Introduction to Fire Safety Management

5.5.1 Preparing an inventory of activities
The fi rst stage in producing a risk assessment pro-
gramme is to identify all the buildings and areas (includ-
ing the activities and tasks undertaken) that will need to 
be assessed; this is often termed inventory preparation. 
This process provides an initial overview of each build-
ing or area, task or activity that will need to undergo a 
suitable and suffi cient assessment. This initial analy-
sis of the sources and distribution of risk arising from a 
work activity also enables organisations to prioritise the 
premises, tasks and activities that will need to undergo 
a more detailed assessment.
When faced with an entire workplace or a number of 
buildings on one site to assess, the fi rst step would be 
to break the site down into smaller, more manageable 
sections, then go on to list the specifi c areas or premises 
to be assessed. The usual method is to select geograph-
ical areas which would contain similar hazards or sites of 
similar nature or construction. In addition this approach 
provides a register of locations that can help employers/
responsible persons to identify when changes take place 
that may require the assessments to be reviewed.
Figure 5.6
Preparing inventory of activities to assess
The HSE has produced useful guidance on 
inventory preparation in HSG65. The guid-
ance suggests that an inventory should 
include:
➤
Risks brought into an organisation 
➤
Risks associated with its activities and 
➤
Risks associated with outputs and 
by-products.
The only downside to producing an inventory is that, for 
it to be an effective part of the risk assessment and risk 
management process, it must be kept up to date and 
therefore requires management resources.
5.5.2 Identifying the signifi cant hazards
Once the inventories have been created and a pro-
gramme of assessment has been established the next 
stage is to identify all the hazards that are involved with 
the premises, tasks and activities.
Possibly the most valuable source of information 
relating to the hazards, risks and effectiveness of existing 
risk control systems in the workplace are the employ-
ees and their representatives. Often those undertaking a 
specifi c task or working within a particular facility are only 
too aware of the hazards and potential risks associated 
with the work and in many cases will have views on how 
improvements to safety management could be made.
In addition to consultation with the workforce, there 
are a number of sources for information relating to 
hazards that assessment teams will want to consider; 
the most important of these include:
➤
Reviewing 
records:
➤
Safety event (accident/incident, fi re/false alarm) 
records, hazard information records and COSHH 
assessment records
➤
Reviewing 
documents:
➤
HM Government and HSE Guidance, indus-
try guidance and manufacturers’ data sheets. 
Company safety policies, method statements, 
emergency procedures, etc.

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