Fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom is something that you need to pay a close amount of attention to as it’s becoming highly regulated and critical that you are making smart decisions. Recently, an important document titled ‘A Guide To Selecting A Competent Fire Risk Assessor’ was released that will help responsible persons and dutyholders make the right decision for their premises.

Choosing a competent fire risk assessor will be critical for your safety as well as anyone working in your building. Total Fire Services are ready to meet all the recommendations specified by the Fire Risk Assessment Competency Council and put your mind at ease.

Let’s look further at what it’s all about.

Why Carry Out Fire Risk Assessments?

It’s important that you are taking the time to have a fire risk assessment completed (or reviewed) as this will help you identify any changes that need to be made within your building that could potentially be putting you at risk of suffering from the impact of a fire. The guide illustrates how to go about this selection process.

Many people are not fully aware of small factors that could cause a fire to start up until it is brought to their attention by a fire assessment professional such as those from Total Fire Services. Some individuals think that they are adequately knowledgeable to do this themselves, but often that isn’t the case.

You must be able to not only identify the fire hazards, but also identify people at risk, evaluate the safety measures that should be provided to protect people, check into the arrangements for management of fire safety, form an action plan, and then keep clear records of each assessment done up to date.

Assessors at Total Fire Services are fully certified in all of these areas, so they will make sure every element is taken care of.

Choosing Your Fire Assessment Company

So what qualities should you be looking for when seeking out a fire assessment specialist?

“The Fire Risk Assessment Competency Council recommends the use of fire risk assessment companies, including sole traders, which are third party certificated to appropriate schemes operated by Certification Bodies which have been UKAS accredited to certificate against such schemes”, as stated in the guide.

This is one place where Total Fire Services shines. We are proud to be the 4^th company in the country to receive external certification by the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) for the BAFE SP205 Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment Scheme, so you are not likely to find this requirement met often. This goes a long way to set us apart from the competition.

In addition to meeting that requirement, the guide recommends looking into the experience they have previously had with undertaking fire risk assessments for the specific type of building. Not all assessors are competent to assess all types of buildings, so it’s important you have a good match here.

The guide also suggests asking for references from other clients they have worked with is also going to be a wise decision and help you feel confident that others have been satisfied with the experience they received with them.

Making sure any assessor you’re looking into has proof of professional indemnity insurance will also be critical, along with public liability insurance as well. Total Fire can provide both.

So if you have yet to get certified fire safety consultants on board, make sure you pay heed to the tips and advice this guide is providing you with. Total Fire Services satisfies the Competency Council’s guide, providing our clients with confidence they are receiving professional fire safety advice and service.

The full guide can be found via the FIA and BAFE sites.