Tenants fire risk assessments

[Chris Houston]

Yes many people have a role in the enforcement of legislation - especially insurance companies, fire consultants, and news organisations .

But the Fire Authority are the only ones with full powers of enforcement, so how do the others do this?

Insurance companies can cease to provide insurance cover, or increase the excess or threaten to do so if their customers do not comply with legislation or do anything else that they do not like.  That said, normally all they have to do is ask for any problems to be resolved and that is the end of the matter.

[kurnal]

Hi Baldyman
Hey I wasn't firing bullets at you or your colleagues- we are all working towards the same ends.
I was just speaking from my own experience. I am glad you still have time to give your customers real  help and advice.
Thats what I used to do in the old days. especially before the Bickerdyke Allen report.
But following the change to the building regs procedure I found I had to stop helping architects design buildings and helping to get things right from the earliest design stage, and this was exacerbated by all sorts of output measures and performance indicators through the Home Office Fire Safety management model. This reflected badly on those Officers who went the extra mile because my fire certificates and inspection reports took longer than the brigade average and resulted in pressure to conform- all driven by hours targets and number games.

I wonder if you have a problem with the whole idea of consultants making a living out of doing what the fire service used to do so well? It certainly used to bug me  at first. But so did the idea of giving architects free advice for which they then  recharged their clients. But its the way the Govt want to go- they made the Regulations and added the bit about responsible persons appointing competent persons to assist them.

So now I find myself doing the risk assessment , which often leads  then writing the policies and procedures, sticking the notices on the walls, buying the extinguishers, training the staff, testing the sprinklers, liaising with the FSO - the full monty which takes far more time than the average maximum 2 hour target  for an inspection and write up against which I used to be measured.

The enforcement side of things- for larger risks the Insurers will inspect and compile a risk improvement report, will in some cases require work to be carried out as a condition of the insurance contract. The role of the press is also an element in the same way as the fire brigade maximise the publicity following incidents through hot strikes.
Its enforcement with a small E but has the desired effect.

I see it as an element of the enforcement concordat- if the responsible person has some awareness it makes your role easier and is more likely to result in your using the advisory steps of the enforcement management model.

[Nearlybaldandgrey]

No offence taken, you have obviuosly had bad experiences!! My attitude is that if you're going to do a job, you should do it well, no matter how long it takes. Obviously, I wouldn't like to walk out of a premises thinking I've not made it safer or educated the owner/employers, after all, thats what I'm supposed to do.

Luckily, I'm not involved with building regualtions at presesnt, although I am aware of the process.

I have no problem with consultants, you are doing your job the same as I'm doing mine and we all have to make a living.