The 5 steps of a risk assessment

The following is a summary of the 5 steps you will need to go through to carry out a fire risk assessment within your premises:

Step 1 - Identify fire hazards

• Sources of ignition
• Sources of fuel

Step 2 - Identify people especially at risk

• Members of staff
• People not familiar with the premises
• People working alone

Step 3 - Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risks

• Measures to prevent fires
• Measures to protect people from fire

Step 4 - Record, plan, instruct, inform and train

• Record significant findings and actions taken
• Prepare an emergency plan
• Inform relevant people, provide instruction, co-operate and co-ordinate with others
• Provide training

Step 5 - Review

• Keep assessment under review
• Revise where necessary

Steps 1-3: Identifying & evaluating risks

The following provides additional guidance on completing the first three steps of your risk assessment - identifying and evaluating risks:

Step 1 - Identify the fire hazards within your premises

You need to identify:

• Sources of ignition such as naked flames, heaters or some commercial processes.
• Sources of fuel such as accumulated waste, display materials, textiles or overstocked products.
• Sources of additional oxygen such as forced air circulation or medicinal or commercial oxygen supplies.

Step 2 - Identify people at risk

You will need to identify those people who may be especially at risk such as:

• People working in close proximity to fire hazards.
• People working alone or in isolated areas (such as roof spaces or storerooms).
• Children or parents with babies.
• The elderly or infirm and people who are disabled.

Step 3 - Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk

Evaluate the level of risk in your premises. You should remove or reduce hazards where possible and reduce any risks you have identified, e.g. :

• Replace highly combustible materials with less combustible ones.
• Ensure adequate separation between combustibles and ignition sources.
• Operate a safe smoking policy.

When you have reduced the risk as far as possible you must assess the remaining risk and decide whether there are any further measures you need to provide to ensure a reasonable level of fire safety.


Steps 4-5: Recording & reviewing

The following provides additional guidance on completing the remaining two steps of your risk assessment - recording and reviewing:

Step 4 - Record, plan, instruct, inform and train

In this step you should record, plan, instruct, inform and train. You will need to record the hazards and people you have identified as especially at risk in Step 1 and Step 2. You should also record what you did about it in Step 3. A simple plan can help you achieve this.

You will also need to make an emergency plan, tailored to your premises. It should include the actions that need to be taken in the event of a fire in your premises or any adjoining premises. Staff, and occasionally others, such as hotel guests or volunteer stewards will need to be provided with instructions. All employees should receive adequate information and training about the risks in the premises. Some, such as fire marshals, will require more thorough training.

Step 5 - Review

You should make sure your fire risk assessment is up to date, you will need to re-examine your fire risk assessment every time there is a significant change to the level of risk in your premises. This could include an increase in combustible materials being stored, a new night shift starting or a change in the type or number of people using your premises.