The UK Government has ordered a crackdown on ‘sub-standard’ commercial fire risk assessors following the Grenfell inquiry, and the news has been welcomed by Compliance Education.
Home Office ministers are to crack down on ‘sub-standard’ fire safety assessors in the wake of the Grenfell disaster. Concern over the competence of some assessors in the private sector has led the National Resilience and Fire Safety Unit to recommend the introduction of mandatory competence requirements for fire risk assessors. Assessors will need to be independently verified by a UKAS-accredited body and overseen by a regulator.
In June 2017, a fire in the Grenfell Tower block in West London claimed 72 lives. A subsequent public inquiry identified what Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has described as ‘shocking industry behaviour and wider failures’.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, published in September 2024, made 58 recommendations to ensure such a disaster is never repeated. The Government has pledged to implement them all.
In his report, Sir Martin noted there had been concerns over the competence of some commercial fire risk assessors and the absence of any scheme of regulation. He added: “We therefore recommend that the Government establish a system of mandatory accreditation.”
Paul Spencer, director of Liverpool consultancy Compliance Education, part of the Compliance Group, has welcomed the announcement. It is the only company in Liverpool with a BAFE accreditation. BAFE is an independent register of quality fire safety organisations. Any provider on the list has to be audited by a UKAS-accredited body.
Paul said:
“We have long believed that fire risk assessment should be more tightly regulated and we have always gone above and beyond what is currently required.
It is astonishing that it took a terrible tragedy such as Grenfell for Government to finally act. A fire risk assessment can be an extremely complex and confusing process and the detail that is required can be intricate and exhaustive. If ever there was an area that needed strict regulation it is this one.
Current legislation stipulates that all employers must carry out a full fire risk assessment, thoroughly examining the potential risk and spread of fire in a commercial property, but the assessment is only as good as the assessor. Having mandatory standards for the assessors can only be a good thing and will make everyone safer in the future.”
