Fire Risk Assessment coverage.

[Mike Buckley]

The question has been posed to me with regard to blocks of flats, maisonettes etc. If there is a site which consists of several identical but separate blocks of flats etc., all built at the same time, to the same plan etc., can all the blocks be covered by a single Fire Risk Assessment or will each block need its own FRA? Then expand this to a similar situation but the blocks are joined by bridges which form part of the MOE.

I have my own view, but what does the team think? (Candidates should not attempt to write on more than one side of the sheet of paper at the same time.)

[Clevelandfire 3]

You need to look at every block individually because even though they are identical you cannot assume that they are all truly the same.

[kurnal]

If I can combine the significant findings into a single report and still explain clearly the specifics relating to each block then one report will suffice. The report is clear that it covers blocks a,b,c,and f. Blocks d and e might have their own report if for arguments sake they are significantly different, eg multiple staircases, mechanical ventilation or firefighting shafts where the others do not.

[wee brian]

So long as there is an assessment then how many bits of paper there are is neither here nor there.

[Messy]

There is no requirement for each of them to have their own report. As Kurnal has said, one report highlighting the scope of the document and listing the significant findings against each block will suffice.

I have carried out a FRA at a research establishment set out across 40 hectares and comprising of two main buildings and 46 smaller buildings.  They were all put to different uses and of differing design, occupancy and size.

There was no way I was going to do 48 FRA reports and no way the customer would want such a huge set of documents. So I set out a covering page which described each building and their findings and supplied a summary for each building via tables in 48 separate appendices.

The report has been audited since and accepted as S&S by the relevant enforcing authority

[William 29]

Straightforward one for us, if there are several blocks (identical or not) all under the same name i.e. "Smiths Court" then we would do one FRA even if there are 20 blocks. Under each section of the FRA any particular findings for each block would be identified.

Same situation as above but all 20 blocks are named differently we would do 20 FRAs. We find this tends to work better for the client when identifying what SF's they need to address for each block. To try and do multiple blocks of different names under one document gets complicated.

However there are some out there that will complete an FRA and charge a fee for every separate entrance to a block or separate block.