Fire Risk Assessment Template for Accurate and Compliant Inspections

Fire risk assessments are an important responsibility of businesses, to protect employees, customers and visitors while ensuring that their premises comply with regulations. Whether businesses are conducting their own fire risk assessments, or turning to a specialist, using a fire risk assessment checklist provides a clear guide to follow and ensures key steps are not missed. Whether you manage an office, retail site or industrial building, completing a checklist supports a structured approach to fire safety. Before downloading our free fire risk assessment template, read about the benefits of using a risk assessment template and what should be included.

What is a fire risk assessment checklist?

A fire risk assessment checklist is a document designed to support businesses in reviewing fire hazards, identifying ignition sources and evaluating risks. It provides a structured set of prompts to ensure nothing is overlooked during the assessment. While a fire risk assessment form can be completed on paper, a digital checklist makes it easier to perform the inspection, update information, review changes and report findings.

Benefits of using a fire risk assessment checklist

Improve accuracy and compliance

Performing fire risk assessments regularly is vital, but paper records can be hard to manage. A digital fire risk assessment ensures required details are captured, recorded and stored securely, simplifying the process and enabling quick communication when contacting team members or external services when needed. This improves accuracy, helps meet fire risk assessment requirements and builds a clear understanding of risks across your business with information being easier to share.

Save time with automated workflows

Managing fire risk assessments across multiple business premises or clients can be complex. Businesses managing multiple safety processes often combine fire risk assessments with wider documentation such as risk assessments and method statements, which can be managed more effectively using RAMS software. A software solution like Velappity reduces administration by providing automated workflows. It includes job scheduling so risk assessments aren’t missed, with jobs completed on site on a mobile device that then generates a report that can be sent directly to management or clients.

Access anywhere, even offline

A fire safety risk assessment often needs to be carried out on site, where signal may not be available. Velappity works offline, meaning fire risk assessment forms can be completed offline and synced once connected. The generated reports can be set to send to clients or managers instantly upon completion, or first be reviewed by office staff.

Custom for your premises

Buildings have different risks that must be taken into account. To create fire risk assessment templates free from the limitations of standardised forms, create multiple forms in Velappity. Forms may apply to multiple sites of a certain type, or be specific to one site, and can be built to suit your processes. With Velappity, you are able to create multiple forms to ensure you are conducting effective risk assessments suitable for each site.

Custom forms allow you to ensure your own risk assessments are suitable to your industry and location. For example, if in the UK, you may have a fire risk assessment template UK, which takes into account UK regulations.

Support better planning

Checklists help businesses identify fire risks, record findings and put measures in place to address any concerns. Using fire risk assessment software, you can easily update your emergency fire action plan 5 steps, record measures to remove hazards and ensure changes to site layouts are reflected in your checklist.

Provide actionable insights

Using a software solution helps you review risks, evaluate findings and identify patterns. Fire safety risk assessment steps completed digitally provide information that can be turned into actionable insights, supporting continuous safety improvement.

What to include in a fire risk assessment checklist

A fire safety risk assessment checklist should be practical and easy to follow to ensure it is conducted correctly. Items often included are:

• Identification of ignition sources, fuel sources and oxygen supply
• Fire safety equipment checks
• Staff training and responsibilities
• Escape routes and emergency exits
• Review dates and updates

Key fire risk assessment steps

When looking at completing an assessment, it may be helpful to know how many steps make up a fire safety risk assessment. There are 5 steps of fire risk assessment, often referred to as the FSRA 5 steps (Fire Safety Risk Assessment 5 steps). To ensure your business complies with fire safety regulations, the fire risk assessment must cover the following steps:

1. Identify hazards and risks – sources of ignition, fuel and oxygen
2. Identify people put at risk by fire
3. Evaluate these risks and identify ways to remove or reduce them
4. Record findings, implement the plan and provide training
5. Regularly review and update the assessment

When following these five key steps, different types of premises will have specific requirements. An office fire risk assessment might focus on electrical equipment, escape routes and staff training. For industrial sites, the fire risk assessment checklist may include fuel storage, machinery checks and fire inspection checklist tasks. Retail premises often need to consider visitors and customers, requiring clear signage, fire safety checklists and safe evacuation plans.

Businesses should ensure that the responsible person updates the risk assessment template whenever changes are made to the building or processes. Training review dates, fire safety equipment servicing and new ignition sources should be recorded. Whether conducting your own fire risk assessment or providing them as a service, it is essential to ensure that the assessment is carried out in conjunction with guidance to protect property and, more importantly, people. Businesses should appoint a responsible person to oversee fire safety and ensure the checklist is kept up to date.