Step 3: Evaluate risk

Evaluate fire risks

Generally, the risk of fire breaking out will be low if you have separated flammable material from sources of ignition.

In each section of your premises, try to identify if a fire could occur in any way (including potential arson attacks).

Check:

• Your business housekeeping (e.g. to make sure escape routes aren't blocked and flammable material is in suitable fire-resistant containers).
• That storage areas are properly arranged and managed (e.g. roof voids aren't used for storage and combustible packaging is removed from the area).
• How dangerous substances are stored, displayed and used (e.g. ensure you have the minimum required stock and that all flammable liquids are in a fire-resistant area).
• How equipment and machinery is managed (e.g. ensure ventilation isn't blocked and safety features aren't disabled).
• The existing layout and construction of the building (e.g. whether there are false ceilings and voids containing gas or water pipes or electric cables).
• Whether there are hazards in corridors and stairways used as escape routes (e.g. if they're used to store combustible materials they could be sources of ignition).
• Areas containing insulated core panels - normally consisting of a central insulated core sandwiched between an inner and outer metal skin, with no air gap. The external surface is normally coated with a PVC covering. This central core can be made of various insulating materials, ranging from virtually non-combustible through to highly combustible.
• The safety of your electrical equipment (e.g. ensuring all electrical works and portable appliance testing are done by a competent electrician and combustible material is placed away from them).
• Your smoking policy (e.g. ensure smoking takes place in permitted outside areas only and employees are aware and comply with the no-smoking policy).
• The impact of building work and alterations on fire safety (e.g. ensure that contractors have performed a risk assessment as required by the law and you frequently monitor the impact of the building work on the general fire safety precautions).
• Fire escape routes and current precautions.

For all the above consider:

• Likely incidents
• Unlikely or probable incidents
• Previous incidents
• Near misses in the past
• Anything relevant in the accident book

Evaluate risks to individuals

When evaluating the risk to individuals, you should consider the following (non-exhaustive) scenarios:

• Fires starting on lower floors could block escape routes for people on upper floors or those with disabilities.
• Fires may develop in unoccupied areas that people must pass through to escape from the building.
• Fires or smoke spreading through certain routes – such as vertical shafts, service ducts, ventilation systems, and poorly installed, maintained or damaged walls, partitions and ceilings – can put people in remote areas at risk.
• Racked displays may allow fire to spread rapidly upward.
• Poorly installed fire precautions, such as incorrectly fitted fire doors, can let fire and smoke spread.
• Fire may start in rooms containing hazardous materials.
• Fire may spread quickly through the building because of combustible structural elements and/or large quantities of combustible items.

Remove and reduce risk

After identifying the fire hazards, you must find ways to remove the risk. If this isn't possible, you must reduce the risk to a minimum.

Make sure your actions don't result in another hazard or risk, such as replacing a flammable substance with a toxic or corrosive one.

Remove or reduce ignition sources

• Replace a potential ignition source with a safer alternative and separate ignition hazards from flammable materials.
• Replace heaters with a naked flame or a 'glowing' heat source with convector heaters or a central heating system.
• Keep the minimum amount of flammable materials, liquids and gases both in public areas and in storage.
• Use specific areas in the storeroom to keep flammable materials, liquids and gases. Don't store them together.
• Keep areas containing flammable gases ventilated.
• Ensure that all-purpose built ventilation, such as for computers and cooking equipment, aren't blocked.
• Use designated outdoors smoking areas and ban smoking elsewhere.
• Ensure electrical, mechanical and gas apparatus are installed, used, maintained and protected according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Ensure employees check the areas where work causes a build-up of heat, such as welding, to make sure that an ignition hasn't occurred or that smouldering materials remain.
• Prevent arson by removing sources of fuel from plain sight.
• Restrict the spread of fire and smoke by keeping display materials to a minimum if they contain flammable material, such as cardboard.
• Remove or treat large areas of highly flammable wall and ceiling linings, such as carpet tiles, to reduce the rate of a fire spread across its surface.
• Control flammable waste by ensuring that it's not built up and is carefully stored until properly disposed of.
• Consider the installation of automatic sprinkler systems or other suppression/extinguishing systems.

Remove or reduce oxygen sources

• Shut down non-essential ventilation systems.
• Don't store oxidising or flammable materials near a heat source.
• Close all doors, windows and other openings that aren't required for ventilation.
• Ensure oxygen cylinders aren't leaking.

Remove or reduce risks to people

Even once you've done all you can to remove or reduce the fire hazards and risks from the workplace, there will still be a risk of fire to people. You must reduce any remaining fire risk to a minimum feasible level. This means you must have a system in place that, in case of fire, gives your employees enough warning so that they can escape safely.

The level of fire protection you need to provide will depend on the level of risk that remains in the premises after you've removed or reduced the hazards and risks.