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Managing Director, BB7 Fire Limited

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Holding duel professional status as both a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Surveyor, Ben Bradford is the founder and Managing Director of the renowned, BB7 Fire Risk & Resilience consultants. He has chaired the FIA Fire Risk Assessment Council's Professional Standards Working Group for almost six years and was a founding member of the Fire Engineering Council. As the Principle author of PAS 7: Fire Risk Management Systems Specification from the British Standards Institution, Ben is particularly interested in organizational fire risk management strategy and operational challenges.
February 19, 2014

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The Evolution of Fire-Risk Management

Ben BRadfordIn the wake of some prominent multi-fatality fires, organisations have spent considerable amounts on fire safety but not necessarily achieved an improved level of fire-safety assurance.

Having spent several years undertaking fire-risk assessments on the same portfolio of buildings, I’ve noticed that organisations are beginning to wonder if the current practice is sustainable.

PrintIt’s been almost eight years since the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 prompted many organisations to undertake fire-risk assessments within  premises under their control.

Many have spent significant financial resources on consultant fire-risk assessors (a person who carries out and documents the significant findings of a fire-risk assessment), whose advice, though well meaning, often turned out to be inappropriate and divergent from the advice a ‘competent’ fire risk assessor would give.

Defined competency

The fire industry has also spent much time in recent years defining a ‘suitable and sufficient’ fire-risk assessment and deciding how to tackle the ‘cowboy’ market. It would appear that, at long last, there is now at least a ‘defined’ competency criterion for fire-risk assessors and guidance for those charged with delivering fire-risk assessment programmes on how to seek the services of a competent fire-risk assessor.

Following a recent review of the Enforcement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 undertaken by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) is now committed to promoting the use, and acceptance of, recognised professional certification and accreditation for commercial fire risk assessors.

The cornerstone of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, a fire risk assessment’s value, even when undertaken by a competent fire-risk assessor, is largely dependent on the organisation’s ability to manage outcomes.

A fire-risk assessment is a means to an end, not the end in itself. When reviewing high profile prosecutions that have hit the headlines in recent years, one quickly realises that failure to undertake a ‘suitable and sufficient’ fire -isk assessment (under Article 9) is not the only compliance obligation imposed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; numerous other duties bind the responsible person too.

Enter the concept of ‘fire risk management’. With very few fire fatalities arising in commercial premises, fire-risk management is not just about life safety or the risk of injury or death in the event of fire occurrence.

It encapsulates life safety, property protection, mission continuity and sustainability in the face of fire.

In today’s global and interconnected marketplace issues such as corporate social responsibility and reputational risk are very prominent and news headlines travel fast via both traditional and new media forms.

Costs at all-time high

 

The cost of fire is at an all-time high and in these tough economic times organisations need to be frugal with finite financial resources. They must build resilience and ensure that fire-risk assessment programmes deliver the intended outcomes.

Many organisations have a policy in place setting out an overarching statement of intent (signed by the CEO) and firmly establishing the ‘what and why’.

Less common yet essential is the Fire Risk Management Strategy – a document which defines an organization’s fire-risk management system, the method of implementing the overarching policy and the details of ‘how, when and who’.

Forming the backbone of an organisation’s fire-risk management system – a set of interrelated/interacting elements that establish policies, objectives and processes to achieve objectives and manage fire risk – these documents are generally underpinned by operational procedures.

Broad discipline

Fire-risk management within our built environment is a much broader discipline than many give it credit for. It is often delegated to the health and safety manager or security manager within an organisation and, while I’m not suggesting that all organisations should have a dedicated fire specialist, they must acknowledge that fire safety is not just a sub-discipline of health and safety.

Fire-risk management is a discipline in its own right with its own set of competencies. The discipline does not always sit neatly in the Health & Safety department due to the need for interaction with property, estates or facilities management functions and the old adage about ‘Jack of all trades’ most certainly applies.

Too many fire-safety manager roles are advertised with essential qualifications being the NEBOSH Diploma, which emphasises the confusion often found in organisations regarding the scope of the Health & Safety Manager’s role.

When undertaking fire risk management system audits, my experience is that those organisations that recognise fire risk management as a discipline in its own right, regardless of which department the function sits, are in a far better position to maintain governance over organisational fire risk than those that do not.

The Fire Sector Federation has recognised that, having established the competency council and published the competency criteria for fire risk assessors, the next logical step is to consider the competency criteria for those actively engaged in fire risk management.

Following an initial meeting of key stakeholders, organised jointly between the Fire Sector Federation and the Fire Industry Association, there is a proposal afoot to reform the competency council and tackle this issue.

Some organisations have formalised their fire safety policy, strategy and procedures and are now in the process of gaining fire risk management system certification via a third party certification body.

Those organisations that already hold certification of their Health and Safety Management System to OHSAS 18001, or Business Continuity Management System to ISO 22301, are well placed to integrate their management systems and streamline the internal or external audit process.

Fire risk management system certification via a UKAS accredited third party certification body will provide a means to reduce the burden on enforcing authorities and will significantly support the Primary Authority, or Fire Authority, Partnership Schemes.

Fire risk management is evolving both as a discipline and a practice as an integrated or holistic approach to understanding and managing the risks posed by the threat of fire which enables an organization to optimize its underlying processes and achieve more efficient results.

Those responsible for fire safety in organisations would do well to consider formalising their fire risk management system, and not focus solely on the process of documenting fire risk assessments.

Ben Bradford will speak about Strategic Fire Risk Management at FIREX International 2014, which takes place at London ExCeL between 17-19 June – register now to attend

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[…] Ben Bradford highlights that organisations are starting to question the return on their investment in fire risk assessments (FRA) they commissioned from consultants. […]