Fire Safety Assessment Report Template for Ireland

They are different documents serving different purposes. A Fire Safety Certificate is granted by a Building Control Authority under the Building Control Regulations 1997 and certifies that proposed works, if built as designed, comply with Part B of the Building Regulations. An assessment report looks at how an existing building is actually used and managed. One is obtained before building and belongs with the construction record, while the other is produced during occupation and revisited as the building changes. Holding a certificate from the original works does not answer questions about current use, and an assessment cannot cure the absence of a certificate that should have been obtained.

Section 18(2) of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003 places duties on the person having control of a premises, and that section reaches essentially all premises other than a dwelling house occupied as a single dwelling. An assessment is the usual way of showing which measures were considered and applied, and under section 18(6) a fire officer can require one and require works to be carried out. Establish who the person having control is first, since in a leased or managed building that can be the owner, the managing agent or the occupier. Where control is shared, record in the lease or management agreement who does what.

There is no single interval fixed for every building. Review it when the use of the building changes, when it is altered or extended, after a fire or a near miss, and when the pattern of occupation changes materially, keeping each dated version. The written risk assessment required by section 19 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 works the same way, being reviewed on significant change rather than on a fixed cycle. Two habits help: tie the review to its triggering events, such as a fit out or a change of tenant, and keep superseded versions, since the history shows the duty was met over time.

A person competent to do it, judged by their training, experience and knowledge of the building type. When commissioning one, ask which standards and guidance the assessor works to and what qualifications they hold, and make sure the report names the person responsible for it. Ask for examples of comparable buildings, since a hospital, a warehouse and a hotel raise different questions. Competence is assessed against the building in front of the assessor rather than by a single credential, so keep their details and the basis on which you appointed them with the report. The duty stays with the person having control whoever carries out the work.

No. Northern Ireland has its own fire safety legislation and building control system, so the Fire Services Acts and Building Control Regulations referred to here do not extend there. Establish which regime applies to the premises before adopting a report format for it, and where a portfolio spans both jurisdictions, keep the assessments separate rather than producing one document that names Irish legislation for every site. Insurers and enforcement officers read a report against the law that applies locally, so one citing the wrong instruments is of limited use even where the fire engineering behind it is sound.