Mythbusters

Here you will find all of our mythbusters, which should help you to find the answers to some commonly asked questions.  These have been compiled and answered by our experts in fire risk assessment, so you know you are getting the correct information.

Myth 1: DCLG guides are ACOPs

Myth 2: Premises with fewer than 5 employees do not have to do fire risk assessments

Myth 3: Fire safety legislation covers life safety, property protection and protection of the enviro

Myth 4: Fire risk assessments are only a recommendation

Myth 5: There is not much chance of a fire here

Myth 7: You can do a fire risk assessment from a drawing

Myth 8: I am the nominated ‘responsible person’ but I am not liable or accountable

Myth 9: A FR30S will only give 30 minutes protection from the moment a fire starts

Myth 10: If a sprinkler system operates by accident, then all the heads go off

Myth 11: If I’m a commercial tenant in a commercial building, I don’t have to worry about fire safety

Myth 12: The Fire and Rescue Service are responsible for evacuating people from the building

Myth 13: All breaches of the fire safety legislation are criminal offences

Myth 14: In a fire risk assessment it cannot be assumed that compartmentation is adequate unless this is proved by intrusive inspection

Myth 15: All fire fighters and ex fire fighters are competent to carry out a fire risk assessment

Myth 16: I’ve recently had a false alarm and evacuated everyone so this can count as one of my regular fire drills

Myth 17: A short course (of several days, as opposed to weeks) on fire risk assessment can turn a lay person into a competent fire risk assessor

Myth 18: Third party certification (TPC) schemes are only suitable for large firms and not, for example, sole traders

Myth 19: Should a fire risk assessment specify the category of system when requesting fire detection and alarm system to be installed?

Myth 20: Do you have to use the tables for the coverage of Visual Alarm Devices (VAD’s) from Annex F of BS 5839-1?

Myth 21: If my premises have sprinklers do I need portable fire extinguishers?

Myth 22: Is it ok to get my fire detection and alarm system serviced once a year?

Myth 23: Why do I need external emergency lighting?

Myth 24: When carrying out a fire risk assessment, should the fire risk assessors enquire about the history of false alarms?

If you have any further questions, or you need to find out more, you can search our Resource Library.