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Good practice: a five-step checklist to fire risk assessments – step three

In the third of a five-part series on fire risk assessments, Connect looks at step three – evaluate, remove, reduce and protect.

In parts one and two of the five-step guide to fire risk assessments, Connect looked at identifying the fire safety hazards – namely, the sources of ignition, the sources of fuel and the sources of oxygen – and also the groups or individuals who are potentially at risk in the event of a fire. Now we look at how you can reduce or remove the risk of a fire and ultimately protect those who work at and visit your premises.

The management of the building you work in and the way people use it will have a direct effect on your risk assessment. Management may be your responsibility, or there may be others who have responsibilities such as owners and agents. In large multi-occupancy buildings, all those with some responsibilities and controls must co-operate so that everyone can consider, and be aware of, the risks generated by others.

Evaluate the risk of a fire starting

In general, fires start:

accidentally, for example a cigarette not put out properly
by act or omission, such as when electrical equipment isn’t regularly maintained, or when waste is allowed to gather too close to a heat source
deliberately, for example a person setting fire to external rubbish bins placed too close to the building.

Spend time looking around your building, both inside and out, to try and identify potential examples of the above. More guidance on evaluating the risk of a fire starting can be found here.

In part two of the five-step guide, we identified the people likely to be at risk. Now, it’s time to look at the actual risk to those people should a fire start and spread from the various areas you’ve identified.

To evaluate the risk to people in your building, you need be aware of how a fire can spread: by convection, by conduction, or by radiation.

Convection
Convection is the transfer of heat energy in a gas or liquid by movement of currents. It can also happen in some solids, for example in sand. When fires start in enclosed spaces such as buildings, hot smoke rises, is trapped and then passes through any gaps in the walls, ceiling and floor into other parts of the building.

Conduction
This is the transfer and distribution of heat energy from atom to atom within a substance. Some materials, such as metal shutters, can absorb heat and transmit it to the next room where it can set fire to flammable items that are in contact with the heated material.

Radiation
Radiation is when heat is emitted as invisible light. These rays travel through the air until they hit a material which absorbs them. This material will become warmer as a result. Radiation heats the air like an electric bar heater heats a room. Any material that is near to a fire will absorb the heat until its starts to smoulder and burn.

Smoke also contains toxic gases which are harmful to people. A fire in a building can generate thick, black smoke, making it difficult to see or breathe. It can also block the visibility of escape routes. It’s essential that there are sufficient escape routes so that occupants can get to safety before the fire and its effects trap them in the building.

In evaluating the risk to people, you’ll need to consider the possibility of:

a fire starting on the lower floor affecting the only escape route for people on upper floors, or the only escape route for people with disabilities
a fire developing in an unoccupied space that people have to pass by to escape
fire or smoke spreading through routes such as ventilation systems, or through poorly installed, poorly maintained or damaged walls and ceilings. This would affect people in remote areas who may not hear fire alarms and may be overcome by smoke before they can escape
a fire making contact with hazardous materials
fire spreading rapidly through the building because of combustible structural elements or large quantities of combustible products, eg paper
fire and smoke spreading through the building due to poorly maintained or damaged fire doors, or fire doors being wedged open.

More information on fire risks is given on the Communities and Local Government website.

Remove or reduce the hazards

Once you’ve recognised the fire hazards, you now need to remove those hazards if it’s reasonably practicable to do so. If the hazards can’t be removed, you need to take steps to reduce them. This is an essential part of a fire risk assessment which must take place before any other actions.

Remove or reduce sources of fuel

There are various ways you can reduce the risks caused by materials and substances which burn, for example:

reduce stocks of flammable materials, liquids and gases in open areas to a minimum. Keep stock in dedicated storerooms or storage areas, where only designated staff members are allowed access. Keep the minimum quantities for operation of the business on site
keep flammable gases, solids and liquids separate
keep areas containing flammable gases ventilated eg forklift truck charging units
use non-combustible building materials for building modifications
develop a formal system for the control of combustible waste by ensuring that waste materials and rubbish are not allowed to accumulate and are carefully stored until properly disposed of, particularly at the end of the day to reduce the risk of arson
check all areas where hot work (eg welding) has been carried out to ensure that no smouldering or hot materials remain that may cause a fire.

Remove or reduce sources of ignition

There are a number of ways that you can reduce the risk caused by potential sources of ignition. For example:

wherever possible, replace a potential ignition source with a safer alternative
replace naked flame and radiant heaters with fixed convector heaters or a central heating system. Also, try to restrict the movement of portable heaters in case they are used or stored in an inappropriate place, ie stationery rooms or cupboards
separate ignition hazards from combustibles, eg make sure there’s sufficient space between lights and combustibles
operate a safe smoking policy in designated smoking areas
make sure electrical, gas and mechanical equipment is installed, used, maintained and protected as per the manufacturer’s instructions
check all areas where hot work (such as welding) has been carried out to make sure that no ignition has occurred and that no smouldering materials remain
make sure that if anyone is carrying out work on gas fittings which involves exposing pipes that contain, or have contained, flammable gas, that they don’t use any source of ignition such as blow-lamps or hot-air guns
take precautions to avoid arson (look out for a forthcoming feature on this in a future issue of Connect).

More guidance on removing and reducing hazards is given here.

Remove or reduce sources of oxygen

You can reduce the potential source of oxygen supplied to a fire by:

closing all doors, windows and other openings not required for ventilation, particularly out of working hours
shutting down ventilation systems which aren’t essential to the function of the building
not storing oxidising materials near any heat source or flammable material.

Remove or reduce the risks to people

Having looked at the risk of fire and the risk to people, it’s unlikely that you’ve completely eliminated the risk of fire starting and presenting a risk to people in your premises.

You now need to reduce any remaining risk by making sure that adequate fire precautions are in place to warn people in the event of a fire and allow them to escape safely.

The level of fire protection you need to provide will depend on the level of risk that remains in the premises after you’ve removed or reduced the hazards and risks. This guide from the Communities and Local Government website can help you decide the level of risk that you may still have.

Flexibility of fire protection measures

The level of fire protection should be proportional to the risk posed to the safety of the people in the premises. Therefore, the objective should be to reduce the remaining risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable. Think about things such as:

providing early warning of a fire using automatic fire detection
revising the layout to reduce the distance to an exit
controlling the number of people in the premises
limiting the area to trained staff only ie no members of the public
increasing staff training and awareness.

The above list is by no means exhaustive and is only used to illustrate some examples of adaptations that can be made to provide safe premises.

Fire detection and warning systems

A fire in a small, open-plan, single-storey office or shop may be obvious to everyone as soon as it starts. In these cases, a shout of ‘fire’ or a simple manually operated device, such as a gong or air horn, may be all that’s needed. If this isn’t appropriate, it’s likely that an electric fire warning system will be needed.

In larger buildings, particularly those with more than one floor where an alarm given from any single point is unlikely to be heard, an electric system is required. This type of system is better suited to buildings where all parts are occupied at the same time. However, where there are unoccupied areas or common corridors in multi-occupied premises, in which a fire could start and block escape routes before it is discovered, an automatic fire detection system may be necessary.

You may also need special actions, for example to take into account the needs of people who are disabled, or for times when people are working alone or are on unusual working patterns, eg maintenance staff or contractors working over the weekend.

In large premises with lots of people, such as department stores and multi-storey office blocks, it’s likely that a more sophisticated form of warning and evacuation will need to be provided. If you’re not sure whether your current arrangements are adequate, see the additional guidance on fire warning systems here.