Fire Risk Assessment
Template
Our Fire Risk Assessment Template* follows the preferred five-step method. A Checklist is provided to help people responsible for business premises, who are required by law, to carry out a fire risk assessment and to keep a record of the findings.
If you feel competent (have enough skills, knowledge, and understanding) to carry out your own fire risk assessment it is important to do so in a systematic and practical way. Our Checklist/Template* will help you to do that and improve fire safety for your business. Suitable mainly for all small to medium businesses.
To get the full benefit from the Template, you must understand the fire safety requirements that every business needs to fulfil. If you’re responsible for carrying out a fire risk assessment, you must have received sufficient Fire Safety Awareness training, ideally Fire Warden training or higher. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to know what exactly you’re looking for.
The use of this Fire Risk Assessment Template* will not prejudice any enforcement action that may be taken by the local Fire and Rescue Service enforcing authority.
5 Steps to a successful Fire Risk Assessment
A fire risk assessment should be completed by a competent person. Alternatively, use the services of a specialist company like Fire Risk Consultancy Services which will cast a professional eye over your premises to ensure nothing gets missed.
- Fire Hazards: Identify any fire hazards
- People At Risk: Identify people at risk
- Evaluate & Act: Evaluate, remove or reduce the identified risks
- Record, Plan & Train: Record your findings, create an emergency plan, and provide suitable training
- Review: Review and update the fire risk assessment regularly
We offer a basic Fire Risk Assessment Template you can order for £29.99 by emailing sales@firerisk.co.uk or calling 07930 480 896.
* Please Note – this is not for use, nor do Fire Risk Consultancy Services recommend its use, by persons who do not possess the required skills, knowledge, training, or understanding of fire safety legislation, guidance, and procedures.
FAQ's
Most Frequently Asked Questions
A fire risk assessment is conducted by a business’s responsible person(s) to identify hazards and risks. If you manage a commercial premise, you are required by law to carry out fire risk assessments and to keep a written record of the findings.
The law does not say who is allowed to carry out a fire risk assessment. However, the person must be competent enough to complete a ‘suitable and sufficient’ assessment of that particular building. For large or complex buildings, this may mean getting a professional Fire Risk Assessor to carry out the assessment.
Please note that you are accepting full responsibility for the correctness of your fire risk assessment if you are using a template or checklist.
Your assessment template, or checklist, must be used in conjunction with the official fire risk assessment guide(s).
If you’re responsible for carrying out a fire risk assessment, you must have received sufficient fire safety awareness training, ideally, Fire Warden training or higher. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to know what exactly you’re looking for.
The Responsible Person – particularly in small or low-risk premises – may be able to carry out their own fire risk assessment, using guidance available on websites and a template/checklist. Those carrying out a fire risk assessment must be satisfied that they are able to:
- Identify the fire hazards (i.e. potential causes of fire)
- Identify people at risk
- Evaluate fire safety measures provided and/or required to protect people (e.g. escape routes and fire alarm systems)
- Review the arrangements for the management of fire safety (e.g. fire procedures, staff training and fire drills, maintenance of fire precautions, etc.)
- Formulate an action plan
- Record the significant findings and, if necessary, implement an action plan
- Keep the assessment up to date.
A Fire Risk Assessment Template will help you to remember what you should inspect as you carry out your risk assessment. As you walk through the premises, refer to its contents and fill it in as you go. It’s useful to do this on a room-by-room basis and mark them off one by one, including hallways, stairwells, and, most importantly, all escape routes.
Before filling in the form you must nevertheless read the relevant fire risk assessment guide(s).
Please note that you are accepting full responsibility for the correctness of your fire risk assessment if you undertake the inspection.
Use of the template and guidance DOES NOT automatically demonstrate compliance with the law; it is the quality of information, the solutions you provide and day to day running of your business that is important.
Your Fire Risk Assessment Template should follow the preferred five-step method as recommended in guidance in support of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
Ideally suited for simple work premises, your template will help you to record fire hazards, assess the risk and evaluate measures to reduce the likelihood of a fire.
To get the full benefit from a Fire Risk Assessment Template, you must understand the fire safety requirements that every business needs to fulfil. If you’re responsible for carrying out a fire risk assessment, you must have received sufficient fire safety awareness training, ideally, Fire Warden training or higher. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to know what exactly you’re looking for.
You need to know your limits. If you feel, having read the guidance, that you do not have an appropriate knowledge or understanding of fire safety and the risk to people from fire to comply effectively with the legislative requirements; or, that you are unable to invest sufficient time and resources to do justice to this important task, you will need to appoint a specialist to carry out the risk assessment for you. Such a specialist must identify the fire safety measures that need to be in place. You should maintain close involvement in the process.
The responsible person must inspect several areas of the workplace when carrying out a fire risk assessment. For example, they need to assess common hazards, warning and detection systems, escape routes, fire suppression equipment, personal emergency evacuation plans, and more. Your template should contain a checklist of all these key factors to guide you while carrying out a risk assessment.
You must be mindful that there might be fire safety risks not addressed in the checklist. These risks must be assessed and recorded on separate sheets which must be attached to your findings.
A fire safety risk assessment is used to identify fire hazards and evaluate current fire safety protocols in a business to improve emergency plans. Small businesses can use a template to carry out fire safety risk assessments on simple premises (e.g. small offices, shops, or industrial units, etc). The template should follow a simple 5-step guide provided by the UK Government.
The template must be used in conjunction with the official Fire Risk Assessment guide(s)!