David
I do sympathise with your situation, however I'm afraid "That's Life" as they say. You are in charge of your business, and therefore you must take responsibility for it. (Which I'm sure you do, Im just giving you the legal viewpoint rather than making a personal judgement about you)
It's time to put the issue to bed. The members on this forum can't change the law, they are not policy makers,
Many people have given you good advice. Why not put that advice into practice and try to action some of the suggestions made. And if you have problems during a particular stage or step come back to us for further advice.
Risk assessment is not rocket science and the government guides out there do explain the basic principles of fire risk assessment and fire safety. Have you read them? If not give it a go.
If you dont feel confident to undertake a fire risk assessment or manage your fire precautions, you will need to employ a competent person to do it for you, such as fire safety consultant or fire risk assessor. There is no way round that I'm afraid.
Your local fire safety department / centre will give you further advice on how to select a competent assessor / consultant.
Davidrh I'm can appreciate why this is all very frustrating for you, Im sure there are millions of other things you have got to worry about, Im sure that you could do without having to pay for someone to look at your fire precautions for you. But once you grab the bull by the horns it won't take a great deal of time (or money if done properly) to sort out.
The whole idea of self regulation is for you as a Responsible Person to get to grips with the issue of fire safety. Not only does it avoid prescription which the corporate world wanted to get away from but it also creates opportunity for people like you to educate themselves about fire safety and why it is needed.
If you don't want prescription but do want self regulation then you have to accept that you can't effectively self assess or self regulate something that you don't understand. With the greatest of respect its evident you don't fully understand. And I don't expect you to, what Im trying to point out is your lack of knowledge is contributing to your frustrations.
Read the guides do a little bit of homework and Im sure you will see that your fire safety responsibilities are not as bad or as costly as you first thought they would be. You don't need to become a fire safety expert, you just need a general appreciation of what is required and why.
The only alternative would be to revert to a prescriptive approach where fire authorities hit you over the head with a guide book telling you that you MUST do this, that you MUST do that etc etc. As we know this is not what businesses want.
So it can only be one way or the other.
Now be off with you and I dont want to see you post on this thread until you have completed a fire risk assessment yourself. Seriously try it yourself first - give it fair chance - and I bet you won't find it that daunting.
