FIRE RISK ASSESSMENTS IN UK BUSINESS PREMISES AND BUILDINGS
Nationwide on the UK Mainland on 0844 802 5191
Materials used in Construction in United Kingdom Buildings are identified in a Fire Strategy Plan ( Created by Fire Engineers ) required now by Building Control to identify what materials are present in your premises and which building standard relates to it required now under the Building Safety Act 2022 . Fire Risk Assessors then use this information to to write a Fire Risk Assessment .
FIRE RATING
A fire rating is a way of classifying building materials based on how well they resist fire. It essentially tells you how long a material can withstand a fire before failing. Fire ratings are important for ensuring the safety of buildings and their occupants in case of a fire.
There are different fire rating systems used around the world, but they all generally assess three main aspects of a material's fire performance:
- Flame spread: This measures how quickly a fire will spread across the surface of the material.
- Heat transmission: This measures how well the material can block heat from radiating through it.
- Smoke production: This measures how much smoke the material will produce when it burns.
Fire ratings are typically expressed as a number or a letter code. For example, in the US, a common fire rating system uses numbers like "30" or "90," which indicate the number of minutes a material can withstand a standard fire test.
Understanding these complex fundamentals is something only a Fire Engineer or Fire Risk Assessor with an Engineering background can comprehend . Carrying out Fire Risk Assessments is not something you should attempt yourself any more as the grenfell report has identified a more rigorous approch is now needed and the law is now changing in 2024 /2025 that only fire risk assessors will be able to carry out fire risk assessments and fire engineers fire strategy plans for homes and business premises .