Have read an article on our (IOSH) FRM Group site which states that
“fire risk assessment is not rocket science and can be viewed simply as a means of making a reasonable assessment of the likelihood of a fire occurring and what might be the consequences if it does.”
“Unfortunately, many safety practitioners tend to distance themselves from fire safety once it gets past the “poor housekeeping” stage and believe that the subject is so technical it is necessary to bring in a fire officer or a specialist consultant to assist or do it for them. This fear is unfounded because there is no difference now between the tried and tested ’5 steps’”
“A safety practitioner can put together a fire risk assessment after making a reasonable judgement as to the extent of the hazard i.e. fire loading, people at risk and likely control measures. A decision can then be made as to whether or not a fire safety specialist needs to be called in. In many cases where the ignition and fuel sources are scarce, any potential spread of fire is likely to be slow, and all occupants can quickly leave the premises if a fire occurs, then the assessment and subsequent control measures can be minimal.”
Taking into account the statements and reports concerning Lakanal House (below), do we still feel that FRA is as simple as a number of safety practitioners to make out? Is there a disconnect where the “Safety Practitioner” is unable to recognize when it is necessary to use the services of a fire safety specialist?
Southwark concedes pre-Lakanal House risk assessments were inadequate
12 January 2010
Southwark Council has said that prior to the Lakanal House fire last July, it had mistakenly relied on the training of its housing officers by London Fire Brigade to meet fire safety requirements for some of its tower blocks.
In an interview on last Thursday's BBC Radio 4 Face the Facts programme, which investigated tower block fire safety, Kim Humphreys, deputy leader of Southwark Council, confirmed the council had changed its approach to conducting fire risk assessments.
"London Fire Brigade provided our housing officers with training which we presumed, erroneously, would meet the requirements. This has not been the case and that's why we decided that we are going to have outside experts provide us with fire risk assessments for those complex blocks. We have identified that we want to go further than just the basic fire risk assessment and we will be carrying out intrusive inspections of those blocks."
Responding to questions about the relatively few fire risk assessments the council, along with other councils, had carried out prior to the Lakanal House fire compared to the number conducted afterwards, councillor Humphreys added: "I fully accept that as a council it would have been better if we were further advanced in terms of those fire risk assessments."
On a section of its website on the issues arising from the fire at Lakanal House, Southwark Council says:
"As we are London's largest social landlord, with over 50,000 properties and over 300 high rise blocks, we take our responsibilities seriously. The responsibility to do a fire risk assessment (FRA) was transferred to local councils in 2006. We asked the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to train our staff to conduct fire risk assessments and they trained 132 Southwark housing officers.
"Following the training programme a number of follow-up sessions were run to support staff. Blocks over six storeys have had an FRA conducted by a council officer. Where we believe it is necessary we can escalate the fire risk assessment for further technical or intrusive work, carried out by external experts."
London Fire Brigade has confirmed that it provided 11 fire risk awareness training days for Southwark housing officers.
Report to the Secretary of State by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser on the emerging issues arising from the fatal fire at Lakanal House, Camberwell on 3 July 2009
5.7 Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 5.7.1 Emerging issues
There is a requirement in the Fire Safety Order (FSO) to appoint one or more competent persons to assist the responsible person in undertaking the preventable and protective fire safety measures within premises.
However, there is no similar requirement for a competent person to be appointed to assist in making a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
It is important that assurance be given to both the responsible person for the premises and the enforcing authority that a risk assessment has been undertaken by a competent person.
5.7.2 Areas for consideration
Consideration should be given to conducting a review as to how the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, can be assured that their assessment of risk is suitable and sufficient. This assurance is particularly important where the responsible person may be relying on using someone else to undertake the risk assessment Where appropriate, the current Fire Safety Order guidance would need to be amended accordingly.