FRA FAQ
The first principle of fire risk assessment is prevention: identify what could start or feed a fire and remove or reduce it before relying on alarms, fire doors and escape routes. The analytical starting point is the fire triangle of ignition, fuel and oxygen.
The starting point
Fire needs three things at the same time: an ignition source, fuel and oxygen. The assessor works through the building asking where those three sit close enough together to matter. An electrical intake cupboard is an ignition source; the same cupboard with cardboard stacked inside it is an ignition source pressed against fuel, and a different order of problem. What are some examples of fire hazards catalogues the combinations that recur across UK housing.
Breaking any side of the triangle prevents fire, but in practice most prevention effort lands on the first two: keeping ignition sources maintained, secured and separated, and starving potential fires of fuel through housekeeping, storage rules and the choice of materials. Oxygen is ambient and cannot usefully be controlled in a home, which is why it matters most for spread: open doors, breached compartmentation and unstopped service penetrations decide how far a fire travels once prevention has failed.
From principle to method
Hazard identification is the working expression of the principle, which is why it is also the first step of the method. The people at risk are those exposed to the hazards found; the evaluation judges the risk those hazards create; and a sound action plan proposes removal and reduction before it ever recommends new protective equipment. When the order is respected, protection is sized for the risk that remains rather than the risk that could have been designed out.
The five-step fire method encodes the same order: hazards first, people second, then evaluate, remove, reduce and protect. BS 9792:2025 carries the logic into housing practice, expecting the assessor to show what was considered for removal or reduction rather than only listing the protection already present. A significant finding that recommends more signage where the honest answer was moving the storage out of the stair is the principle inverted.
FAQ
They are not alternatives; the law requires both. But they are ordered. Prevention reduces the chance a fire ever starts, while escape provision exists for the times prevention fails. A defensible action plan shows reduction measures were weighed before extra protection was recommended, and an assessor who only prescribes hardware has answered half the question.
The three conditions a fire needs at once: an ignition source, fuel and oxygen. Take away any one and fire cannot start or keep burning. Assessors use it as a lens for hazard identification, looking for the points in a building where ignition and fuel sit together with a route for smoke and flame to travel.
Article 4 of the Fire Safety Order defines general fire precautions, and its list opens with measures to reduce the risk of fire and of fire spread on the premises. Article 9 then requires the responsible person to assess what those measures need to be for the building in question.
FRA Flow captures ignition and fuel hazards with photos as you walk, so removal and reduction reasoning sits behind every recommendation you sign.
