Fire Risk Assessments 

Good management of fire safety is essential to ensure that fires are unlikely to occur; that if they do occur they are likely to be controlled or contained quickly, effectively and safely; or that, if a fire does occur and grow, everyone in your premises is able to escape to a place of total safety easily and quickly.

The fire risk assessment that is carried out will help you ensure that your fire safety procedures, fire prevention measures, and fire precautions (plans, systems and equipment) are all in place and working properly, and the fire risk assessment should identify any issues that need attention.

A fire risk assessment is an organised and methodical look at your premises, the activities carried on there and the likelihood that a fire could start and cause harm to those in and around the premises.

The aims of the fire risk assessment are

• to identify the fire hazards;
• to reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable; and
• to decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to ensure the safety of the people in your premises if a fire does start.

Hazard & Risk

• Hazard: anything that has the potential to cause harm.
• Risk: the chance of that harm occurring.

You will probably find it helpful to keep a record of the significant findings of your fire risk assessment even if you are not required to do so.

A fire risk assessment will help you determine the chances of a fire starting and the dangers from a fire that your premises present for the people who use them and any person in the immediate vicinity.

If your health and safety risk assessment identifies that any processes are likely to involve the risk of fire or the spread of fire, then, you will need to take this into account during your fire risk assessment and prioritise actions based on the level of risk.

Your fire risk assessment should demonstrate that, as far as reasonable, you have considered the needs of all relevant persons, including disabled people.

For more information on any HSE issues, please contact Paul Sumner – CMIOSH, DMCC Senior HSE Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..