Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Introduction to Fire Safety Management
➤ Adults, children (under school leaving age), including
other people on whose site the activity is taking
place, etc.
➤ Young persons – under the age of 18 (due to age,
have limited knowledge, awareness, strength, etc.)
➤ Those who share the building or facilities – other
employers, staff members and the self-employed
➤ Other persons – those whose building or facilities
are close enough to be affected by the organisation’s
activities or the result of an emergency within
Figure 5.9 Building contractors have the potential to
increase fi re risk
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An example is a contractor who has been
engaged to install IT cabling within an existing
workplace. The work location will include
the main access corridor to the main staircase
within the building. Those that could be
put at risk from the operation would be the
contractor, the occupier of the premises, visitors
to the premises, other occupiers (if the
building is occupied by more than one) and
other contractors.
Risks could include the more obvious falling
from height, falling materials, slips and
trips. In addition the less obvious, but nevertheless
safety critical, is the potential
obstruction of escape routes and breaches of
fi re compartment walls. Many people could
be affected during the works and potentially
many more over the life of the building if fi re
compartmentation is breached by running
cables or trunking through fi re breaks.
➤ Lone workers – those persons who work on their
own either in a remote location within a workplace
or those whose work is peripatetic moving from site
to site.
In addition, within each group, individual people may be
at greater risk due to their age, inexperience, competence,
physical condition, etc.:
➤ Disabled/sensory impaired persons
➤ Those with physical impairments or sensory impairment
that may prevent awareness or response
➤ Expectant/nursing mothers, who may be more susceptible
to physical/mental stresses.
The assessment should also take into account how
many people are involved, anyone who is particularly at
risk and why.
5.5.4 Evaluating residual risk
The fourth stage in the risk assessment process is to
evaluate the level of residual risk, i.e. taking into account
any current control measures (workplace precautions
and risk control systems) that are already in place. Some
risks may also be adequately controlled leaving only a
low residual risk; these will require no further action
other than a review of the validity of the assessment on
a periodic basis (see below).
Hazard presents a risk which causes an
accident/incident which in turn causes
injury, ill health, damage, or loss.
As an example, oil can be considered as
a hazard. When it is in the container it has
potential but no likelihood of achieving its
potential, therefore there is no risk. When it is
spilt on a table there is a small possibility of
causing minor harm (ill health perhaps), therefore
the risk exists but is low. When the oil is
spilt on the fl oor there is a better chance of it
causing greater harm (slip), so the risk could
be termed medium. When the oil is spilt on a
heater unit or close to other potential ignition
sources there is an even greater chance of
it causing serious harm or even death (starting
a fi re), so the risk could be termed high or
very high. It can be seen then that a hazard is
an inherent quality of something, whereas risk
is dependent entirely upon the circumstances
surrounding the hazard.