Why Are Fire Risk Assessments Getting More Risk Averse?

Handsam Ltd have fielded a number of queries from clients regarding concerns that things are now being picked up in fire risk assessments which have never been highlighted as issues before. This has led to some questions about whether the fire risk assessors are trying to upsell further services to make more money out of schools, at a time in which money is tight.

To be clear, these queries have been the same for risk assessments conducted by Handsam Ltd fire risk assessors and those conducted by third parties.

Accreditation

Handsam Ltd's fire risk assessors are all members of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (MIFSM) and are on the National Fire Risk Assessors Register (NFRAR) operated by that institute and so follow the requirements of that membership. At the moment that is the highest level of accreditation in the UK, although there is no formal requirement to belong to it or for clients to use members of it (for example the Institute of Fire Protection Association, Fire Prevention Officers and the Institute of Fire Engineers both also operate a similar register). However, there are currently proposals being brought forward for a formal register which all fire risk assessors must belong to and all clients must only use registered members of. Handsam Ltd will keep clients abreast of developments should that finally come to fruition.

Going Forward

Until then, please bear in mind that all fire risk assessors, not just Handsam Ltd's, are now required to be as detailed as possible when examining premiss for a fire risk assessment and actions raised will therefore likely be more numerous and often feel quite pernickety. That is the post-Grenfell world we all now operate in.

Risk Averse Approach

The simple reason for this move to a far more risk averse approach is that the outcome of the Grenfell Enquiry is now playing out in full. This has seen in recent weeks people and companies charged with criminal offences because they failed to act as they should have done regarding fire risks, either during construction or during the process of managing buildings which all contributed to the disaster at Grenfell.

Legislation

Previously, fire risk assessors were enabled by legislation to consider how to mitigate risk with alternatives, but now there is a very clear and direct duty on fire risk assessors, for which they may pay a price of being unable to practice or even potentially face prosecution for failures. Needless to say, this is forcing them to focus on being far more risk averse and therefore clients may experience more issues being raised, some of which will have always been there but never raised before.