How Much Does A Fire Risk Assessment Cost In the UK?

The safety of a workplace is the prime responsibility of the owner. Fire safety is an integral part of any safety protocol. Apart from having a sense of responsibility, business owners and landlords are also legally bound to ensure their employees' safety against possible fire risks.

Regulatory Reforms (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is the main law in the UK that makes it mandatory for owners and landlords to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment on their properties regularly. It applies to all non-domestic properties in the UK. It also applies to buildings having two or more residential blocks of flats.

Essentials of Fire Risk Assessment

• Identification of Fire Hazards.
• Identification of people at risk.
• Evaluation of fire risks and preventive measures and ensure that fire safety plans are effectively in place.
• Record the findings, suggestions, and recommendations by the risk assessor.
• Training of the employees on how they can prevent a fire from happening and how they should react if it happens.
• It needs to be reviewed and updated regularly, based on any changes in the layout and addition of new equipment or when the responsible person feels it necessary. However, the review must be done at least once a year.  

Things to Remember

• Fire Risk Assessment can be done by the owner or any other person nominated by him.
• The person nominated for this purpose is called the “responsible person” in the Fire Safety Order 2005. He will be held accountable in case of any lapse in this important task.
• It has to be conducted and reviewed regularly. The Law doesn’t stipulate any fixed intervals to do so, but it needs to be done regularly.
• In the case of buildings having two or more residential blocks of flats, the common areas, such as corridors and staircases and main entrance door and outer walls, are also included in the responsibilities of the ‘responsible person.”

How Much Does Fire Risk Assessment Cost in the UK?

Generally, it should not cost you anything, especially in the case of small workplaces. It can be done by the owners and landlords or anyone nominated, most probably one of their employees. So, if that’s the case, it will cost you Zero.

However, considering the nature of work or business and the size of the building, you may have to entrust this task to some professional and accredited Risk Assessors. The cost involved in such a case varies with the type and nature of the business. For that matter, businesses are normally differentiated into three types;

• Low Level: It may include health care centers, cafés, saloons, and small grocery stores.
• Medium Level: Industrial buildings, factories, hotels, educational institutes, and day care homes are categorized as Medium-level businesses.
• High Level: Large buildings such as blocks of flats, shelters, and other large housing premises are included in this category.

Different professional Risk Assessment companies offer exclusive packages for conducting the Fire Risk Assessment for any of the above categories. It largely depends upon the expertise and repute of the service providers. However, it normally ranges between 100 and 1000 pounds and even more in some cases. Generally, the cost range would be as follows:   

• For Low-Level Businesses, service providers normally offer a package from £100 to £500.
• Medium Level Businesses' costs range from £200 to £550.
• For High-Level Businesses, it may start from £400 up to anywhere, most probably in the range of £1000, depending on the nature and volume of assessment required.

Conclusion

Fire risk assessment is a mandatory requirement for all non-domestic properties in the UK. It needs to be done at least once a year. If you own a small business entity, you can do it yourself or through your employees to save the cost. But for relatively larger premises, you need to get it done by a professional, which will cost you on average from £500 to £800.