Fire Safety Glossary

Community risk refers to the likelihood and potential impact of unwanted fire-related events occurring within a local area. Fire and rescue services assess community risk to prioritise prevention activity, allocate resources, and set response standards through their Integrated Risk Management Plans.

Fire prevention encompasses the activities undertaken by fire and rescue services to reduce the risk of fires occurring in homes and the wider community — including home fire safety visits, safe and well checks, education campaigns in schools, and targeted work with vulnerable individuals.

A fire risk assessment is a systematic examination of a premises to identify fire hazards, evaluate the risk to people, and implement or recommend appropriate fire safety measures. All non-domestic premises must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, carried out by a competent person and reviewed regularly — or whenever significant changes occur.

A fire risk assessor is a competent person engaged to carry out the fire risk assessment required by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Assessors must have sufficient training, experience, and knowledge of fire behaviour, building construction, and fire safety legislation to make reliable risk judgements. For higher-risk or complex premises, third-party accreditation through schemes such as BAFE SP205, IFE, or IFSM is strongly recommended.

Operational risk is the risk of harm arising to fire service personnel, the public, or the environment while the fire service is carrying out its operational duties. Services manage operational risk through dynamic risk assessment, standard operating procedures, and pre-incident planning for known hazardous sites.

PAS 79 is the publicly available specification that defines best-practice guidance for fire risk assessors undertaking fire risk assessments in the UK. PAS 79-1:2020 covers non-complex premises and PAS 79-2:2020 covers housing. Both set out the expected methodology, content, and format of a fire risk assessment, and are widely referenced by enforcers and insurers when evaluating assessor competence.

Risk analysis is the systematic process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritising the risks that could affect a community or organisation. Fire services use risk analysis to develop their Integrated Risk Management Plans, determine resource deployment, and target prevention and protection activity where it will have the greatest impact.