Fire Risk Assessments are now required by law from October 2006.

Premises covered by the law include:

* Offices & Shops

* Premises that provide care, including care homes & hospitals

* Pubs, clubs & restaurants

* Educational premises

* Leisure centres

* Community halls & premises

* Places of worship

* Houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) (Download free guidance on Fire Risk Assessment for HMO)

* Hotels & hostels

* Care homes

* Factories & warehouses

* Industrial units

Castlebank offers Fire Risk Safety Assessments and Health & Safety Risk Assessments, carried out by our fire officers & professional fire risk assessors and documented in a written report with recommendations.

Who is responsible for fire risk assessment?
Everybody entering your business premises: employees/staff; contractors/workers; clients/customers; friends & family or other visitors - has a responsibility to ensure fire safety. It is a legal requirement that all businesses must now have a legally-designated "responsible person" who's duty it is to arrange for a fire risk assessment, identify any possible fire risks and deal with them. This law comes into force in Northern Ireland in 2008.

In most cases, it wil be obvious who the responsible person should be, although sometimes several people will share responsibility for fire risk assessment - for example in shared premises or larger businesses. The 'responsible person' will be someone who has control over premises, or over some areas, departments or systems. For example, it could be:

* an employer with control of a workplace

* a person with overall management of a building

* an occupier of a premises, owner of a premises

* landlords (multi occupied buildings)

* the owner or manager of a business

* the owner or managing agent of premises which are shared between a number of businesses

* individuals within a multiple-occupancy building, such as self-employed people or voluntary organisations

You should establish who the responsible person is within your business or premises. If it is not clear, then your local fire authority will decide who should be responsible for fire risk assessment, or you can call Castlebank for peace of mind.