If you are the Responsible Person (or Duty Holder in Scotland) you hold the responsibility for the adequacy of your company’s Fire Risk Assessment by law, rather than the assessor themselves. To ensure you are using a competent provider you should be using a BAFE registered company.
This Scheme was launched in May 2012 and has been developed for organisations who provide Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment services for others. It is designed to give assurance to those commissioning Fire Risk Assessments and provide confidence in the quality and relevance of the services being provided.
It is essential that the fire risk assessor is a competent person, as the assessor has a duty of care to the organisation on which legislation imposes a requirement for the fire risk assessment.
However, the ultimate responsibility for the adequacy of the fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, rests with the responsible person or duty holder (which is normally a company), rather than with the fire risk assessor. Enforcement action can be taken against fire risk assessors if the responsible person has been considered to have taken all reasonable steps when appointing an assessor, but the assessor has been proved not to be competent. This scheme recognises the importance of providing fire risk assessments that comply with an acceptable set of criteria.
Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment scheme SP205 specifies that organisations have the required technical and quality management capabilities and risk assessment staff meet appropriate criteria.
