If you own or manage a commercial building, or you’re a Responsible Person for fire safety in that building, it’s really important to understand how a Fire Strategy and a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) work together – and why you need both.
In this blog, we take a quick look at both these fire safety elements, and, with the help of some examples, demonstrate how the two support each other, as well as pointing you to useful further information and advice, and next steps.
Fire Risk Assessment: a quick recap
A Fire Strategy and a FRA are both procedural documents that contribute to fire safety, but they are different in origin, detail, structure, and purpose.
A FRA, as we explored in an earlier post, is a legal document (under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005) and must be kept regularly up to date to reflect any changes in the building’s layout – including extensions – and use.
It covers potential hazards (everything from electrics to arson), assesses who’s most at risk (children, disabled people, etc.), and forms the basis for many actions that can mitigate risks (you can see numerous examples in our recent checklist).
Fire Strategy: a deeper dive
A Fire Strategy, by contrast, is a more technical document, which follows both legacy and current British Standards, including BS 8644-1:2022 Digital management of fire safety information.
It’s generally produced at the building design stage, in conjunction with architectural plans, to demonstrate compliance with Building Regulations, as part of the building control submission.
It can also, however, be produced for existing buildings, as a ‘retrospective Fire Strategy’.
Either way, the Fire Strategy covers means of fire detection, warning and escape, internal and external fire spread, and accessibility and facilities provided for the fire service.
It also provides details of occupancy levels permitted within the building, against the provision of horizontal and vertical means of escape and levels of compartmentation (how long the spread of fire and smoke can be contained).
Why you need both Fire Strategy and FRA now
Although Fire Strategy and the FRA are independent of each other, and both deliver specific benefits, they don’t exist in isolation from each other – they work together.
At the building design – or retrospective – stage, the Fire Strategy helps the Responsible Person plan, manage and coordinate the appropriate fire safety precautions to minimise the risk of fire and keep the occupants safe.
For example, imagine that you’re planning to acquire a warehouse, and must demonstrate fire safety compliance in order to obtain funding, insurance, etc.
The Fire Strategy would examine technical risk factors affected by, in this example, the building’s largely open-plan design, its few internal doors sited only in the office corridor, and the presence of an old air conditioning unit.
It would then define requirements to mitigate these risks: the number and type of fire escapes, where fire doors are necessary, where air conditioning and other services that penetrate walls and ceilings must be sealed with intumescent fire-stopping material, and so on.
The FRA would then ensure that these measures are put in place.
Why you need both Fire Strategy and FRA in the future
But a Fire Strategy also helps the assessor carrying out the FRA to establish any differences in the way the building is now used, or how it has been adapted over time, compared to what is stated in that Fire Strategy.
So, fast-forward a year, and you’ve installed a new mezzanine floor into your warehouse to create additional office space, and fitted a new aircon unit.
The FRA would identify how the change of use of the area, and its layout, has impacted factors like compartmentation, the number of people now working in the building and whether this necessitates more fire escapes and escape routes than previously identified, whether the updated aircon’s new penetrations have been adequately fire-stopped, and so forth.
These differences can impact upon life safety and cause the building to be non-compliant.
In short, the Fire Strategy sets out the critical technical specification for the inbuilt fire safety of a building. The FRA identifies where changes to the building over time have compromised that original specification – and where work is needed to reestablish compliance.
It’s a double-act that delivers peace of mind.
How we help you with Fire Strategy and FRA
At Commercial Fire Protection, our experienced team is fully qualified to develop and produce your building’s Fire Strategy, carry out FRAs against it (or any existing Fire Strategy), and complete any remedial works necessary to keep the building compliant.
We’re here to help – so get in touch with us today or request your FREE Guide to Fire Protection Compliance here.
