Fire risk assessment documents

A fire risk assessment should be documented to provide a clear overall picture of the possible fire hazards and the role safety systems play in hazard control and mitigation. Also, a fire risk assessment should be maintained evergreen during the lifecycle of the facility to ensure ongoing management of fire hazards. 

Documentation is critical to understanding the results and report long after the fire risk assessment is completed. The fire protection engineer should ensure that the fire risk assessment is thoroughly and completely documented. 

As important as the visible behaviour of senior managers is the information that is communicated in writing. In many cases there is a legal duty to produce written documentation, for example there is a requirement to have a written health and safety policy and written records of the significant findings of fire risk assessments (see Chapters 1 and 2). What is absolutely crucial is that written communication is clear, concise and understood by those it is provided for. 

As the building has such a key role to play in relation to fire safety and risk management it is imperative that a knowledge of the Building Regulations Approved Documents, British Standards and official guidance is included within any course of study. Each of these areas is covered within this chapter and will have a significant impact on the preventive and protective control measures identified within a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (see Chapter 14). 

The fire risk assessor, or fire risk assessment team, will benefit from having a range of documentation readily available prior to, during and following the practical risk assessment process (visual observation, verbal information gathering, etc.). The range of documentation that may provide key information for the fire risk assessment process is likely to include ... 

Other than the receipts there is no documentation relating to the management of these highly flammable aerosol units. It was noted during the visual element of the fire risk assessment that some eight to ten boxes each containing a dozen 300 ml aerosols were being stored. 

Various risk assessments have been carried out over the years for the sea transport of radioactive materials, including those documented in the literature [39, 40]. These studies consider the possibiUty of a ship carrying packages of radioactive material sinking at various locations the accident scenarios include a collision followed by sinking, or a collision followed by a fire and then followed by sinking. 

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) develops and issues fire codes that are used by fire marshals and the authority having jurisdiction to enforce required fire safety measures. NFPA issued the new NFPA 45-2015 Standardfor Fire Protection for Laboratories Using Chemicals which included Chapter 12 on Educational and Instructional Laboratory Operations. This new section established new requirements for teachers and instructors who perform demonstrations. Instructors performing demonstrations must perform a documented risk assessment, provide a safety briefing to students, provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and use secured safety barriers between the student and the demonstration to prevent personal injury unless there is at least 10 feet between the demonstration and the students. Institutions are required to train instmctors in fire safety procedures, emergency plans, hazards in the laboratories, use of PPE, and how to conduct risk assessments. 

The withstand required by plant systems, structures and components against internal hazards, such that appropriately safe operation can be maintained, has been addressed comprehensively in the European Design Control Document (DCD) (Reference 4.4), primarily in Chapter 3, and will be discussed for each hazard in turn, in the sub-section following. On the basis of the requirements for withstand being directly incorporated into the design basis for the plant systems, structures and components, only those postulated hazards with significant requirements on management are taken forward for further assessment in the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), to make sure that the requirements to ensure any potential vulnerabilities are identified and addressed. The internal hazards taken forward to the PRA for this purpose are internal fire and internal flood. 

In its own fire safety guidance documents HM Government has adopted a very similar approach in its guidance on how an assessment of fire risks can be achieved (Chapter 14). 

Establishing a procurement policy, which includes a pre-procurement risk assessment, will ensure that correct selection of plant and equipment for use in hazardous areas (where a flammable or explosive atmosphere has the potential to cause a fire or explosion) will minimise the risk relating to such equipment. BS EN 50020 2002, Electrical apparatus for potentially explosive atmospheres - Intrinsic safety i , specifies the construction and testing of intrinsically safe apparatus, intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres and for associated apparatus, which is intended for connection to intrinsically safe circuits which enter such atmospheres. This document may well form the basis from which an organisation establishes its procurement policy for such equipment. 

It is also likely that the fire risk assessor/assess-ment team may also need to have access to a variety of documents produced as part of the requirements of the Building Regulations (Approved Documents B and M), and a variety of British Standards such as BS 5839 Fire Alarm and Detection Systems and BS 5266 Emergency Lighting. 

LIMS must be backed up on a regular basis to maintain the security of the database. The regulatory inspectors will not accept that data within the database has been lost due to the failure of the server or other incidents (e.g., fire or flood). In order to prevent losses the pharmaceutical manufacturer is responsible for implementing a reliable, robust, and documented backup regime. The frequency of backups must be assessed as part of the GxP assessment process as this will be determined by the frequency at which data will be entered into the database and the redundancy features in the server, and should take into account the risks of data loss. Automation of the backup regime is acceptable provided that it is validated normally as part of the operational testing phase of the project. 

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