1) Risk Assessment

What fire precautions you need depend on the risks. You already have to assess health and safety risks. Either as part of this, or separately, you should also cover fire risks.

Example - If you run a corner shop, all you may need to do is walk round your premises and identify anything which could result in a fire, such as rubbish blocking doorways. Why not also ask your staff if they have noticed anything which may be a fire hazard?

Note what you have found: if you employ five or more people, you need to keep a formal record of the significant findings and any measures you propose to deal with them.

Example - Rubbish store: rubbish kept away from buildings with no sources of heat nearby. No change needed.

You need to tell your staff or their representatives about your findings and if you have a formal report, you should make it available to them if they ask for it. Remember that your assessment is expected only to be suitable and sufficient given the circumstances.

If you share your workplace with others you will need to check that they know about any significant risks you have identified and what you have done about them. Risks can often be dealt with at little or no cost by removing or reducing the amount of material causing the hazard.

Where you (or the other employers) do not have direct control over places or equipment in the workplace, then the person who does have control (perhaps the owner or landlord) has a responsibility to make sure that such parts or equipment comply with the requirements of the regulations. This would include common parts of a building such as a shared corridor or the provision and maintenance of common fire safety equipment such as a fire alarm system - where one is needed.

Review your assessment from time to time, particularly if there is a significant change to your workplace or working practices, or you have frequent changes of staff.