From risk to disk

Politicians love the complicated language of legislature. It makes them appear clever. But when it comes to guiding others (especially those who most need clear information) they fall short.

Fire risk assessment is a case in point. Owners know they have to satisfy the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 and the recently amended Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992. And wily contractors know that a sound understanding of legislation is essential in the marketplace.

However, according to Colin Todd, managing director of fire protection specialists C S Todd & Associates, current Home Office guidance on this complex legislation is “very limited” and only suitable for “corner shop type premises”.

With this in mind, Todd has launched a new CD-ROM which is intended to bridge the knowledge gap in current practical guidance on what a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment comprises and how it should be documented.

Todd takes up the story: “When the new regulations came into force, we accepted the openly expressed policy of the Government that it was very opposed to the regulations being a charter for consultants in the same way as happened when new health and safety legislation was introduced.

“So we didn’t gear ourselves up to carry out the fire risk assessments, even though we are constantly engaged in carrying out fire safety audits of premises, nor did we prepare any detailed written guidance for our clients on the subject.”

He goes on the stress how exactly C S Todd followed the party line, and went as far as advising clients that they would not need consultants to carry out risk assessment. There would, Todd touchingly believed, be supporting guidance from the Government.

Alas, not. Todd declares unceremoniously that there’s been “a distinct shortage” of practical guidance on the methods of undertaking fire risk assessments.

“In addition, so many large groups have appointed us to carry out fire risk assessments on their behalf that we have had to employ two additional consultants to cope with the demand. It therefore became necessary for us to develop some form of suitable methodology and documentation.

“The CD format that we developed appealed to many of our clients, some of whom wanted to use it themselves for work on smaller premises for which it was not considered necessary to use consultants to carry out the fire risk assessment.”

Furthermore, he reveals: “The idea for releasing it publicly actually came from a fire engineer within a large company, who suggested to us that companies like his would be very interested in adopting our format.”

The CD-ROM contains three distinct entities, the first of which is a detailed pro forma. If completed by a reasonably competent person, says Todd, this will constitute the suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment required by government legislation.

On booting up the CD, an experienced fire safety practitioner can begin completion of the checklist immediately, as the software is very simple to use.

The audit part of the fire risk assessment is sub-divided into information about the premises and its occupants, identification of fire hazards and investigation of fire prevention measures. It also addresses other arrangements like the management of fire safety.

Todd claims: “Even a knowledgeable in-house fire safety manager will find the prompts inherent in the questions addressed in the audit checklist useful in ensuring that no relevant aspect of fire safety is overlooked.

“Aspects such as means of escape and prevention of electrically originated fires are sub-divided into a number of key issues that the user must consider in determining whether the existing circumstances are adequate.”

The supporting manual is of particular value to the non-specialist. By clicking with the mouse on any of the questions or comments sections in the document (there are over 100), a new window appears with easy-to-follow technical guidance on that particular issue.

The CD-ROM also features a fire safety textbook, aimed at the complete layman. Todd explains: “Initially, we were going to make the CD available to people with a reasonable degree of competence in fire safety, not least because we did not want the liability for providing inadequate information to inadequately experienced people for them to go and get the whole thing very wrong.”

It was talking to the fire brigade that convinced Todd that non-specialists also needed to be made aware of every aspect of fire safety.

“To begin with, we felt that we were not in a position to help the complete layman because this would need a complete textbook,” says Todd. But the vast capacity of the CD enabled the company to provide just that.

“In fact, after the first week or two of software development, the software specialist could no longer show us progress with the product in the form of a floppy disk, as the capacity of a floppy was rapidly exceeded even in the early stages of software development.”

For users with the wonderful world of the World Wide Web, access to even more helpful information can be provided. One click of the mouse will automatically cause the pc to establish a connection with the Internet and take the user directly to pages featuring, for example, the NICEIC roll of approved contractors and a list of ECA member companies.

Todd is quick to point out, though, that the product is not ‘rocket science’, nor does it push back the frontiers of knowledge on fire risk assessment or fire safety. “Although we are using the latest technology to provide information to users, at the end of the day all we are providing is a sensible, logical but very comprehensive approach that enables employers to check fire safety in their own premises.”

Todd stresses that this checking for safety is precisely what fire risk assessment is all about and self assessment is clearly the Government’s proposed way forward for fire safety legislation.