How to prepare for your Fire Risk Assessment visit
Our assessments are carried out to support compliance with relevant health and safety legislation, including the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, where applicable.
Your assessment will be conducted by a competent assessor with the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to assess the premises, systems and activities within the agreed scope of the assessment.
What to expect...
On the appointment day, your risk assessor will take photographs of relevant areas around the site to support and form an integral part of the risk assessment report.
These photographs provide a clear visual record of the site’s layout, existing conditions, potential hazards and any areas of concern identified during the assessment.
To help ensure the visit runs smoothly and the assessment can be completed fully and accurately, please ensure the following arrangements are in place:
- Access to the premises: Access must be provided to all relevant areas of the premises within the scope of the assessment. The assessor must be able to inspect the areas, equipment and systems necessary to complete the assessment safely and effectively.
- Responsible person available: A responsible person, or a suitably informed deputy, must be available during the visit to provide the required documentation and respond to any queries or requests for clarification that may arise. The responsible person is not required to accompany the assessor throughout the entire visit, although they may do so if preferred.
- Safe access and working conditions: Please ensure that the premises and areas to be inspected are safe and accessible at the time of the visit, and induction training is provided to our assessor upon arrival, if required.
- Documentation available: Please ensure that all relevant documentation listed below is readily available for review by the assessor. In the absence of the responsible person, the documentation can be left with a deputy for inspection by the assessor. If the necessary documentation is unavailable, access to relevant areas is restricted, or the premises are considered unsafe or unsuitable for the assessment to proceed, we reserve the right to postpone or cancel the visit. Any resulting rearrangement may be subject to additional charges, where applicable, and in accordance with our agreed terms and conditions.
Fire Safety Management
- Fire logbook (inc. fire safety training, fire marshal training, fire evacuation plan, fire drills, evacuation procedure for disabled occupants/ vulnerable groups, no smoking policy, floor plan etc.).
- Fire safety policy.
- Maintenance/servicing records (EICR report, EET – previously known as PAT, emergency escape lighting service and in-house testing, fire alarm service and weekly checks, service/maintenance records for fixed heating installations such as boilers, etc.).
- Evidence of external stairways and gangways being inspected.
- Procedure/checklist – Routine checks of emergency exit doors and security fastenings.
Service records must be available in order to prove compliance with the duty of care. Please note that a post-it note is not proof of system servicing.
If any of the documentation is unavailable for the assessor to check on the day, these will be noted as a non-conformity in the assessment of risk. Furthermore, should these exist but not observed, the actions can be signed off by the responsible person in the Action Plan provided at the back of the risk assessment, thus minimising the risk.
*Note: The assessment of risk of the system may be affected if any unavoidable omissions are encountered. By such case, your risk assessor shall note in your assessment report all the omissions or site restrictions faced. Upon confirmation of such omissions, an additional site visit encountering a call out fee can be agreed with your account manager.
A non-intrusive site visit, the inspection will be carried out only on parts of the building which will be made accessible on the day. Any parts of the building that were not made available, are not included within the assessment report, and exclusion of these do not indicate absence. Whilst every endeavour is made in order to ascertain the correct information, the assessor must rely on site staff knowledge and any available records or relevant documentation. Lack of such knowledge or information may lead to assumptions, on the part of the assessor and will be stated as such in the report. Whilst every effort will be made to ensure accuracy of the content of this document, Bison Assist will accept no responsibility for any omissions.
The site risk assessment(s) and audit(s) will cover the business/ building as per the client telephone/email request (recorded in our database). These services are carried out in order to allow the Site Management to qualify or investigate any remedial or ongoing works in order to provide the Responsible Person with necessary site information for arranging all action plans. The assessment(s) does not only concentrate on the physical condition of the building (in general), plant and equipment, but also assesses the risk generated by the management, execution of the systems and control in place.
It should be noted that the assessment is based, where stated, on the information provided by others. Under no circumstances is liability accepted for the accuracy of such information.
All the recommendations that will be made in your reports are aiming to account the specific requirements of the site, what is reasonably and practicable with consideration of manpower and budgeting.
On receipt of the final report, should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Support team at support@bisonassist.co.uk
Please be aware that the on-going tasks such as fire alarm weekly testing, fire drills, keeping records etc. remain the client’s responsibility.
Bison Assist advise that in most instances our risk assessors work around our client’s activities. It will always be our surveyor’s objective to fit the client’s needs whilst ensuring that the clients function is subject to minimal disturbance.
In the event that any substantial repairs, alterations, amendments or refurbishment is carried out on site, Bison Assist are willing to initially discuss and potentially visit any premises surveyed to ensure continuing compliance with current legislation.