Some businesses can be guilty of treating a fire risk assessment much like they would an MOT. It gets carried out at least once a year, and then isn’t thought about until a reminder turns up.
The law doesn’t quite see it that way. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person is expected to keep the assessment under review, more so where significant changes have been made to the premises.
So the trigger is change and not just the date of the last assessment. Here are six changes, in particular that tend to catch UK businesses out.
1. Refurbishments and extensions
A new partition, an office squeezed onto a mezzanine, a kitchenette on a floor that never had one. Each can change the spread of fire and smoke.
Alongside that, it impacts how long it can take to get out of the building, and whether alarms and emergency lighting still reach where they are needed.
Fit-outs are the classic blind spot. Often the contractor finishes, the team moves in, and nobody goes back to the assessment. This matters even more in older city-centre conversions, where a modern layout is essentially sitting within a building it was not designed for.
2. Change of use or growth
Taking another floor, opening a second site or turning storage into workspace can alter what a premises is used for as well as the number of people within them. In multi-let buildings, one tenant’s changes can soon impact the escape routes everyone shares.
If you’re growing, it’s much easier to review the assessment when you sign the lease than to find the gaps after you’ve moved in.
3. Changes to who is in the building
The people who are only here sometimes are the easiest to forget.
Employees, shift patterns, visitors and contractors all feed into the assessment, as do those who are at potential risk.
It might be that a new starter with mobility needs a hybrid rota that leaves two people alone on a floor or even a training room that now hosts outside guests. Any of these could mean your evacuation plan is no longer as suitable as it was before.
4. Altered escape routes
These change more often than most people realise. For example, a corridor may be narrowed because of new furniture, or a door has recently been locked for security.
An access control system goes in without a proper fail-safe release, is another liability. Nobody thinks of these as fire safety decisions at the time, which is exactly why a review is the place to resolve them.
5. Changes to storage, equipment and processes
Businesses can go through plenty of changes over a year whether that’s more stock, technology or switching to different materials. All of which can add fuel or create new ignition sources.
For retail business seasonal peaks are worth watching. Whereas in the hospitality and logistics sectors, storage can tend to creep into corridors and plant rooms, impacting safety procedures.
This also plays into the details of your assessment. It should describe what’s in the building now, and not what was there when the assessor last visited.
6. Incidents, near misses and alarm problems
Most people don’t think about the risk of a fire until it happens. What’s even more important is to rectify any near misses or previous events.
That could be even the most minor of fires, or noticing an overheating socket. Any of these could suggest the assessment is no longer valid, and that’s one of the specific review triggers in the Order.
A near miss costs you a conversation. Being unprepared for a real incident can cost far more.
What a review should leave you with
Since the 1st October 2023, responsible persons in premises covered by the Order are expected to record the full assessment and their fire safety arrangements, whatever the size of the business.
If you hire someone to help with the assessment or review, you should record who they are, and they should be competent to do the job. In practice, that means an updated, dated record showing what changed, what was reassessed, which actions were set and who owns them.
When to bring in outside help
A minor change to a simple office space can often be reviewed in-house by someone who knows the building well.
If the building has changed substantially, you’re unsure the existing assessment is still suitable and sufficient, or if you share the premises with other tenants, it’s worth having an independent review.
Utilising a specialist fire risk assessment service allows a professional to look at the building, those within it and what’s already in place. They can then set out clear, prioritised actions on your behalf.
An annual assessment is the bare minimum. Noting changes and whether they affect your fire risk is a much better habit. If it might, review it, record it and act on it.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Responsible persons should check their own obligations with a competent professional.
