Playing with fire

Working in the commercial property industry, I’m fully aware of the apathy some owners have towards words like certification, inspections and assessments. However, turning a blind eye is never the answer and fire risk assessments, perhaps more so than any other form of assessment, should not be placed on the back burner, if you pardon the pun.

We are consistently confronted with fatalities and horrific fire related injuries in the media. We also hear about the fines and the court cases for not carrying out assessment and corrective measurements. Politicians are waving their flags for the environment, education and pensions but fire prevention doesn’t ever seem to be up there on the priority list.

There are three good reasons for seeking to prevent fire; moral, legal and financial. On average we have 130 workplace fires every day with many of those fires destroying buildings. The total cost of fire to the UK and NI is £11bn which is 1.15 percent of the growth of the economy. This total comes from property damage, loss of business, compensation claims, fines and insurance premiums.

In some instances ignorance is lack of knowledge, in others instances it is wilful neglect and a lack of duty. Many property owners don’t understand how the fire risk assessment works. In a nutshell, the key component of the fire risk assessment is fire hazard identification – the process of identifying circumstances that may result in fire.

Landlords need to recognise the seriousness of failing to carry out full fire safety tests, otherwise lives are very much in danger. No-one wants to find themselves in a situation where an alarm in their property doesn’t sound, or a fire door won’t open.

Lives in danger
The landlord of a multi-occupancy student building in Manchester recently got caught out by inspectors who found the premises failed to meet acceptable fire safety standards. The property had to be vacated by eighty students who had only moved in two weeks earlier. The landlord failed to meet requirements on fire alarms, escape routes and carrying out fire risk assessments. With inadequate fire safety measures in place, the chances of a fire spreading quickly through a building are hugely increased. However, in this instance, luckily no harm was done. The landlord could have saved a lot of time, hassle and money by paying for a professional fire risk assessment in the first place.

Financial consequences of neglecting to address fire safety deficiencies are worth consideration alone. Poor fire precautions not only put lives at risk but landlords are subject to hefty fines if they fail to comply as two bosses at a well-known Indian restaurant in Plymouth recently found out. They were each fined £4000 for breaching fire regulations following a blaze at their premises.

In too many commercial properties smoke alarms don’t work correctly, stairwells leading to escape routes are blocked, there is a lack of fire fighting equipment available and so on. It often sounds like common sense but the number of risks that assessments uncover is hugely frightening.

Facing up to responsibilities
Carrying out a risk assessment requires appropriate knowledge and observational skills. As it stands, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the ‘Responsible Person’ – the employer, owner or person in control of the building, takes legal responsibility for the fire safety of all those in the building. How many of these so called ‘responsible’ people really feel competent enough to carry out a risk assessment themselves? And should they be doing so?

It is essential fire risk assessors have a sound, up-to-date understanding of current fire safety regulation. An assessor should know how to calculate flow rates, travel distances, numbers allowed within areas, they must then examine the associated hazards. But it is not just about figures and calculations. Most importantly, they should take time and visit the premises and understand the function of the business and the people in it. A good risk assessor has vision and looks further than the cosmetics and aesthetics of the building. They look at potential situations and ask the crucial ‘what if?’. They consider the occupants and their physical condition too.

Once the level of risk has been identified it needs to be acted on and a tested and a workable plan should be enforced. Procedures and training policies must be comprehensive, up-to-date and kept under review if risks are to be continually guarded against.

If you employ five or more people you must carry out and record the fire risk assessment to comply with regulation or you could be liable for large fines. Getting your property assessed by a professional is probably cheaper than you think.

The effects of a fire can be reduced if effective controls and procedures are firmly put in place. Business owners need to realise that almost all fires are  easily avoidable by simply taking the correct precautions.