Your premises should already have an FRA in place but now the Fire Service will use the new legislation as a reason to knock on your door and check you have one. The risk assessment should consider the safety of all employees and anyone else who is legally on, in or around your premises.

Your assessment must have a review; every 12 months is traditional although there could be flexibility on this front if demonstrated it is not required.

If you employ five or more people you must record the results of the assessment although interestingly there are now two other reasons when it must be recorded.

When the premise has a license
When an Alterations Notice has been issued

This will mean the small country pub or licensed small corner shop with just a couple of staff will now have to have a recorded risk assessment.

Fire Certificate
At the commencement of the RRO the existing ‘Fire Certificate’ you paid the Fire Authority for is now a meaningless document. Don’t throw it away there may be some useful information in it you can use when forming your risk assessment.

The Responsible Person
Each premise must have somebody who is the ‘Responsible Person’. This will be the person who has control, or the authority to take action. If they do not, it will pass on further up the chain; ultimately if you as the owner do not delegate authority to your subordinates then you will be defined as the responsible person.

Fire Detection and Fire Fighting Equipment
You need to take into account the hazards and processes in place at your premise. This relates to your levels of detection and the equipment available to “safeguard the safety of the relevant persons”.¹ This is specific to life safety and not property protection but in the interests of business continuity we would recommend you always consider property protection as well.

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