Fire Safety Risk Assessment.
No one appreciates more than I really do, the hard work, time, and care that assumes producing a top quality Fire Risk Assessment Report for your business driveway.
If you are the dutyholder, i. e. the employer, landlord, or any other individual who has control of the relevant driveway; you are required legally to use an assessment of the workplace or, the relevant driveway under section 53 or section 54 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 respectively.
The Fire Risk Assessment that is required legally to be carried out may be done so by, a "competent person" who can either be someone within your company, or a third party contractor known as a Fire Risk Assessor. Selecting the right person for the job may not be an easy one as the 'competent person' requires to have, sufficient training and experience, knowledge, or other qualities according to the Fire Safety Regulations (Scotland) 2006; Regulation 17(1).
Is your 'in-house' Fire Risk Assessor competent?
Unwittingly, some employers have charged their administrators with the burden of carrying out this task on their behalf, or, requesting that their company safe practices practitioner is nominated as the fire risk assessor without a moment's consideration to their competence. In many cases the nominated "competent persons" do not have the correct qualities to use the fire safety risk assessment in order to find it through which a successful and satisfactory conclusion.
Statistics show that many tests carried out in Scotland today are inadequate or insufficient in nature where the assessor has failed to identify the fire hazards, properly estimate the probability of ignition in order to consider the consequences alive safety of the occupants, should a fire take hold in the driveway.
Without having fully identified & examined, the fire hazards, and consequences alive in the driveway, the assessor would be unlikely to come to the correct conclusion of the risk alive within that building.
Indeed even for the veteran "Safety and Health Expert", a fire safety risk assessment can be a time consuming, daunting task where the fire safety assessor may not get the available skills, background, or, experience to properly identify the Significant Findings, in order to make, prioritise or implement the Action Want to mitigate, or even to maintain the building at its current fire risk level.
Fire Safety Consultants in Scotland.
Contracting out, or, freelancing the Fire Risk Assessment, or the Fire Risk Assessment Review contract to a "Fire Safety Company", in order to a Fire Safety Consultant may also have it's pitfalls as some of our clients have previously found out to their peril, usually when it is only too late and the expenses has been paid.
Scottish Government guidance advises; --
"If you are looking to employ a fire safety specialist, it can be difficult to evaluate the competence of companies and persons who advertise their services as fire risk assessors. The fact that a person or company is operating in the fire sector or that someone has previous fire service experience, does not mean that they are a fire safety specialist".
I therefore advice that before employing the services of a "Fire Safety Consultant" or "Fire Risk Assessor", ask if they can provide proof of the following; --
• Are they Properly Qualified for the job such as Nebosh Fire Certificate? Fire Brigade fire-fighter courses or general Safe practices Practitioner courses are not usually viewed as sufficient.
• Are they listed on an Approved Create Fire Risk Assessors such as the current ones that are maintained by the Institution of Fire Engineers or the Fire Industry Association? This can be easily checked on their websites.
• Do they have proper & Full Professional Indemnity Insurance? Should something go wrong, e. grams. wrongful advice, then this insurance is imperative as Fire Safety Manager Providers a redress. Employers and Public liability Insurance is not sufficient in this case.
• Most importantly. Can they provide physical hard evidence of all above? No proof -- no contract.
It amazes me to this day how retired firemen and safe practices practitioners are managing to hoodwink their clients that they are competent by simply chatting about their life's experience 'down at the station' or 'what they done on their last job', without providing a small bit of evidence to their possible client as proof that they are indeed competent to use the position.
If the person you are about to hire does not think that they should produce documentation or provide you with proof of their competence, then i would have serious a reservation about hiring them.
Remember; -- if you are the dutyholder described in part 2 then you are the person responsible for ensuring that a proper fire risk assessment has been carried out and ultimately responsible for the competence of your fire risk assessor or fire safety consultant utilized for the eyes of the law in Scotland.
No one appreciates more than I really do, the hard work, time, and care that assumes producing a top quality Fire Risk Assessment Report for your business driveway.
If you are the dutyholder, i. e. the employer, landlord, or any other individual who has control of the relevant driveway; you are required legally to use an assessment of the workplace or, the relevant driveway under section 53 or section 54 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 respectively.
The Fire Risk Assessment that is required legally to be carried out may be done so by, a "competent person" who can either be someone within your company, or a third party contractor known as a Fire Risk Assessor. Selecting the right person for the job may not be an easy one as the 'competent person' requires to have, sufficient training and experience, knowledge, or other qualities according to the Fire Safety Regulations (Scotland) 2006; Regulation 17(1).
Is your 'in-house' Fire Risk Assessor competent?
Unwittingly, some employers have charged their administrators with the burden of carrying out this task on their behalf, or, requesting that their company safe practices practitioner is nominated as the fire risk assessor without a moment's consideration to their competence. In many cases the nominated "competent persons" do not have the correct qualities to use the fire safety risk assessment in order to find it through which a successful and satisfactory conclusion.
Statistics show that many tests carried out in Scotland today are inadequate or insufficient in nature where the assessor has failed to identify the fire hazards, properly estimate the probability of ignition in order to consider the consequences alive safety of the occupants, should a fire take hold in the driveway.
Without having fully identified & examined, the fire hazards, and consequences alive in the driveway, the assessor would be unlikely to come to the correct conclusion of the risk alive within that building.
Indeed even for the veteran "Safety and Health Expert", a fire safety risk assessment can be a time consuming, daunting task where the fire safety assessor may not get the available skills, background, or, experience to properly identify the Significant Findings, in order to make, prioritise or implement the Action Want to mitigate, or even to maintain the building at its current fire risk level.
Fire Safety Consultants in Scotland.
Contracting out, or, freelancing the Fire Risk Assessment, or the Fire Risk Assessment Review contract to a "Fire Safety Company", in order to a Fire Safety Consultant may also have it's pitfalls as some of our clients have previously found out to their peril, usually when it is only too late and the expenses has been paid.
Scottish Government guidance advises; --
"If you are looking to employ a fire safety specialist, it can be difficult to evaluate the competence of companies and persons who advertise their services as fire risk assessors. The fact that a person or company is operating in the fire sector or that someone has previous fire service experience, does not mean that they are a fire safety specialist".
I therefore advice that before employing the services of a "Fire Safety Consultant" or "Fire Risk Assessor", ask if they can provide proof of the following; --
• Are they Properly Qualified for the job such as Nebosh Fire Certificate? Fire Brigade fire-fighter courses or general Safe practices Practitioner courses are not usually viewed as sufficient.
• Are they listed on an Approved Create Fire Risk Assessors such as the current ones that are maintained by the Institution of Fire Engineers or the Fire Industry Association? This can be easily checked on their websites.
• Do they have proper & Full Professional Indemnity Insurance? Should something go wrong, e. grams. wrongful advice, then this insurance is imperative as Fire Safety Manager Providers a redress. Employers and Public liability Insurance is not sufficient in this case.
• Most importantly. Can they provide physical hard evidence of all above? No proof -- no contract.
It amazes me to this day how retired firemen and safe practices practitioners are managing to hoodwink their clients that they are competent by simply chatting about their life's experience 'down at the station' or 'what they done on their last job', without providing a small bit of evidence to their possible client as proof that they are indeed competent to use the position.
If the person you are about to hire does not think that they should produce documentation or provide you with proof of their competence, then i would have serious a reservation about hiring them.
Remember; -- if you are the dutyholder described in part 2 then you are the person responsible for ensuring that a proper fire risk assessment has been carried out and ultimately responsible for the competence of your fire risk assessor or fire safety consultant utilized for the eyes of the law in Scotland.
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