BB7’s Ben Bradford discusses PAS 7 – Strategic Fire Risk Management

Whilst the completion of the fire risk assessment may go some way to satisfying the legislation, in many cases organisations are beginning to realise that the assessment is a means to an end but not necessarily the end in itself.

It is widely acknowledged that Fire Risk Management (albeit a discipline in its infancy) is a discipline much broader than simply Fire Risk Assessment and many organisations are starting to think strategically.

Since the introduction of the RRO and equivalent legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland fire service enforcement activity has progressively increased with a wide range of prosecutions across a wide range of occupancies and building types.

A common factor in many prosecutions is the lack of fire safety management with regard to specific buildings that in a number of cases may be seen as organisational failures. The Rosepark Care home Fatal Accident Inquiry following the deaths of 14 residents concluded: