sholland, I don't wish to appear harsh or critical but That is one helluva responsibility to write a fire risk assessment for premises that have 400 children, 90 staff, 4 different buildings for you to say ... any ideas? suggests to me that you do not have the competence to complete this assessment You need a safety professional with experience in schools I have 7 years experience conducting fire risk assessments in factories but I would not feel competent to conduct an assessment for a large school. Get professional help, not a template from an internet forum. John

Thanks very much for the responses. It seems I obviously havent been completely clear with my situation, I am a competent health and safety professional with over 5 yrs experience across both the Fire and Construction sectors. This experience was key to getting the role of Site Manager responsible for H&S and Fire Management within the School, it is also a good learning curve working within an organisation rather than advising from the outside. I am simply looking for a more usable Fire Risk Assesment Form and was hoping my fellow members may be able to help me with some different options re forms/templates

Sorry Syd, our posts crossed. I worked out my own fire risk assessment template onto an excel spreadsheet, using the PAS79 guidance, nine step process of asking the right questions. John

I would go down the lines of pas79:2007 and pas7:2013. But do not use the pas79 template as a tick box exercise, in which I think it can be. Your assessment should make you think about the requirements and to be able to document items for improvements or actions. In my experience the Fire and Rescue Service tend to recognise and like the pas79 paperwork format as well.

Also read education laws with regards to schools as there are things in there which are extra/different to the RR(FS)O etc. which need to be accounted for as they carry weight and PAS79 is OK as a base line only in my view [noting that most of such things are tick boxes as against real risk assessments as already noted [some PSA79 examples I have seen, which have cost schools lots of dosh are very poor indeed!] If in doubt contact your local Fire & Rescue Service safety officers as i find most are very helpful and for the first assessment get in a specialist and shadow as we all have to learn and we are not expert in all areas noting that if anything untoward happens its on your head

Have you considered doing 4 separate assessments - 1 for each building, and then combine issues in the action plans. If you need a template PM me and I will dig one out. SBH

It would be helpful to know if it is an academy/independent school or an LEA school? the responsibilities differ. I support 5 academies and have completed several fire risk assessments for their premises. A template is fine but please do not fall into the trap of relying on the format instead of really looking and identifying the hazards and issues. Have you got a copy of the Government publication "Fire Safety Risk Assessment for educational premises"? There is a free download available and there is one covering disabled issues as well amongst others for factories etc. There are templates on the WWW if that is waht suits you. If you want some more assistance PM me. ARB

I have a specific form which allows fire risk assessment to be conducted throughout the establishment, accounting for all parties and has been useful in raising awareness when presenting to a college and kindergarten here in Oman. If you would like a copy, then warren.fothergill@btinternet.com is the email to get me on.