Aug
18
Do you have a Fire Risk Assessment?
August 18, 2009 | 2 Comments
photo credit: Eduardo Hulshof
Do you have a Fire Risk Assessment? No but I’ll get one off the Fire Inspector.
Fire Risk Assessment Procedure
So the doors where re-hung and everything was ready ten days before the local Fire Inspector was due on the 18 February 09.
I thought I’d better have a look at the letter I was sent to see if there was anything I’d missed. Once I had recognised that the three fire doors might not be quite up to standard everything else was shelved while I put them right, including the letter from the Fire Inspector.
In the back of my mind I knew that even though fire certificates had been abolished I had carried on doing the same checks as if it was still in place so things could’nt be that bad.
I glanced over the letter and the opening line read.
“You must have a Fire Risk Assessment”
Yes right, he’s going to give me a fire risk assessment and I’ll probably have to maintain it, ok.
I was still thinking of the old regime and I must admit a little of what had happened in the past kept me on those lines.
We had been receiving visits from Fire Officers once a year for the last 18 years and about every two years and on a few occasions every year it would be a different officer and each one had a different take on things.
That shouldn’t be there, to some officers, was ok with others,
“We’re not interested in your private accommodation”.
I was told for a number of years; only to be told by another officer.
“O yes we must see the whole building”
After that visit we had to install, a fire alarm call point with audible bell in our bed room.
It gets a little amusing, serous, and embarrassing over the next couple of posts.
Jun
30
Know Your Fire Regulations
June 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment
One of the resons why the new Fire Risk Assessment is much better.
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The Fire Officers assistant (clip board) asked why I had not registerd with the fire department under the fire regulations code.
I was gone, the Google spider was looking through my brain but this was the first time it was lost.
Why am I not registered with the fire department under the fire regulations code?
I know the anwser, wait a minute
Can I phone a friend was not even hear of then, and there was no audience to ask.
What had I missed?
We had done all our research and as far as I was concerned we could open. It was the old need to know bases, right have done that and I don’t need to keep the information in my head,
I couldn’t think why I was ok to open. A lesson was learnt that day; need to know bases, doesn’t work with something as important as fire regulations.
It was panic mode and the answer was not in sight, hhheeerrr.
“Have you got any guest in tonight”. He said while walking round the ground floor, in and out of the all rooms.
Where’s your fire extinguishers.
“Yeeeesss” “They’ll “They’ll have to go, where’s your fire extinguishers, no smoke detectors, no secondary lighting, best put a black bin bag on your sign, now”.
I was saying nothing, stunned! All the time this was going on the peeked hat was saying nothing, was he stunned, I don’t think so.
“Is that your nice car in the car park, well you’ll have to sell that mate to pay for this lot”
It was my nice car, I can put it in Auto Trader, Put it on the internet, I’vejust got it, I’ll give it back.
Then it hit me
The car was one step to far!
What happened next, will Tin Tin have to sell his car?
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Jun
4
A Fire Risk Assessment Procedure/Template Free
June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Fire Risk Assessment the Big Change
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So what did happen to the beautiful pine draws at the top of the stairs?
If I was honest with my self (and that’s a large part of the change being truthful when making decisions with your Fire Risk Assessment, if your telling your self porkies it could cost you a lot of money), I always thought something wasn’t quite right about the draws location.
The Fire Officer asked, “What do you think?”
“Well they’ve always been there and there’s been no remarks made by passed Fire Officers” I said.
“It’s up to you, if you want to add it to your Fire Risk Assessment as a low risk combustible item because of its thickness and the time it would take to catch fire, that’s fine, but it dose reduce the exit from the room. If the building was full of smoke and this is where the smoke would accumulate at the top of the stairs, someone comes out of the room a little disorientated, panicking and catches the side of the draw, next minute their on the floor, vital seconds are lost. What you have to ask your self is will you be covered by your insurance”
That was the difference, not you must do this, more what do you think, you have to produce your Fire Risk Assessment.
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May
28
Fire Risk Assessment-A Better Fire Officer
May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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I’ve been dealing with Fire Officers for the last 25 years and it’s true to say that in the past they use to be a little regimental to say the least, but.
“That’s all changed” According to my local Officer,
“People felt anxious in the past when the fire officer called because they were concerned with regard to having all the right requirements, this is no longer the case were now here to help”
It’s only after our Fire Officer’s review that I can understand the full extent of the new 2005 regulations.
For example; we’ve run the Cornerstones Guest House for the last 24 years and in that time Fire Officers told us what to do, and how it should be done. When our local Fire officer called round to review our Fire Risk Assessment we started at the top of the building, on the top landing was a set of pine draws which I confidently pointed out were just for decoration, ( you’re not allowed to store combustibles in your main means of escape area).
The draws encroached about 10cm into the doorway of one of the rooms, sounds wired but it didn’t look to bad and believe it or not we had no where else to put them even though it’s such a large building, and the last eight Fire Officers never mentioned them in there inspections in the past.
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May
18
Radical & Controversial, Fire Risk Assessment.
May 18, 2009 | 2 Comments
Fire Risk Assessments and the Fire Officer
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To give you an idea of how radical and according to some people controversial,
(Bed and Breakfast Association Under The heading, New Fire Precautions Regime.)
the changes are, I entered in our F.R.A. (Fire Risk Assessment) that our staff had been trained in what to do in the event of a fire. You may think when the fire officer came to review the F.R.A. he would of asked a member of the staff if that was the case.
No! Not a tall, he didn’t’ have to because I had entered it in my Fire Risk Assessment.
The new laws divert responsibility,
for the up keep of fire protection in the building away from the fire officer and into the hands of the owner or as I mentioned in my last post;
The official quote,
“Fire Risk Assessments must be carried out by the owner of the building or by any person that has some level of control in the premises, taking reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and make sure people can safely escape if there is a fire”.
The Fire Officers main concern is that you have a Fire Risk Assessment, be it just a slip of paper, not what’s on it but the fact that you have produce one when asked for it.
What go’s in it is your responability, the Fire Officer is there to give you advice but he will not tell you what to put in your F.R.A. with our Free Fire Risk Assessment Procedure, you will be able to create your own Fire Risk Assessment.
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