Scope of Services – Pre-occupancy Fire Safety Assessment

2.1 Assessment details

 2.2 Quality

The management, quality assurance and competency arrangements described below apply to the provision of life safety fire risk assessments, for which the Company is certificated under a Third Party Certification (TPC) scheme by a UKAS-accredited certification body.

This scope relates to a pre-occupancy fire safety assessment. As the premises are generally unoccupied at the time of assessment and there are no relevant persons exposed to the premises, this is not a life safety fire risk assessment and is therefore not subject to TPC oversight or certification.

The Company’s established quality management processes, including the competency, experience, training, review and audit arrangements applied to its certificated life safety fire risk assessment services, are also applied to preoccupancy fire safety assessments.

Where fire risk assessors are subcontractors, they are subject to the Company’s quality management processes,
including appropriate monitoring and auditing.

Assessors undertaking the assessment will meet the Company’s competency requirements appropriate to the premises and scope of the assessment. This may be demonstrated through one or more of the following:

• individual third-party certification under an appropriate fire risk assessor scheme by a UKAS-accredited certification body;
• listing on an appropriate professional body fire risk assessor register; and/or
• the Company having determined that the assessor has the relevant Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Behaviours (SKEB) appropriate to the premises type and risk, in line with the Fire Sector Federation Building Fire Risk Assessment Competency Framework and BS 8674.

The Company will retain responsibility for ensuring that assessors, including subcontractors, have the appropriate competence for the work undertaken and are subject to its established quality assurance arrangements.

2.3 Law

Governing law and jurisdiction under which this proposed scope of services will be carried out will be one of the following determined by the location of the premises:

• England and Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland

2.4 Non-intrusive inspection

Acknowledging the exclusions (see page 14) the fire safety assessment will be a non-intrusive inspection. Fireriskassessments.com Associates Ltd DOES NOT carry out intrusive inspections.

The proposed fire safety assessment shall be carried out in conformity with our Pre-occupancy Scope of Services.

By accepting the booking confirmation, the client is confirming acceptance of this Schedule & Scope of service

In England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, those responsible for non-domestic premises have legal duties to ensure that fire safety risks are appropriately assessed and managed when the premises is occupied. This includes identifying fire hazards, considering the people who may be at risk and implementing appropriate fire safety measures.

A pre-occupancy fire safety assessment is intended to help identify and address potential fire safety issues before the premises is brought into use. It uses relevant fire safety legislation, standards and guidance to assess the premises as constructed or prepared for occupation and to make recommendations for appropriate fire safety measures and arrangements.

However, a pre-occupancy assessment cannot fully assess the risks that will arise once the premises is occupied and in use. The activities undertaken, processes, equipment, storage, staffing, occupancy levels, vulnerable persons and other circumstances introduced by the occupier may create additional or different fire hazards. These factors can only be properly assessed once the intended use and occupancy of the premises are known.

A pre-occupancy fire safety assessment should therefore not be regarded as a substitute for the fire risk assessment required once the premises is occupied. The Responsible Person/Duty Holder remains responsible for ensuring that a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is completed and kept under review when the premises is brought into use.

This document sets out the specific scope of our pre-occupancy fire safety assessment, including what will and will not be considered as part of the assessment. It is intended to provide clarity about the service and avoid any misunderstanding about its purpose or limitations. Commercial terms are set out separately in the booking confirmation and our terms and conditions.

In the following sections of this document all Roman text is normative, a requirement, whereas italic text is informative and places no specific requirement on either the supplier or the client.

The definitions and interpretations listed below shall apply:

Client: The organisation indicated in the schedule.

Document: Includes, in addition to any document in writing, any drawing, map, plan, diagram, design, picture or other image, tape, disk or other device or record embodying information in any form.

Responsible person/s/Duty holder: Person or persons who have responsibility and control of the fire safety in their premises and who has requested the pre-occupancy fire safety assessment.

Fire risk assessor: Person delegated by the supplier to carry out the fire safety assessment and compile the pre-occupancy fire safety assessment report.

Findings: Information about the building and the anticipated characteristics of relevant people, including those especially at risk from fire, based on the intended use and information provided by the client. Findings include significant hazards and risks identified by the assessment that could affect potential occupants; precautions already in place to protect people from fire; and preventive and protective measures (i.e. general fire precautions or fire safety measures) identified to address the hazards and risks.

Relevant persons: Persons who may be expected to be on or in the vicinity of the premises based on its intended use and the information provided by the client, including employees, residents, visitors and others who may be affected by fire.

Services: The services to be provided by the supplier to the client.

Supplier: The organisation indicated in the schedule.

Significant findings: Significant hazards and risks identified by the assessment that could affect potential relevant persons based on the intended use of the premises; precautions already in place to protect people from fire; and preventive and protective measures (i.e. general fire precautions or fire safety measures) identified to address the hazards and risks.

Site representative: Individual nominated by the client to assist the fire risk assessor.

Supplier’s representative: The supplier’s manager for the services.

TPC – Third Party Certification.

A reference to a statute or statutory provision is a reference to it as it is in force for the time being, taking account of any amendment, extension, or re-enactment and includes any subordinate legislation for the time being in force made under it.

5.1 Pre-occupancy fire safety

The supplier will carry out a pre-occupancy fire safety assessment of the premises, including consideration of the means of escape, fire detection and warning systems, fire-fighting equipment and relevant fire safety management arrangements. The assessor will inspect the site, review available service and testing information and discuss the fire safety provisions with the on-site contact, where available.

The fire safety assessment report will detail the findings of the assessment and, where appropriate, provide recommendations for additional measures considered necessary to address identified hazards and improve fire safety prior to occupation.

Where the intended use of the premises and anticipated occupancy are known, the assessment will take these into account. This may include the anticipated number and type of occupants and any relevant characteristics or abilities identified by the client. Recommendations will be based on the information available at the time of the assessment and relevant fire safety legislation and guidance.

A pre-occupancy assessment cannot fully assess hazards that may arise from the actual use and occupation of the premises. The Responsible Person must therefore ensure that a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is undertaken, when the premises is occupied and whenever there are significant changes to its use, occupancy, activities or other relevant circumstances.

As part of the assessment, the client must arrange suitable access to all areas required for inspection, including suitable facilities to gain access to ceiling voids and other areas where reasonably required.

This does not imply that the assessor will inspect every void or concealed area. Selected locations may be sampled where appropriate.

This scope of services does not include client meetings, beyond the inspection, to discuss the assessment report or associated findings.

The design of any recommended fire protection systems or other specialist measures will be undertaken by suitably competent persons or organisations engaged by the client.

The scope of services is complete once the pre-occupancy fire safety assessment has been undertaken and the report issued to the client.

This scope of services and the fire safety assessment methodology are intended to assess measures that support the protection of people from fire following occupation, based on the intended use and anticipated occupancy information available at the time of assessment. The assessment may also identify matters relating to property protection or business continuity; however, that is not the primary purpose of the assessment and are outside the scope of service.

In understanding the bounding scope of a fire safety assessment, it is important to clarify those things that it is not intended to address.

The FSA is NOT:

• full audit of areas of the building that are not readily accessible or visually obvious (e.g. ceiling and roof voids and service risers), though a sample inspection of such areas is normally appropriate;

NOTE 1 A degree of sampling is particularly important if the evacuation strategy is predicated on a high standard of compartmentation (e.g. in the case of progressive horizontal evacuation in a care home).

The following specified in PAS 79-1:2020 and BS9792:2025 are also NOT part of the FSA:

• a means for verifying compliance with current building regulations;
• a disabled access audit;
• a means for identifying latent defects in construction or compartmentation;a means for verifying that the fire resistance of structural elements of the building is adequate;
• an examination of the potential for structural collapse of the building in the event of fire;
• a fire strategy report;
• means for snagging of new construction;
• a guide to legislation for the responsible person; or
• a fire risk appraisal and assessment of external wall construction and cladding.

 5.2 Property protection and business continuity

Should the client wish to broaden the scope of this assessment to cover both property protection and business continuity issues, then a separate scope of services will need to be requested.

5.3 Cladding and external wall construction

Assessment of the fire risks of external walls and any cladding are excluded from the scope of this fire safety assessment, as this is outside the expertise of a typical fire risk assessor. Accordingly, it is strongly recommended that you obtain advice from qualified and competent specialists on the nature of, and fire risks associated with, the external wall construction, including any cladding.

5.4 Fire doors

The fire risk assessment is not a fire door survey. However, the condition and performance of the fire doors will be considered by the assessor. For this purpose, only a sample of Fire doors will be checked, subject to accessibility at the time of the assessment.

5.5 Structure

In England and Wales, the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order also includes what is described in the Order (as amended under the Fire Safety Act 2021) as the “building’s structure”. For avoidance of doubt, the Government’s intention in referring to the “building’s structure” is that consideration of this matter should comprise a visual inspection of the construction and layout of the building (e.g. compartmentation) on the basis that it is reasonable to assume that the building was correctly designed and built to resist early structural collapse in the event of a fire.

As such, in a fire risk assessment, intrusive surveys of buildings are only required if the fire risk assessor has serious concerns about the structural fire protection of the building. Otherwise, only non-intrusive surveys need to be carried out. In effect, there is a need for a focus primarily on those walls and floors, the fire resistance of which is critical to life safety and the evacuation strategy (to the extent that they are accessible and visible). It is not, for example, expected that, in a fire risk assessment, there is an investigation of the fire resistance of the structural frame or other elements of structure, which can reasonably be expected to have been properly addressed under building regulations at the time of construction of the block. Equally, if defects in, for example, protection of structural elements come to light, they must be addressed. This same principle will be applied to the pre-occupancy fire safety assessment. To support the conduct of the FSA, it is vital that the assessor is informed of any issues that may affect the structural integrity of the building. This is particularly important important in non-traditional buildings, including those with timber frames or large panel systems.

5.6 Lithium-ion batteries

British Standard BS9792:2025 states ‘The presence of lithium-ion battery powered personal vehicles, cars, and devices is now very common. Examples include mobility scooters, e-scooters, e-bikes, vehicles, uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) systems and energy storage systems. These present a particular hazard due to their potential for very rapid and extreme fire development production of extensive toxic fumes and explosion if they are damaged or faulty. These factors increase the likelihood of escape routes becoming compromised very quickly, significantly increasing the risk to occupants.

As it is unlikely these items will be present in a pre-occupation, the fire safety assessment will not consider, in detail, special technical hazards and risk associated with these hazards. It may not be practicable to determine use or storage of such devices within an unoccupied premises. If the client uses, or plans to use, technology or equipment which may constitute a special hazard, such as those listed above, they should commission separate surveys and assessments to determine the exact nature of the risk and any relevant control measures that are required.

5.7 Witnessed testing

The assessor will not test or witness the operation of active fire precautions including but not limited to, automatic fire detection and alarm systems, sprinkler systems, fire dampers, smoke ventilation systems, emergency lighting, emergency voice communication systems.

The fire risk assessment will exclude the creation of drawings and the marking up of plan drawings.

The fire risk assessment will not include consideration of process related risks covered by COSHH and DSEAR legislation.

There is no single prescribed format for documenting a pre-occupancy fire safety assessment. The supplier will therefore use its professional judgement to determine the findings to be recorded, taking into account the condition and use of the premises, anticipated occupancy and information available at the time of the assessment.

The supplier will provide a fire safety assessment report which records the findings identified during the assessment, including relevant fire hazards, existing precautions and any additional measures recommended to improve fire safety prior to occupation.

The report will use a structured format based largely on the principles of PAS 79-1:2020 for premises other than housing or BS 9792:2025 for housing, as appropriate. A risk rating will also be provided. As the assessment is undertaken prior to occupation, the absence of occupants at the time of the assessment will be taken into account when determining the level of risk. The risk rating should therefore not be interpreted as representing the full life-safety risk that may exist once the premises is occupied.

Where the intended use and anticipated occupancy are known, these will also be considered when assessing the potential risk and making recommendations. Any changes to the use, occupancy, activities or other relevant circumstances following occupation may affect the level of risk and the suitability of the recommendations.

The report will only address those parts of the premises that were safely accessible at the time of the inspection, and recommendations will be based on the evidence available and conditions observed at that time.

Fire risk assessment is a subjective process requiring professional judgement. The risk rating and findings represent the assessor’s evaluation based on the information and circumstances available at the time and may differ from any subsequent assessment undertaken by the Responsible Person or an enforcing authority.

The report is intended to provide a record of the fire safety provisions and findings identified at the time of the assessment and may be used as a reference when completing works, making changes or establishing fire safety arrangements prior to occupation.

Should the client have any preference for an alternative scope of the fire risk assessment, then this is to be discussed and agreed with the client prior to commencement of work, and is to be clearly defined within the booking confirmation.

7.1 Cooperation and coordination

The supplier will require relevant information about the premises, the processes to be carried out in the premises, and the potential occupants of the premises. This information will be obtained by completion of a pre-assessment questionnaire by the client in advance of the assessment, interviewing the client, the client’s representative or the site representative during the booking process, then in some measure during, the physical inspection of the premises.

The client’s site representative will need to be afforded the time and access to enable the assessor to inspect all necessary areas and ask all relevant questions on the day of the assessment. Failure to afford this information will hinder the production of the report and increase the time incurred in undertaking the FSA and in some cases the assessment may be re arranged (this will incur costs), particularly in premises deemed complex or higher risk.

The client is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of any relevant information provided to the assessor which is used in the production of the fire safety assessment.

7.2 Ongoing management of fire safety arrangements

The fire risk assessor is not responsible for: –

• The completion of remedial actions identified in the action plan.
• The client has a duty to ensure that the completion of actions is conducted to an appropriate standard, in a reasonable timescale, by persons with sufficient levels of competency.
• Once occupied, any potential staffing levels, the capability of staff to perform tasks relating to the fire safety of the premises or staff training.
• The ongoing management of the premises.
• Any subsequent changes to the premises, including the physical structure or configuration of the premises, the use of the premises and the management of the premises.
• The testing and maintenance of active and passive fire safety measures.
• Conducting, arranging or organising a subsequent future fire risk assessment, in accordance with the legislative requirement, as may be in force from time to time, whether a review date is advised or stated within the original document or not, except where a separate or specific contractual or commercial arrangement has been allowed for.

From an initial enquiry a quotation will be issued along with the Terms & Conditions (T&C’s) to be accepted

• On receipt of the client’s or clients representative instruction to proceed, the supplier will contact the client/representative to agree or confirm:
• Time, date and place of the fire safety assessment
• The identity and contact details of the site representative

Any special arrangements concerning health and safety which may include, but not be limited to, health and safety procedures, required personal protective equipment (PPE) and site safety

T&C’s must be accepted. A booking confirmation will then be issued with links to the pre visit questionnaire. On completion of the fire safety assessment site visit, the fire risk assessor will debrief with the client’s representative (where present) before leaving the site.

• A report will be compiled, checked and validated, prior to forwarding to the client.
• The fire safety standards on-site will be measured against a benchmark which may be based upon approved Codes of Practice, British or European Standards, Government or Agency Standards documents or Industry Standard documents. The guidance used will be identified within the fire safety assessment.
• The report may incorporate digital photographs where appropriate or where required by the client.

The documented fire risk assessment issued to the client by the supplier shall include the following:

• The identity of the Responsible person/s.
• The exact location and extent of the premises that has been assessed. Where the client has more than one site, more than one premises on a site or occupies only part of a site or premises, the documented fire safety assessment should contain sufficient detail to assist the client and any interested party to identify the location covered by the fire safety assessment.
• The date(s) on which the premises were visited by the assessor and the assessment was carried out.
• The identity of key individuals from whom information was obtained as part of the assessment.
• The criteria and recommended date by which the assessment should be reviewed.
• An overall assessment of risk.
• Information required by relevant legislation.
• A list of actions arising from the assessment indicating the severity and urgency, and an indication of the timescale in which each action should be completed.
• A unique reference identifier.

The fire safety assessment shall identify all the important aspects of fire safety on the premises in the report, with sufficient supporting commentary to enable the client or the client’s representative, to comprehend the level and adequacy of life safety provisions that should be provided on the premises. The fire safety assessment shall have considered and documented the following:

• The nature of the premises and the processes to be carried out on the premises.
• Size, height, construction and use of premises.
• Potential occupants of the premises and if known any characteristics which may make them especially at risk.
• Previous fire incidents on or near the premises including the cause, where known, and any lessons drawn from the incident.
• Involvement of enforcing authorities which results in additional duties being placed on the persons responsible for the premises.
• Arrangements with the emergency services.
• Information about potential causes of fire which should include, but not be limited to:
• Arson.
• Electrical faults.
• Smoking.
• Portable heaters etc.
• Cooking.
• Lightning.
• Hot works.
• Housekeeping.
• Other significant ignition sources or process hazards.
• Process fire risks excluded from the scope of the fire risk assessment.
• Means for detecting fire and giving warning to occupants.
• Means of escape from the premises (including provisions for disabled persons).
• Fire safety signs and notices.
• Emergency escape lighting.
• Means to limit fire spread and development of fire.
• Means for fighting fire.
• Other relevant firefighting systems and equipment; if provided.
• Maintenance of facilities to assist fire fighters.
• Emergency action plan.
• Testing and maintenance of fire protection measures.
• Record keeping.
• Cooperation and coordination with other occupiers of the premises and neighbouring premises.
• An appropriate overall risk matrix taking into account likelihood and consequence of fires arising from these causes and qualifying the overall risk.
• Action plan.An appropriate review period expressed.

The foregoing list does not imply that the exact headings would be used or that they would be presented in the same order.

9.1 Access

Where readily accessible, unless specifically excluded, the assessor will conduct a visual inspection of all easily accessible parts of the premises. Where relevant, this will include outbuildings, external stores and outdoor service premises. Voids, cupboards, ducts and service risers will be sampled where it is safe to do so. The external façade and structure of the building will only be assessed from ground level by visual inspection.

Any part of the premises to which the assessor does not gain access shall be identified in the documented fire safety assessment.

Where a return visit to the premises is required to assess previously inaccessible areas to complete the FSA, the supplier reserves the right to charge the client for any additional visits.

9.2 Immediate actions and hazardous conditions

Should dangerous conditions be encountered during the assessment, or hazardous practices observed, the assessor will bring the matter to the attention of a Responsible person/s as soon as possible, and where practicable before leaving the site. The assessor will not intervene or take any steps personally to resolve the situation.

Unless clearly stated to the contrary, the fire safety assessment will be non-intrusive. That is to say the assessor will not:

• Make any holes.
• Apply any tools (e.g. screwdriver, hammer, crowbar).
• Carry out any functional test of fire protection measures (e.g. operate smoke vents or emergency lighting).
• Provide or use access equipment (other than short stepladders)
• Carry out any measurements (e.g. sound pressure levels of fire alarms), other than approximations of distance.
• Take or analyse any samples (e.g. any part of the fabric of the premises, fire resisting materials or combustible/flammable materials).
• Enter into any private dwelling in the case of flats, apartments, maisonettes or similar dwellings, other than as necessary to report properly on measures required under the relevant fire safety legislation. (e.g. the fire resistance of flat entrance doors). Depending on the scope of the fire safety assessment and
  the legal jurisdiction, this may exclude houses in multiple occupation.
• Unless specified, the appropriateness of active and passive fire precautions, such as compartmentation, the means of escape, the fire detection and alarm system, emergency lighting, firefighting equipment, including dry risers will be assessed on a visual basis and will consider any information provided by the Responsible person/s regarding maintenance and testing. The conduct of the FSA will NOT include a full system and ‘cause and effect’ test of these areas. That will be for the Competent Persons and contractors who install and maintain this equipment to provide.
• Landlord-controlled areas and systems are excluded from assessments carried out on behalf of a tenant, unless they directly affect the tenant’s safety or means of escape. This includes common areas, external wall construction, risers, smoke control systems and landlord fire-fighting provisions. These remain the landlord’s responsibility and should be addressed within the building-wide fire risk assessment.

This scope of services does not include follow-up meetings.

Where the fire risk assessor identifies a need for alterations or modifications to the premises, passive fire protection or active fire protection, the fire safety assessment will not include detailed method statements or a formal schedule of works.

The fire safety assessment will not encompass property protection and business continuity issues.

The fire safety assessment will not include the production of drawings and will not include the marking up of plan drawings unless specified in the schedule.

The fire safety assessment will not include consideration of process related risks covered by COSHH and DSEAR legislation.

The pre-occupancy fire safety assessment reflects the condition, intended use and anticipated occupancy of the premises, together with the information available, at the time of the assessment.

The client/Responsible Person must ensure that the assessment is reviewed where there are significant changes to the premises, its intended use, occupancy, management arrangements or other circumstances that may affect fire safety. The fire safety assessment should not be relied upon where the information or circumstances on which it was based have materially changed.

A fire risk assessment, as is legally required under current fire safety legislation, should be undertaken when the premises is occupied to consider the actual use, activities, occupancy and circumstances of the premises.

The fire safety assessment report is intended solely for the client named in the report and should not be relied upon by third parties unless otherwise agreed or required by law.

Any amendments to the issued report must be made by the original author. Alterations made by the client or other parties may affect the integrity of the report and will not constitute an amended assessment by the supplier.

The client will remain responsible for the health and safety of the assessor, while the assessor is on the client’s premises.

The client will provide the assessor with relevant information about significant health and safety hazards and control measures, including the presence of asbestos.

The assessor shall, where necessary, provide basic PPE including hard hat, high visibility jacket or waistcoat and protective footwear. The client shall provide PPE appropriate for all other hazards including, but not limited to, ear defenders, fall arresters, breathing apparatus and floatation aids.

Where safety training is required on-site, the client shall inform the supplier prior to any contract being agreed and provide the training free-of-charge.

During the assessment, all site safety rules and control measures will be observed. No activities will be undertaken by the risk assessor that will create either additional hazards or raise the risk level from any existing hazard on-site.

The assessor may refuse to enter any area where the assessor suspects that their health and safety may be at risk. The assessor will, as far as practicable, inform the site representative of the nature of the hazard. The assessor will not enter the area until or unless the hazard is removed or the assessor is satisfied that the risk has been reduced to a tolerable level. The assessor will state on the assessment report, those areas not inspected or assessed and why.

The information provided should be updated regularly by the client, whose duty it is to ensure that all potential risks are identified to the supplier. A means for reporting safeguarding concerns should be agreed between the supplier and the client to clarify reporting arrangements in this regard.

13.1 Professional Indemnity Insurance

The supplier undertakes and warrants that it currently maintains in force, professional indemnity insurance, without any material excesses or unusual exclusions taken out with reputable insurers, of not less than one million pounds, and that provided such insurance is available on reasonable commercial terms and rates in the insurance market, it shall maintain such insurance until 18 months after completion of the works.

13.2 Public liability insurance

The supplier undertakes and warrants that it currently maintains in force public liability insurance, without any material excesses or unusual exclusions taken out with reputable insurers carrying on business, of not less than one million pounds, and that provided such insurance is available on reasonable commercial terms and rates in the insurance market.

13.3 Employers liability

The supplier undertakes and warrants that it has at all material times maintained and currently maintains in force, employers’ liability insurance, without any material excesses or unusual exclusions taken out with reputable insurers.

The supplier will keep confidential all matters related to the client’s commercial activity.