How often should fire risk assessments be reviewed?

There was an interesting article in today's IFSEC Global's Fire Briefing on how often fire risk assessments need to be reviewed and what the review should comprise.

Strategic Safety Systems promote the policy, for all and not just fire risk assessments, that risk assessments should be reviewed at least every 2 years, unless there is reason to suspect that the assessment is no longer valid.

So, for example, one of our clients has just extended their factory, changing the area of course, but also changing the fire exits and adding a 2-storey work area in one corner of the extension.  As this is a significant change, SSS reviewed and updated the fire risk assessment, even though it was only 10 months since it was last reviewed.

A review does not necessarily mean a complete re-assessment, though SSS and other consultancies typically do that if another organisation has carried out the assessment and we find it deficient.

The key questions to ask in any review are:

• Has anything changed which makes the assessment invalid?  This can include changes within the organisation, changes made by neighbours, incidents at similar facilities and so on.
• Have actions raised from the assessment been completed?

You need to document the review and state the next review date.

See article