Posted By martinw Any fire officers out there past or present(Hello Frank)? Regarding premises fire risk assessments - of common areas of flats - I have had slightly differing interpretations from different Fire and Rescue services which I have had dealings with and wonder what your thoughts are(PS I know the regs etc so no need to quote). Any takers?

Posted By martinw BERR will be too busy merging with DIUS. It is more about interpretation. I spoke to two different enforcement officers from two F+R services regarding flats which are above commercial units. One said that the properties are effectively seperate and that any fire risk assessment for the commercial property below would not require those in the flats directly above to be listed as relevant persons. The other F+R authority said that they were relevant persons as they would be legally there and would be directly affected by the fire below. Rather frustrating as I have found that I have to speak to enforcers in each authority to avoid unneccesary tweaking.

Posted By martinw Go Claire what's your experience with the firefighters(if you will pardon the question)?

Posted By martinw I know and fully agree but I have direct information from a fire enforcement officer telling me otherwise when I rang the person this morning. Hence my dilemma - to go against the advice of a Fire Brigade enforcement officer who has advised me to go in a particular direction regarding a fire risk assessment in his area or to go with the legislation. If an event happens in the place which I carried out the risk assessment then I will have ignored fire brigade direction. Alternatively I will be hammered by barristers for not following the law. Incidentally the fire officer did say that his advice was based on legal advice that his brigade had recieved.... woe is me...

Posted By martinw Ta for that. In reality I will go with what I know to be right in terms of the law. Really difficult position sometimes though, bearing in mind it is the fire brigade who would be the ones who would prosecute.... but thanks for your thoughts. Martin

Posted By Messy Shaw Martin you have my sympathies I was a fire service FS Inspecting Officer (IO) for many years before moving over to the other side in order to practice the dark art of risk assessing. I worked with some very good people who stayed on top of the legislation, guides and current thinking and wold go the extra mile to develop themselves and their knowledge. But sadly I also worked with a succession of pillocks who (at best) code hugged to cover their incompetence or were (at wost) the jobsworth type character who revelled in bully-boy tactics. What can you do? That all depends on what stage you are at. Has this IO issued an enforecment notice or is it that s/he has had a little chat? If it's the latter have a chat with his manager If it's an enforcement notice, consider an appeal. All IOs will have a manager who should- well, manage! They should be able to determine whether it's you or him who have got it wrong. But don't count on it. I had several managers who had been promoted directly from the fire station so had no FS experience at all so relied on the team for guidance. Good luck(Ps are you able to say what fire service it is??)

Posted By FAH Hi Martin I'm sorry that my comment didn't really help; but it is certainly relevant. It's also a real shame that you appear to have been given incorrect [and conflicting] advice as you should be entitled to accurate interpretation & application of the legislation. However, the majority of the info provided on this post in the interim is accurate & I also would include the residential accom as a consequence of the interpretation of "relevant person". Messy is quite right & surprisingly restrained in his comments - I'd go a lot further but for the Moderators. I still stand by my original observation though - to get a long-term fix, find a F&RS that is willing to act as "lead" for your business & then refer all adverse observations from elsewhere to them. There are some that are quite happy to take this on. Frank Hallett