We all know that the responsible must carry out a fire risk assessment and also must appoint competent persons to assist him to comply with the Fire Safety Order.
There are many fire risk assessment methods, templates etc available, some better than others but all of them are useless and possibly dangerous if not completed by a competent person.
I am increasingly finding risk assessments carried out using acceptable formats, including PAS79 that are clearly not suitable & sufficient because the assessor was not competent. Not that I'm trying to upset my dear friend Colllin Tod....his PAS clearly states that only competent persons should use it.
Many organisations are using the Health and Safety manager to carry out this specialist role....they may be competent if they have the necessary skills, knowledge, experience or other qualities but I have found many who are not.
A fire risk assessment is a totally different animal from a general risk assessment. The assessor needs to understand fire development, building performance and human behaviour. Many organisations send nominated employees on one or two day courses and then deem them competent to assess very complex buildings.
Of course the level of competence should be proportional to the risk and complexity of the building. A simple building may be assessed by the responsible person with no assistance.