Commercial Fire Risk Assessment In Leicester

What The Service Involves

A commercial fire risk assessment looks at how a fire could start, how it might affect people and whether existing precautions are suitable. It considers the building as it is used, including visitors, maintenance contractors and anyone working outside normal opening hours.

We help commercial landlords, facilities teams and occupiers define the assessment boundary before a visit. A single business unit can depend on a staircase, alarm or final exit controlled by someone else. Those interfaces need attention as much as the space inside your lease.

What Needs Particular Attention

Retail stockrooms, workshop production areas and public reception spaces have different patterns of use. An assessment should connect those activities to the escape arrangements rather than assume that a tidy front office represents the whole building.

Where several businesses share a property, provide the lease responsibilities, management contact details and any available building fire strategy. The assessor needs to understand which organisation maintains each protection system and how information is passed between occupiers.

A visual assessment can identify apparent damage to fire separation, blocked routes or poorly managed service penetrations. It cannot establish the hidden construction of every wall or certify concealed fire stopping. Any need for an intrusive investigation should be identified as a separate, agreed scope.

The Legal And Practical Framework

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 provides the main workplace fire safety framework for Leicester. The responsible person must assess risks and maintain appropriate precautions. Employing someone to help does not remove the duty to manage findings and coordinate with others who control parts of the premises.

Agree a scope that reflects the premises and the question being investigated. A report should make its evidence and limitations understandable, including any areas not inspected. Keep the document with the building’s fire safety records and connect recommended work to a named person or role.

Guidance: Workplace fire safety responsibilities.

How The Work Progresses

First, explain the property, the service needed and any known concerns. The scope should identify the areas included and the information required before attendance.

Next, arrange access and provide the records needed for the agreed inspection or review. The assessor should discuss relevant activities with someone familiar with the building and record limitations where evidence is unavailable.

Finally, use the findings to allocate actions, commission any necessary specialist work and retain completion evidence. If the report leaves a question open, establish who will obtain the missing information and how the conclusion will be updated.

Preparing For The Visit

Gather the previous assessment, floor plans, alarm and emergency lighting records, staff training records and details of recent alterations. Confirm access to plant rooms, basements, roof access routes where relevant and any shared escape stairs.

Explain your busiest occupancy, shift changes and any seasonal stock peaks. If an area cannot be accessed, ask how the limitation will be recorded and what follow-up is needed. A report should distinguish observed conditions from information supplied by management.

What Affects The Cost

Commercial assessment costs depend on floor area, building layout, occupancy complexity and the number of separate uses. A multi-tenant property with shared systems and several management contacts takes a different scope from a small self-contained business unit.

Specialist process hazards, incomplete records and access restrictions may require further work. Ask whether the quotation covers the whole agreed property, the written report and a discussion of the action plan. Repairs, equipment servicing and intrusive surveys should be priced separately.

Common Questions