Fire risk management

Often, says BSI, fire safety gets confused with management systems such as health and safety, however these are two separate disciplines. To address this, BSI has developed PAS 7, Fire risk management systems – Specification, in association with BB7 Fire Risk & Resilience.

Most of the visible fire precautions in premises are fire protection measures, and it is with these measures that the Building Regulations are primarily concerned. However in modern premises the risk to people (and property) from fire is often governed more by the quality of fire risk management than the level of fire protection. The BSI reports that significant factors in most non-domestic, multiple fatality fires, particularly those involving say ten deaths or more are failures in fire risk management rather than in the design of premises or fire protection measures.

PAS 7 is designed to help organisations implement a clear, formally documented system to reduce their fire risk. This can help to safeguard employees, customers and the general public as well as property, and assets. It can also minimise the impact of fire on business continuity.

PAS 7 applies the 'plan, do, check, act' model and has been developed so that it can integrate easily with other management systems that might already be in place within an organization, such as BS OHSAS 18001, Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements and BS ISO 22301, Societal security – Business continuity management system – Requirements.