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.

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.

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.