Hi

Any anyone offer advice on carrying out Fire Risk Assessments for sites. Basically a 1 or 2 Hectare site with some chemical storage and a metal container for a an office. Most FRAs Ive come across are only interested in buildings.

Any advice on training and service providers would be appreciated.

Many Thanks.

Sue

Without seeing the site(s) it's difficult to give anything detailed, but for starters you need to establish whether a DSEAR assessment is necessary.  Look at what is stored, in what quantities, can the chemicals react with other chemicals stored on site, what is the security of the site like, what's around the site (ie housing etc), what are your current fire arrangements, what ignition sources are there, what would any environmental impact of a fire be, who is on site at any given time, what would the response time be for the fire service to reach you, do you have staff trained in fire fighting and/or evacution procedures etc etc.  There are however also likely to be several other considerations depending upon the site and what else is there.

Edited by user 02 November 2018 15:38:34(UTC)  | Reason: Spulling...

Mainly because it is a legal requirement (in the UK at least) – Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that the responsible person must “make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks … to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on him by or under this Order.”  It also makes it clear that under Article 6 apart from certain types of area,” this Order applies in relation to any premises.”

I have seen a lot of poor FRA. The worst was one for a set of labs full of highly flammable reagents oxidisers etc.  The company doing the FRA said “we just do the building not the contents” forgetting things like articles 12(Elimination or reduction of risks from dangerous substances) and 16 (“Additional emergency measures in respect of dangerous substances”). We took the process in house after that.

You need a FRA to tell you what you need to do to keep a place safe (same as any RA)  the paper work documents the process.

How can you say " the hazards are identified and escape/fire arrangements already established. " if you have not done a FRA.

In case someone asks the 200 barrels crude equates to 25 to 33 tonnes which is below the threshold for COMAH.

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

Mainly because it is a legal requirement (in the UK at least) – Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that the responsible person must “make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks … to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on him by or under this Order.”  It also makes it clear that under Article 6 apart from certain types of area,” this Order applies in relation to any premises.”

I have seen a lot of poor FRA. The worst was one for a set of labs full of highly flammable reagents oxidisers etc.  The company doing the FRA said “we just do the building not the contents” forgetting things like articles 12(Elimination or reduction of risks from dangerous substances) and 16 (“Additional emergency measures in respect of dangerous substances”). We took the process in house after that.

You need a FRA to tell you what you need to do to keep a place safe (same as any RA)  the paper work documents the process.

How can you say " the hazards are identified and escape/fire arrangements already established. " if you have not done a FRA.

In case someone asks the 200 barrels crude equates to 25 to 33 tonnes which is below the threshold for COMAH.

 

Thanks for this. My concern is around the the fact that FRAs are too focused on buildings but what if there are no buildings. Like you say, poor quality reviews that are missing the really issue. Good point about taking it in-house. Possible avenue for investigation.

And, yes, don't get me started on COMAH!