Building Fire Risk Assessments
The Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (RRFSO) came into effect in October 2006, replacing previous legislation and safety laws. The RRFSO states that the responsible person must make a ‘suitable and sufficient’ assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed, for the purpose of identifying the measures they need to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on them by the Order. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 further strengthened these requirements for the responsible person.
A Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) can help to reduce the risk of fire occurrences, protect property, assets, and potentially save lives, and must be undertaken by a competent person and reviewed annually or after any major building maintenance works.
Our qualified inspectors will evaluate factors such as the building’s layout, the presence of flammable materials, the effectiveness of fire detection and suppression systems, and the readiness of occupants to evacuate in case of fire. A thorough report will be provided highlighting areas of concern and recommendations for improvement.
By ensuring you have a thorough fire risk assessment, compiled by a competent and qualified assessor, you can demonstrate your commitment to safety and compliance with legal requirements, as well as ensuring end users are prepared in the event of a fire.
Don’t put your occupants’ safety at risk. Book a Fire Risk Assessment for your building today.
Types of Fire Risk Assessment
Type 1 Fire Risk Assessments
Firstly, Type 1 is the most common type of Fire Risk Assessment and is usually sufficient for most purpose-built blocks of flats and conversions. Type 1 is a non-destructive assessment of the common parts of the building, not the private dwellings. In general, access to these occupied areas (such as flats) is not expected or required unless there is a reason to believe that there may be significant health and safety issues inside. The exception is where you may have arranged to view the tenant’s front doors as part of the assessment. In some occurrences, the action plan of the Type 1 may recommend one of the other types be carried out. Recommendations of other types of FRAs should be backed up with a clear justification as to why a more intrusive inspection is required.
Type 3 Fire Risk Assessments
Type 3 Fire Risk Assessments go beyond the requirements of the law by considering the flats as well as the common parts. Areas such as means of escape, compartmentation between flats and means of fire detection are considered in all areas including the flats. The Type 3 FRA, like the Type 1, is non-destructive and is usually considered necessary if it is thought there may be a fire risk inside the flats. Arranging a Type 3 FRA can be difficult in leaseholder flats and are more easily conducted in vacated flats or where the flat is rented rather than under leasehold ownership.
Type 2 Fire Risk Assessments
Type 2 is similar to type 1, in the sense that it only includes the common parts of the building. However, it involves an element of destructive sampling for which a contractor will normally be required. A Type 2 FRA may be suggested following a Type 1, however, should not normally be recommended as standard procedure. A Type 2 Fire Risk Assessment is usually a rarity, carried out only if there is good reason to believe there are serious structural flaws that need further investigation due to the risk that this could lead to breaches in compartmentation and the spread of fire throughout the building.
Type 4 Fire Risk Assessments
Type 4 Fire Risk Assessments, like Type 2, include a destructive assessment, however in this case of both the common parts of the building, and the flats. Type 4 FRAs are obviously more complicated than the other types of assessments. As with the Type 3 assessment, access to flats can be difficult and the destructive nature of the assessment will involve a contractor to ‘open up’ and repair damage after the inspection.
Are Type 2 or 4 Fire Risk Assessments needed?
You have probably had a Type 1 Fire Risk Assessment conducted, and in the majority of cases this is likely to be suitable and sufficient in determining the fire risk and implementing the necessary fire precautions.
Generally, Type 4 FRAs are only necessary in a very limited range of circumstances, and like the Type 2 should not be routinely recommended unless there is strong justification following a Type 1 or 3 FRA. The general principle is that a Type 4 FRA should only be suggested if there is reason to believe there are serious defects in both the common parts or inside the flats, such as inadequate compartmentation or poor fire stopping, which cannot be determined adequately during the Type 1 or Type 3 FRA. Another circumstance in which a Type 4 Fire Risk Assessment may be recommended, is if a new landlord has acquired a block of flats for which the history of construction work is suspicious.
Concerns may be oringally raised in the Type 1 FRA about the compartmentation, especially in areas that cannot be easily accessed, such as ceilings, under floor-boards, roof voids, risers, service cupboards or boiler rooms. In circumstances such as these, there may be reason to believe there is high risk of fire spread in both the private and common areas of the property, and therefore a more destructive assessment may be needed.
The outcome of an intrusive and destructive Fire Risk Assessment may be to recommend further building works to improve compartmentation, additional fire stopping measures, or improvements to protect the means of escape from smoke or fire. In some circumstances additional building works to improve fir compartmentation will not be practicable either in the short or long term. In these cases, the evacuation strategy may need to change from the usual ‘stay put’ policy recommended for purpose-built blocks, to one of simultaneous evacuation with enhanced fire detection and alarm systems being installed.
