remedial action you have taken, and a signature of the person carrying out the test. Your local fire authority has the right to check whether you are properly testing and maintaining your emergency lighting system, so keeping a logbook with these records in can be very helpful when this happens.
Find out more about emergency lighting testing at Fire Risk Assessment.com
The nature and extent of emergency lighting will vary with different premises, and the time that the lighting is required to stay on for could be between one and three hours. The basic function of this is so that there is enough lighting to get everyone safely out of the building in an emergency, but the longer the lighting last the better. In order to ensure that the lighting is functioning properly and able to last as long as it needs to, the emergency lighting system must be tested regularly.
Some of the more modern systems will be capable of testing themselves, but the majority of buildings will have older emergency lighting which requires manual testing. How this is done will depend on the system in place, but the usual method is to use a special switch with a ‘fishtail key’ to trigger the lighting.
The best way to organise your testing is to be systematic about it and keep an accurate record in a logbook. You should carry out different tests at regular intervals, weekly, monthly, six monthly and annually. Daily checking is recommended for premises with maintained lighting (emergency lights which stay on all the time). This just needs to be a visual check to ensure they are all working, and deal with any which are not.
A monthly check should include cutting the power to all lighting, just to ensure that all non-maintained bulbs (ones which only come on in a power cut) are working. If you do not have a testing facility with a fish key, you can do this through your fuse box.
Every six months it is a good idea to cut the power for at least one hour to ensure the batteries last long enough. At least once every year you have to carry out a ‘full discharge test’ which involves cutting off the power and letting the entire system discharge. It is preferable to get a qualified electrical engineer to do this and check the whole system at the same time. When you carry out a full discharge test, you should time this so that your premises are not in use for the following 24 hours, as the batteries will all be drained and the emergency lighting therefore not working.
You should use a special form to record every time you carry out a test. There are forms available online free which you can download. The form should record the date of the test, the result of the test, any remedial action you have taken, and a signature of the person carrying out the test. Your local fire authority has the right to check whether you are properly testing and maintaining your emergency lighting system, so keeping a logbook with these records in can be very helpful when this happens.
Find out more about emergency lighting testing at Fire Risk Assessment.com
Sunday 19 July 2009
Frequency of fire risk assessment – How Often Should You Carry Out A Fire Risk Assessment?
Every UK business now has to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment. This is a requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and if you employ five or more people, you must also record the findings of your fire risk assessment.
How often you need to carry out a fire risk assessment is not set in stone by the legislation. What you are required to do, however, is to review it regularly. For most workplace situations an annual review is going to be a good start, but the main thing is to monitor it to see how well the risk management steps you put in place are working in practice. If you are finding regular problems because your situation changes frequently, you may need to review your assessment more regularly.
You need to be on the lookout for any changes in your work environment or practices. Any alterations to buildings, new furniture, machinery or other equipment, different chemicals or working materials can all affect your fire risk and therefore your risk management plans. If any such changes occur, you should re-visit your fire risk assessment and check to see if it requires any alterations or additions to take into account the altered circumstances.
Carrying out your first fire risk assessment is the main step to take, and updating it will be a relatively simple matter compared to the initial assessment, particularly if you are new to it. However, carrying out a fire risk assessment does not need to be a complicated process, and you will almost certainly be able to carry it out yourself, unless you have a particularly complicated or specialised workplace.
The legislation requires that the assessment is carried out by a ‘competent person’. This will normally be the person responsible for the workplace, and could be shared among several people where different organisations share a building. The Order does not specify a level of competence that this person must have, but for small straightforward workplaces, a degree of common sense will probably suffice. If you do not feel competent enough, or do not have the time, there are plenty of consultants available who will be more than happy to carry out the fire risk assessment for you.
The fire risk assessment itself is a straightforward five step process, and free advice is available online to help you through each stage. The first three stages are to identify the potential hazards, identify any people who are at risk, then to evaluate these risks and put risk management measures in place. You then need to record your findings and the final stage is to review your fire risk assessment at regular intervals.
You can download free forms online to use for your fire risk assessment, which help to guide you through each stage and record your findings in a structured way. If you only have a small business your assessment does not need to be a long complicated process. The time it takes and the detail you go into will be very much in proportion to the size and complexity of your business.
Read a step by step guide to Fire Risk Assessment here.
How often you need to carry out a fire risk assessment is not set in stone by the legislation. What you are required to do, however, is to review it regularly. For most workplace situations an annual review is going to be a good start, but the main thing is to monitor it to see how well the risk management steps you put in place are working in practice. If you are finding regular problems because your situation changes frequently, you may need to review your assessment more regularly.
You need to be on the lookout for any changes in your work environment or practices. Any alterations to buildings, new furniture, machinery or other equipment, different chemicals or working materials can all affect your fire risk and therefore your risk management plans. If any such changes occur, you should re-visit your fire risk assessment and check to see if it requires any alterations or additions to take into account the altered circumstances.
Carrying out your first fire risk assessment is the main step to take, and updating it will be a relatively simple matter compared to the initial assessment, particularly if you are new to it. However, carrying out a fire risk assessment does not need to be a complicated process, and you will almost certainly be able to carry it out yourself, unless you have a particularly complicated or specialised workplace.
The legislation requires that the assessment is carried out by a ‘competent person’. This will normally be the person responsible for the workplace, and could be shared among several people where different organisations share a building. The Order does not specify a level of competence that this person must have, but for small straightforward workplaces, a degree of common sense will probably suffice. If you do not feel competent enough, or do not have the time, there are plenty of consultants available who will be more than happy to carry out the fire risk assessment for you.
The fire risk assessment itself is a straightforward five step process, and free advice is available online to help you through each stage. The first three stages are to identify the potential hazards, identify any people who are at risk, then to evaluate these risks and put risk management measures in place. You then need to record your findings and the final stage is to review your fire risk assessment at regular intervals.
You can download free forms online to use for your fire risk assessment, which help to guide you through each stage and record your findings in a structured way. If you only have a small business your assessment does not need to be a long complicated process. The time it takes and the detail you go into will be very much in proportion to the size and complexity of your business.
Read a step by step guide to Fire Risk Assessment here.
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