Independent Fire Risk Assessment Audit

Independent assurance

Overview

The responsible person keeps the legal duty even when the assessment is contracted out. If the report you have been given is thin, out of date or wrong, it is your organisation that answers for it. An audit tells you where you stand before an enforcing authority, an insurer or a coroner does.

Our directors spent years auditing premises and other assessors' work under the Fire Safety Order, including care homes, hospitals, sheltered housing and high-rise buildings, and served enforcement and prohibition notices where assessments and management had failed. We apply the same tests to your reports. Our page on what a good fire risk assessment looks like sets out those tests in plain terms.

What is included

Desktop review of each report against the Order, BS 9792:2025 or PAS 79-1 and the relevant government guidance
Site verification of a sample of findings: does the report describe the building as it actually is?
Checks of scope, limitations, evidence, risk rating, action plan and review arrangements
Confirmation that previous actions were closed out and that the management arrangements match the paperwork
Portfolio sampling: a proportionate sample across a stock, weighted to the highest-risk buildings
A written audit report with a clear verdict on each assessment and the gaps to fix

What you receive

A plain statement for each assessment: suitable and sufficient, suitable with corrections, or not suitable
A gap list you can put to your current contractor
Recommendations on assessment type, frequency and scope for the buildings sampled
Evidence of due diligence for your board, regulator and insurer

Who it is for

Housing providers changing contractor or inheriting stock
Organisations preparing for a fire and rescue service audit
Boards and audit committees wanting independent assurance
Care and health providers ahead of a CQC or CIW inspection

Questions we are often asked

When should we audit rather than reassess?

Audit when you have assessments and want to know whether they can be relied on; reassess when they are out of date or you already know they are inadequate. An audit of a sample is often the quickest way to find out which of the two you need across a portfolio.

Will you audit assessments produced by another company?

Yes, that is the usual case. We report on the assessment, not the assessor, and we are happy for the findings to be shared with them.

Fire risk assessment review and audit