It is important to remember that fire risk assessment is a continuous process and as such must be monitored and audited. New and existing control measures should be maintained to make sure they are still working effectively.
However, if you introduce changes into your premises your original risk assessment may not address any new hazards or risk arising from them. For this reason it is also important to review and revise your assessment regularly.
This doesn't mean it is necessary to amend your assessment for every trivial change that occurs, but the impact of any significant change should be considered. For example:
- a new work process may introduce additional fuels or ignition sources.
- changes to furniture layout or internal partitions could affect the ability for occupants to see a fire and escape in time.
- increasing the number of people may mean a fire exit is now too small to cope with their escape within a safe period.
- occupying another floor of the building may mean an electrical fire warning system is now necessary.
The above list is not exhaustive and any change could lead to new hazards, so risks should be considered.
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