Posted By SeanThompson in terms of an office fire R/A the main issues would be- -Genral office electrical equipment (P.C/Printer etc). control measure could be good houskeeping so there is no commbustable materials lying around and the area is covered by automatic fire detection. -Inner office situations. control meausures could be, fire detection in place in access room or vision panel in the door. -Also the general building needs to be looked at- means of escape, signage, maintance in order to comply with the fire regulations 4,5 and 6. Regards Sean

Posted By shaun mckeever The points highlighted above are important but in my view not the most important. In my view staff training is the most important. I have lost count of the times I have carried out a fire risk assessment and questioned staff what action they would take on discovering a fire. Typically I would suggest that their computer has burst into flames then I say 'talk me through your actions'. Typical responses are 'I will phone security' or 'I will tell my line manager'. When they do say they will raise the alarm many do not know where the manual call points are. Many staff do not use alternative escape routes during an evacuation because they are unfamiliar with them. They have never walked them. I have also carried out several unannounced fire evacuation drills (the fire brigade are notified beforehand so if they receive any calls they do not send an attendance). During the debrief I ask who called the fire brigade. More often than not nobody has because it is normally assumed somebody else would call the brigade. Everybody tells me that they do staff training but when you put people on the spot it is surprising how many fluster and fluff around. So an important part of your FRA must be staff training. Try putting them on the spot and see what response you get.

Posted By SeanThompson how has that got anything to do with the origanl question?

Posted By Merv Newman Coming into this reluctantly bacause I am not familiar with Hospice, Hospitals, Care Homes environments. Emergency procedures have to be worked out and practiced for every building/site environmant. Practice means twice per year. Once you have your procedures developed then give everyone a week's warning that you are going to call a practice drill. (make sure the weather is ok - May and September are the good months) Cancell if raining. OK. First practice, with warning. Station observers to check that people are going the right way, no one is on the phone etc. Check the timing. 3 minutes is ok for a factory, office. Maybe longer in a hospice/hospital situation. Anyone over the "average" time I count as 1 dead person. In theory, OK ? Next, hold a post mortem. What went right ? What went wrong ? What do we need to change so as to do better next time ? Update/revise your procedures. Next time, don't give precise warning. "Sometime next week we are going to run an evacuation exercise" Then run it again, same obervers. Same post mortem. Same update of procedures. Keep doing that for 20 years and you will never (should ever ) be satisfied. I'tll be better next time. Keep saying that. CSPs are allowed to beat their heads (gently but with feeling) against a brick wall after each exercise. Techs may only tear their hair out and cry real tears. It's a fun job. innit ? Merv Greying Wolf

Posted By SeanThompson yes and it is a "fire risk assessment" so it is looking at the "fire risks"