How Often Should a Fire Risk Assessment Be Done in Residential?

The safety of occupants against all kinds of risks and threats is the prime duty of the owner and the managers of the properties, both legally and morally. One of the major risks that occupants may face is the fire.

Fire can start at any time with or without an obvious reason. Many fire incidents are associated with gas, but they can also occur due to an electric spark or due to exposure of flammable substances to some ignition or a flame. Per the home department survey reports, hundreds of fire incidents happen in the UK every year, causing loss of assets, injuries and even dozens of deaths.

Though most of the fire accidents reportedly happen in business and commercial buildings, residential blocks in multi-occupied residential buildings are also exposed to this risk. So, the property owners and managers have been made responsible for carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment on the properties under their control to ensure the safety of its occupants against the possibility of a fire incident.

Fire Safety Order 2005 and Residential Properties

The basic law that regulates fire safety in the UK was formulated in 2005 and has been in force since October 2006. It is known as the “Regulatory Reforms (Fire Safety) Order 2005”. It is commonly referred to as Fire Safety Order 2005. This law was made, keeping in view the safety against fire in non-domestic properties in the UK. But it was also made applicable to the residential blocks of flats in the multi-occupied residential buildings, as well.

Residential Care Premises, such as nursing homes or sheltered housings, are also covered under this law. This law is also applicable to sleeping accommodations, like hotels and guest houses. However, homes, whether self-occupied or rented, do not fall under the ambit of this law.

After an amendment, the common areas and boundary walls of the multi-occupied residential properties have also been included in the ambit of this law. Hence, the relevance of this law with the residential properties is restricted to the blocks of flats in the multi-occupied residential buildings only.

Implication of Fire Safety Order 2005

The most important part of the Fire Safety Order 2005 is the imposition of legal duty on the responsible person of carrying out Fire Risk Safety Assessment. The responsible person, under the provision of this law, can be either of the following persons:

1. Landlord
2. Owner
3. Employer
4. Any one of the employees
5. Any one of the occupants
6. Anyone else who controls the affairs of the building, such as the building manager or the facilities manager

So, the responsible person has a legal duty to conduct a fire risk assessment of the building under his control. The law requires that he must review the fire risk assessment regularly.

Flexibility of Fire Safety Order 2005

The Fire Safety Order 2005 has left two very important aspects at the discretion of the property owners:

1. The Qualification of a Responsible Person
2. The frequency of carrying out Fire Risk Assessment

But this is not a mistake in the law; rather, it has been done intentionally. Reasons? The scope of a fire risk assessment is diverse. It depends on the size of the building and the number of occupants. It also depends on the type of business being done in the building. Hence the expertise required for conducting fire risk assessment cannot be the same for every building. The same is the case with the frequency of conducting a fire risk assessment. It is also dependent on the size and purpose of use, as well as the number of employees.

The law only requires that the review of fire risk assessment should be done by the responsible person regularly.

Components of Fire Risk Assessment

The Fire Risk Assessment comprises the following essential components:

• Identification of Fire Hazards – This includes the survey of the entire building to see what and where are the fire hazards.
• Identification of people at risk – Survey the entire building to mark the people who are at risk of being affected by a fire. This may include children, senior citizens, or ones with some kind of disability. Persons exposed to flammable substances may also be at risk.
• Evaluation and Removal of Risks – The next important component of a fire risk assessment is evaluating the intensity of the risk. Once done, you need to suggest how these risks can be removed. Ideally, the risks should be removed, but realistically, it may not be possible. So, try to reduce the risks to the maximum possible extent.
• Record the findings – Law requires that if the premises are occupied by more than five employees, you must record your findings. However, it is strongly recommended to get it recorded invariably, even if the number of employees is less than 5.
• Emergency plan – As a responsible person, while conducting the fire risk assessment, you also need to suggest and implement an emergency exit plan if an unfortunate incident of fire does happen.
• Train the occupants- This is yet another very important part of the fire risk assessment. Arrange training sessions for the occupants. Teach them how to keep the premises free of fire risks, but in case of any such happening, how they have to react to reduce the impact of the fire accident.
• Review Regularly – As explained earlier, the law does not specify the frequency of fire risk assessment review, but it only requires doing it regularly. So, it’s the responsible person who has to decide when to conduct the review. Ideally, it should be at least once a year.

When To Conduct a Fire Risk Assessment in Residential Premises?

Whether it’s a commercial unit or a residential complex, the law is silent about the timings and frequency of fire risk assessments and their subsequent reviews. It only binds you to get it done regularly. It has been left at the discretion of the responsible person. Ideally, it should be done at least once a year under normal circumstances.

So, the fire risk assessment in residential blocks should invariably be done in the following cases:

• The responsible person thinks it needs to be done, as the current review is no longer effective, such as in the case of a recent fire accident in the building. It means the current assessment has lost its effectiveness and a review is imperative.
• If there is a major alteration or change in the building structure.
• If there has been a noticeable change in the number of occupants.
• If there is a noticeable addition of new occupants in the residential blocks of the building.
• Sometimes, the original fire risk assessment may also contain recommendations about the next review or the number of reviews in a year. If that is the case, you must conduct the review per the schedule specified in the previous fire risk assessment.
• If the building comprises up to three levels above the ground, the review can be done once every two years. But in the case of a residential block comprising more than 3 levels, the review has to be done annually.
• Sometimes, the local firefighting department may also visit the building and may instruct to review the fire risk assessment.

When to Re-Do the Fire Risk Assessment in Residential Buildings?

Conducting a fire risk assessment is one thing, whereas its subsequent review is another event. The reviews are generally based on the initial fire risk assessments. You just have to review its various components and suggest improvements and changes in it.

But it is also very important to completely redo the fire risk assessment after a reasonable interval. Ideally, a fire risk assessment of residential buildings should remain valid for 5 years, after which you must conduct an entirely fresh fire risk assessment. However, per the guidelines of the fire safety department for purposely built blocks of flats, a fresh fire risk assessment must be done as follows:

• If the building is up to three stories, you need to redo the fire risk assessment after every four years.
• If the building comprises more than three stories, the fire risk assessment has to be redone every three years.

Conclusion

Fire risk assessment is the most important that every property owner or property manager needs to do to ensure the safety of the residents. The provisions of relevant law are the same for both commercial units and the blocks of flats of a multi-occupied residential building.

Conducting a fire risk assessment regularly, at least once a year, would ideally suffice. But at the same time, there might be various circumstances that may compel you to carry out intermediary assessments as and when it is necessary. So, keep it done regularly or whenever required to ensure the safety of the residents.