A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement, and if you own or manage a premises, it’s a small investment for you to make.
Paying several hundred or thousand pounds for one is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Not considering what you’d pay if a fire occurred on your premises and you didn’t have a fire risk assessment.
Our article explores how much a fire risk assessment costs, what factors affect this, and why you need one.
In this article
How much does a fire risk assessment cost?
What factors affect the cost of a fire risk assessment?
What does a fire risk assessment report cover?
Why is a fire risk assessment important?
Can I carry out my own fire risk assessment?
How much does a fire risk assessment cost?
There’s no fixed price for a fire risk assessment. The cost depends on several factors, which we’ll cover lower down.
However, as a ballpark figure, a fire risk assessment typically costs from £250 + VAT all the way up to thousands of pounds for large, complex, or high-risk sites.
But even a few thousand pounds is a small sum to pay compared to the potential cost of doing nothing.
Using £3,000 as an example — a landlord in Hertfordshire was fined more than 30 times this amount after being found guilty of 27 charges relating to the management of two properties, including multiple fire safety breaches and failure to comply with an improvement notice.
The dangers of going for the cheapest option
If you run a business and are spending money on something out of your own pocket, it’s human nature to be frugal and look for the ‘best deal’, particularly if you’re investing in something you don’t know much about.
But when you’re spending money on protecting people’s lives and remaining legally compliant, it’s a different matter altogether.
You cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to getting a fire risk assessment. Otherwise, you could end up like the aforementioned landlord in Hertfordshire.
Going for the lowest price point is a dangerous game to play for a couple of reasons:
- The fire risk assessment provider you spend money with may not be adequately insured, experienced, competent, or qualified to complete such an important job.
- They may not demonstrate the professionalism required for a job of this magnitude, and this could cause complications further down the line. If they send your fire risk assessment report as a Word or PDF file, does this reassure you that you’re working with an experienced, reputable company? A much more efficient method would be to send a software-generated report that works alongside a customer portal system for findings management.
What factors affect the cost of a fire risk assessment?
We look at the following four factors when pricing up a fire risk assessment.
Size
The larger the building, the longer it takes to assess the premises and, therefore, the higher the price we will quote.
If you own a high-rise building, i.e., a building that has at least 7 storeys or is at least 18 metres high, this will take considerably more time to assess than, say, a HMO premises with 3 or 4 bedrooms.
If the square meterage is high, i.e., over 20,000 square metres, this will have its own cost implication, as will the building’s usage. For example, if your premises is made up of multiple buildings, each with different uses, this will take longer to assess for fire risk.
With larger premises, there is also potentially a requirement for more time for the assessor to write up the report with adequate detail of the findings.
Occupancy
The number of occupants within a building can significantly affect the scope of a fire risk assessment.
Although size is a major contributing factor, it’s not the only factor. Assessing a large site containing only a few occupants is very different to assessing a smaller site containing many occupants. The higher the number of occupants, the more complex an assessment is required.
The vulnerability levels of occupants must also be taken into consideration. For example, buildings like care homes and nurseries which are occupied by the elderly, disabled, or young children require specialised fire risk assessments and tailored safety measures. The fact care homes contain vulnerable sleeping residents adds to the complexity of the checks required.
All of the above factors impact the time and resources required to carry out a fire risk assessment and its subsequent cost.
Risk
When we’re asked to carry out a fire risk assessment at a premises, we’ll look at its risk level before determining how much the assessment will cost.
For instance, is it low-risk (i.e., small offices, shops), high-risk (factories, hotels, high rise blocks of flats, restaurants), or somewhere in the middle?
Travel
We’re based in Birkenhead in the Wirral, but we can carry out fire risk assessments all over the UK.
When we visit properties further afield, we have to account for travel costs, and these are factored into the overall price we quote.
What does a fire risk assessment cover?
A fire risk assessment will:
- Identify potential fire hazards within your building
- Estimate each hazard’s level of risk
- Provide an overall risk rating for the premises
- Include detailed recommendations on how to remove the risks or reduce them to an acceptable level.
In summary, it helps to ensure the safety of your residents in the event of a fire and that your building can withstand any potential fire until emergency services arrive.
Why is a fire risk assessment important?
If a fire occurs at your premises, you can expect the damage to cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It could stretch into the millions if you own a larger premises, lives are lost, and the fire spreads to other premises.
If this happens and you don’t have an up-to-date fire risk assessment, this has several severe implications.
Besides the obvious tragedy of lives being lost, there’s the threat to you and your family due to your livelihood being compromised.
Not only will your insurance company most likely not pay out for the damage if you don’t have a fire risk assessment, but you could face unlimited fines and even prison time.
If ever you needed a compelling case for getting a fire risk assessment for your premises, this is it.
Can I carry out my own fire risk assessment?
If you’re any of the below, then you’re classed as the ‘responsible person’ for your building and can legally carry out the fire risk assessment for it:
- an employer
- the owner
- the landlord
- an occupier
- anyone else with control of the premises, such as a facilities manager, building manager, managing agent or risk assessor
However, you need to ask yourself these two important questions:
- ‘Am I qualified, knowledgeable, or experienced enough to identify the full range of potential risks within the building?’
- ‘Am I confident that my fire risk assessment will be suitable and sufficient?’
If the answer to either of these questions is ‘No’, we’re here to remove this burden from your shoulders.
Fire risk assessments from North West Fire Solutions
A fire risk assessment is not a box-ticking exercise. Every detail matters when an assessment is carried out.
It’s easy to miss one important detail when you’re not a dedicated fire safety professional, but this one important detail could have a significant impact if it goes undetected.
That’s where we come in.
We’ll give you one less thing to worry about and keep you legally compliant by carrying out a full fire risk assessment at your building.
All of our trained assessors hold a Level 4 Fire Safety Diploma or above and have extensive fire safety experience in a variety of building types, so you can rest assured that we’ll identify any fire hazards in your premises.
To arrange for us to carry out a fire risk assessment at your building, reach out to us on 0151 665 0124 or email info@nwfiresolutions.co.uk.