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The Official Quote "A Fire Risk Assessment must be carried out by the owner of the building or by any person that has some level of control in the premises, taking reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and make sure people can safely escape if there is a fire". If You Run a Business that has Five Staff or More you must have a F.R.A. If You Run a Business that Provides Paying Guests with Sleeping Accommodation you must have a Fire Risk Assessment (F.R.A.). If your organisation employs five or more people, your premises are licensed, provides sleeping accommodation or an alterations notice is in force, you must record the significant findings of your fire assessment. So the law is, your business premises must have a F.R.A. If you do not have one when your Fire Inspector (late Fire Officer) calls to do an audit, you will be served with an Enforcement Notice; this is a legal requirement to which you have a right to appeal to a Magistrates Court. Note! You could have a piece of A4 paper saying this building meets all the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and call that your Fire Risk Assessment. It would be condemned by the Fire Inspector probably for lack of information (and he will advise you how to carry out the proper procedure to create your F.R.A)., but you will not receive an Enforcement Notice because you have produced what you call a Fire Risk Assessment. Most Important Under the old regime of fire certificates a Fire Officer would call once a year giving a days notice to check that everything was in working order. Most had there own take on things, out of the eight fire officers I've dealt with over the last 20 years, 7 told me. "We do not inspect your private accommodation". And one gave it a through inspection. The fact that the fire officer had the last say afforded him a large portion of responsibility, so in the event of a fire that ended up in a Magistrates court because some one had been injured, the person responsible for the building could fall back on the fact that the Fire Officer had past the fire certificate. In layman's terms, Under the New F.R.A. Law. The statement, "Fire Risk Assessment must be carried out by the owner of the building or by any person that has some level of control in the premises." Means that person literally walks round the building recording what fire precautions are in place in each area, rooms, passages, work areas and especially the main means of escape; they Identify any potential fire hazards to staff or residents, makes a note of any hazards which are entered under the heading 'Significant Findings'. They then put together a plan of action to reduce any risks they may have found. That document then becomes the Fire Risk Assessment for that building, created by the owner of the building or by the person that has some level of control in the premises, in other words that person has sole responsibility for the fire safety precautions in that building. The Fire Inspector is there to audit your findings, offer you advice and in some cases lay down the law, he is not there to tell you what to put in your F.R.A. because that would be affording him a level responsibility. Just in case it's not clear, any responsibility that the Fire Officer has now been transferred to the person responsible for the premises, they produce the Fire Risk Assessment in there own words, if they said they inspect there smoke detectors on a weekly basis, then that is what must happen. In the event of a fire, your Fire Risk Assessment is found to be at fault, you may find it hard to claim on your insurance and at worse end up in court.
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