The Role of Fire Risk Assessments in BS9991 Compliance
BS9991 is a code of practice, that compliments BS9999 when it comes to fire safety in the construction and design of residential buildings.
Fire risk assessments are important for residential building owners when it comes to complying with BS9991. Identifying fire hazards and complying with BS9991 helps to eliminate dangers before they occur. This article will cover the importance of these assessments.
Improving Safety Measures
When completing a fire risk assessment, safety is the priority, and it’s critical to use code BS9991 as a point of comparison to your building. This could mean you do not have the correct fire exit doors or fire sprinkler systems and should implement the correct changes.
On top of this, a fire risk assessment could also help you identify fire hazards and furthermore help you comply with BS9991. This would involve assessing materials in your building that could generate heat and making sure they are still safe and not a hazard.
Fire suppression systems such as fire sprinklers could also help you comply with code BS9991, reducing future fire damage if one were to occur.
Ongoing Compliance
A necessary method to check if residential homeowners are continuously complying with BS9991 is regular fire risk assessments. If these assessments are not completed regularly, then there is a risk of change within the building, that could pose a risk, of going unnoticed.
On top of this, it could also identify negligence from the owner of the building. A regular fire risk assessment is an easy way to keep residential building owners updated on BS9991 laws and help them with implementing the correct procedures.
In residential homes that employ staff, such as student accommodation blocks or specialised housing, all staff should be educated on their roles when it comes to fire safety. Fire risk assessments are important to make sure all new and existing staff members have been given the correct training and education.
Occupant Safety
As a whole, BS9991 is intended to protect the safety of occupants in residential homes and should be a priority for all homeowners. Evacuation procedures should be implemented, especially in dense residential blocks, to make sure all occupants have a safe route to exit the building and an area to congregate.
Fire assembly points are crucial in these residential blocks to identify who is safe and who may be in the building.
The correct fire prevention and suppression equipment is also crucial to protecting the safety of occupants when it comes to a fire risk. This could include smoke alarms, fire exit doors, and fire sprinkler systems.
Fire risk assessments are important to assess the safety of those in residential homes when it comes to BS9991.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when it comes to BS9991 compliance, fire risk assessments are a crucial aspect. They can help homeowners become aware of potential procedures that they may need to implement, and make sure compliance is ongoing. The goal of BS9991 is to keep residential occupants as safe as possible, and without fire risk assessments there would be no effective way to measure any risks.
RAD Fire Sprinklers
At RAD Fire Sprinklers, all of our fire sprinkler systems are BS9251 compliant. For over two decades, RAD Fire Sprinklers have installed both fire and water sprinklers. Fill out this form if you’d like more information about the services we provide. Alternatively, call us at 01892 680 090. Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date.
