Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Closing the assessment out
Having recorded the recommendations and assigned 
a priority rating, ideally the action plan should enable 
a specifi c named person, or a key role, e.g. human 
resources manager for training requirements, within an 
organisation to be nominated to take responsibility for 
implementing the recommendations contained within 
the action plan.
As each individual recommendation is implemented 
it is useful to close out the action by reviewing the risk 
rating (ideally reducing it to low) and recording the result. 
This enables the action plan to refl ect the ongoing status 
of the implementation programme until ultimately each 
element is closed out.
In addition if the organisation is conducting active 
monitoring as part of its safety management system 
the scoring or priority rating system of the risk assess-
ment and the ability of the organisation to close out the 
recommendations in the appropriate timeframes, may 
prove to be very valuable when measuring the success 
of the overall fi 
re risk assessment and fi re safety 
management programme.
14.3.3 Worked 
examples
The following are worked examples that have been 
drawn from a series of risk assessments.
Table 14.2
Example of a table used to identify priority 
and indicate timescales for action to be taken
Priority rating 
Timescale of action required
1 
Immediate action – within 24 hours
Usually dealt with during the risk 
assessment
2
Short-term action required – within 
1 week
3
Short- to medium-term action – within 
1 month
4
Medium-term action – within 3 months 
or agreed in a formalised plan within 
6 months
5 
Review as part of annual business plan