Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority for fire safety in non-domestic premises and in the common parts of blocks across Nottingham. The duty is the national one: a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks, the significant findings recorded, and the actions actually carried out. What the assessment has to work around is local, and in this city that usually means a building that was something else first.
What the assessment has to cover
The people at risk and how they would be harmed. Ignition sources, fuel and oxygen. Escape routes measured against the people who really use them, including anyone sleeping. Detection, warning, and the equipment and maintenance behind them. The significant findings and an action plan with named owners. A report that lists hazards and stops short of who does what by when has not finished the job.
Converted warehouse and industrial stock
A large part of the city centre is nineteenth century warehouse and factory space now used as offices, bars and flats. Open floors, timber structure, original stairs and later subdivision mean compartmentation has to be established by inspection rather than assumed from the drawings. Where a survey cannot see above a suspended ceiling or inside a riser, that limitation belongs in the report.
Student and shared housing
Two universities give the city a dense market in purpose-built student accommodation and in houses in multiple occupation. Both bring sleeping risk, an occupancy that turns over completely each year, and a licensing regime that runs alongside the fire safety order. The assessment has to assume occupants who have never seen the building before, because every September that is exactly who is in it.
Enforcement in practice
The service audits premises, acts on complaints and follows up incidents, with powers running from advice through enforcement notices to prohibition. What an auditor asks for is the assessment, its significant findings and the evidence that the actions were done. Where a building is above the height thresholds, the additional duties on fire doors and on information to residents are checked alongside it.
Questions people ask about fire risk assessment Nottingham
Who enforces fire safety in Nottingham?
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, as the fire and rescue authority. Where a building is licensed as a house in multiple occupation, the council's housing team has its own overlapping duties.
Does a converted warehouse need anything extra?
Not a different duty, but usually more work to discharge it, because compartmentation and cavity construction have to be established by inspection rather than read off the original drawings.
How often should a Nottingham assessment be reviewed?
Whenever there is reason to think it is out of date, and on any material change to the building, its use or its occupancy. Student premises are commonly reviewed before each academic year for that reason.