services

M A SHARMAN & ASSOCIATES provide a range of fire, health and safety consultancy services. Please use
the margin links to find out more.

fire risk assessment

Assessment of risks as required by law, including the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and similar law.

fire audit and corporate governance

workplace fire safety training and education

Routine - safety awareness training for employees and managers, including more in depth training for those with
an enhanced fire safety role including fire wardens, fire safety auditors and risk assessors.

Specialist - courses (technical and practical) are available including arson investigation programmes and courses
to support the understanding of fire related British Standards.

Evacuation - conducting, monitoring and reviewing of fire emergency evacuation, including evacuation of people
with individual / additional needs (personal emergency evacuation plans or PEEP) and training in the use of
evacuation chairs.

health, safety and fire policy

Development of policy, procedures and risk assessment; integration and audit of fire, safety and health arrangements. 

fire emergency plan 

Development of fire emergency plans including personal emergency evacuation plans; conducting, monitoring and
reporting on fire evacuation. 

engaging risk assessors

You may consider that you lack the competence to carry out the fire risk assessment, or do not have the
time or resources to conduct one yourself. If so, there are a number of organisations from large national
firms to sole traders willing to provide advice and undertake risk assessments on your behalf. 

If you engage an 'outside' firm to conduct a risk assessment that you will be responsible for, it is imperative
that you able to satisfy yourself that the firm is suitably competent, capable and qualified to conduct the
assessment. A guide to choosing a competent fire risk assessor is available from the Fire Sector Federation.
(pdf 352KB)

The Fire Safety Order (FSO) clearly states that there are ways that competent persons might be identified.
The assessor must have both ‘sufficient training and experience’ or alternatively must possess
‘knowledge and other qualities’, which will in both cases, enable the assessor to effectively carryout
the task at hand.

It follows that in order to carry out competently a fire risk assessment, it is necessary for the assessor to
have an in depth knowldege of the principles of fire safety, the causes of fire and means of prevention of fire,
the design of fire protection measures, the behaviour of fire in buildings and the behaviour of people in fire. 

Mark Sharman is registered as a fire risk assessor (life safety) with the Institution of Fire Engineers.
We offer a risk assessment service, or alternatively, we can mentor you to develop your fire risk assessor
competencies. Find out more

engaging risk assessors

A fire risk assessment is an organised and methodical look at your premises, the activities carried on
there and the likelihood that a fire could start and cause harm to those in and around the premises. The
aims of the fire risk assessment are:

   •  To identify the fire hazards.

   •  To reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable.

   •  To decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to
      ensure the safety of people in your premises if a fire does start.

The term ‘where necessary’ is used in the Order, therefore when deciding what fire precautions and
management arrangements are necessary you will need to take account of this definition.

The terms ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’ are used in risk assessment and it is important that you have a clear
understanding of how these should be used.

     Hazard: anything that has the potential to cause harm.

     Risk: the chance of that harm occurring.

If your organisation employs five or more people, or your premises are licensed or an alterations notice
requiring it is in force, then the significant findings of the fire risk assessment, the actions to be taken as
a result of the assessment and details of anyone especially at risk must be recorded. You will probably
find it helpful to keep a record of the significant findings of your fire risk assessment even if you are not
required to do so. Find out more

corporate governance 

An organisation’s health and safety policy is a ‘living’ document, which should evolve over time, for example,
in the light of major organisational changes like restructuring or a significant acquisition. 

For some organisations, health, safety and fire safety is a corporate governance matter. The board
should integrate health, safety and fire safety into the main governance structures, including board
sub-committees, such as risk, remuneration and audit.

Organisations that have a positive health, safety and fire safety culture can usually demonstrate that its
board has set the direction for effective health and safety management. Board members need to develop
a health and safety policy, including fire safety that is beyond simply a document, but is an integral
part of its organisation’s culture, its values and performance standards.

The Turnbull guidance on the Combined Code on Corporate Governance requires listed companies to have
robust systems of internal control, covering not just ‘narrow’ financial risks but also risks relating to the
environment, business reputation and health and safety. An effective way of assessing just how robust
the systems are is to carry out an internal audit.

audit 

Published fire safety guidance for business and associated BSI British Standards related to fire, including
the code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings, refer to the role of a
fire safety manager.

This person is nominated to carry out the job of managing fire safety within an organisation. Part of that role
is to maintain a fire safety manual, which is a record of all design, procedural and management issues and
events that relate to the fire safety of a building.

The fire safety manager should ensure that audits are carried out as necessary to ensure continual control
of the fire safety measures in place. An audit is carried out to review: 

• Current fire safety management procedures, including maintenance procedures.
• The effectiveness of automatic fire safety systems.

An audit should be carried out as a matter of routine and especially when there are significant changes
to personnel, or the usage of the building.

what does an audit involve? 

An audit is an examination of the premises and relevant documents to ascertain how the premises are being
managed regarding fire safety. The purpose of our fire safety audit is to ensure that the responsible person is
complying with fire safety legislation and managing the risk within their premises to which relevant persons
may be exposed. 

During the audit our auditor will wish to view documents and records related to fire safety, for example, the
risk assessment, action plans, the emergency plan and test records. 

The findings of the audit should be included in the fire safety manual with any resultant remedial changes. 

The audit may be part of the testing and review of the fire safety manual, and can be used alongside your fire
risk assessment to identify what fire safety provisions exist in your premises.

M A SHARMAN & ASSOCIATES recognise that you may not have the resources or fire safety knowledge
and experience to undertake a fire safety audit and therefore, we offer this important service. Find out more

workplace fire safety training

Are you confident that your employees understand how to reduce the risk of fire in the workplace? Fire
safety training for you and your employees on how to react if a fire broke out is vitally important.

Our associates know first hand that fires in the workplace can lead to serious injury or death. There is also
a substantial financial cost involved and the risk of a business never recovering from a serious fire is high.

Very clearly, the value and benefits of preventive fire safety instruction and training cannot be overstated.
Remember that under current legislation, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, you need to make
sure your employees are adequately trained in fire safety, in order to perform those roles you have determined
that they are capable of carrying out.

To assist you, we offer a range of courses to meet your needs and those of your employees.

To view our 2022 training courses Click here.

our associate trainers 

Our experienced associates have been involved in the development and delivery of quality risk-based
fire safety training to a wide range of clients since 2000.

As former fire safety auditors and trainers from the London Fire Brigade's successful ISO 9001
accredited Commercial Training Unit, our safety qualifications include NEBOSH, IOSH, IEMA, BAFE, NICEIC   
and IFE certifications.

Our trainers are also qualified to teach in the lifelong learning sector (C&G 7303 and 6302). Find out more

training and education courses

• Fire awareness (with extinguisher option) (0.5 day)
• Fire warden / marshal (1 day; bespoke course may vary)
• Fire warden / marshal refresher (0.5 day)
• Fire risk assessment (1 day)
• Fire risk assessor (4 day)
• Managing fire safety - duties of the 'responsible person' (0.5 day)
• Hot work permit (1 day)
• Specialist courses i.e. BS 9999; Approved Document 'B'; Fire Investigation (duration varies)
• Fire evacuation chair and evacuation slide - for managers of people with individual / additional needs (0.5 day)
  

policy arrangements

The quality and depth of the fire safety arrangements put in place for any given premises will vary with
the nature of the premises.

The arrangements will range from something very simplistic (even virtually non-existent where there are
no general fire precautions to speak of) through to a complex arrangement of maintenance contracts,
method statements, a means for employees to report deficiencies in general fire precautions, schedules
for periodic reviews and tests of the various preventive and protective measures in place, training, etc.

If management can demonstrate, in a recorded form (where required), that they have a general policy for the
day-to-day running of the organisation, which includes recognition that fire safety is an important consideration,
they are going some way to complying with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Responsible persons (pdf) may choose to address these arrangements within the pages of a 'fire safety policy'
but the over-riding consideration has to be that the management of fire safety has been addressed in some way.

Such arrangements will also include the requirement (where necessary) to co-operate and co-ordinate with
other responsible persons.

integrating fire and health and safety

The preventive and protective measures (i.e. general fire precautions) established for your premises should
not be managed in isolation, but integral to the health, safety and welfare arrangements for your
organisation.

Employers should know that health and safety law states that organisations have a legal responsibility to:

• Provide a written health and safety policy (if they employ five or more people).
• Assess risks to employees, customers, contractors and others who could be affected by their activities.
• Arrange for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective
  measures.
• Confirm they have access to competent health and safety advice.
• Consult employees about their risks at work and current preventive and protective measures.
  

M A SHARMAN & ASSOCIATES offer health, safety and welfare audit services to help you to identify areas
where compliance can be improved, including risk assessment and policy development. Find out more

establishing procedures

The responsible person has a duty to establish procedures that will keep people safe from a fire on the
premises, and these procedures must be implemented if it becomes necessary at any time, for example,
if the premises experience a fire.

The procedures must be practical for the circumstances and for this reason are likely to vary from premises
to premises and may differ with the number of trained staff members present, the training they have been
given and the nature of the occupancy (among other factors).

In terms of the number of people needed to implement the emergency plan, the responsible person has a
duty to ensure there are enough people to effect the safe evacuation of people on the premises and other
relevant persons (i.e. people in the vicinity of them). A different number of people may be required to carry
out duties under other enactments.

There is a general requirement that whatever procedures the responsible person puts in place, they must
enable relevant persons to be informed of the fire and of what’s in place to protect them from it. In most
cases this requirement is satisfied, for non-employees, by the provision of ‘what to do in case of fire’ notices
that explain what people are expected to do.

personal emergency evacuation plans

It is very important to remember that there are likely to be people with various forms of impairment who
either work in your premises or who visit you who will need to be considered, for example, colleagues who
are visually or audibly impaired. 

In addition, there may be employees that have temporary 'incapacity' and these may include pregnant
women or people with various injuries that could restrict their ability to evacuate safely.

In all circumstances, pre-planning including the use of Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP)
is essential. Thought should be given to providing evacuation chairs and nominating colleagues who will
provide the assistance necessary to support these individuals.

M A SHARMAN & ASSOCIATES can help you to write policy and emergency plans so the enforcing
authority may establish the presence of procedures to be followed in respect of danger from fire and during
an audit when they consider:

• Has the responsible person carried out drills to practice it? 
• What training have staff members received? 
• Is there any evidence that drills have taken place? 
• Have persons been given specific roles during evacuation? 
• What additional measures are in place for these areas? 
• Have relevant persons been informed of the nature of the hazard and the steps to be taken?

Find out more