Fire Risk Assessments & Insurance
Since October 2006, any employer or person with control over a workplace has had to ensure that a fire risk assessment is carried out regularly for their premises.
The legislation states that the fire risk assessment must be carried out by a competent person which is where Econogard can help.
If you’re a small business, you may not have thought about the impact a fire risk assessment could have on your insurance. Many insurance companies insist on seeing a recent fire risk assessment report before they will cover you, but not all of them are so strict.
Is losing everything worth the risk?
So, what happens if you haven’t had a fire risk assessment and you then have a fire? Well the bad news is that your insurance company will more than likely consider your policy invalid as you haven’t complied with the necessary legislation to help reduce fire risk.
If this happens, you could face losing everything you’ve worked so hard to build up.
Fire risk assessment – who is responsible?
There is an element of confusion that often arises between landlords and tenants of commercial premises when it comes to assessing the fire risk of the property.
As the tenant of the property, the final responsibility lies with you. As stated earlier, if you are the employer or person in control of the working environment, it’s up to you to ensure regular risk assessments for fire are carried out.
Failing to do so could lead to a fine and there was a well publicised case where a hotel owner in Lancashire was fined £18,000 for not having carried out a fire risk assessment, after eight people had to be rescued from the building.
