Fire risk assessment

There seems to be a lot of debate about fire risk assessment, which are part of the new fire regulations coming in on 1 October 2006.

There is a particularly good debate going on at the Fire Net Forum

http://www.fire.org.uk/punbb/upload/viewtopic.php?id=1073&p=1

Around page six there is a discussion about whether the man in the street understands descriptive or numerical estimates of risk. Is it better to say that a fire is likely or to say there is a 75% chance of a fire. People may well understand the numbers better but may assume it is based on a more scientific approach, when in most cases it is just someones 'gut feeling.'

There is a rather worrying debate on the IOSH forum

http://www.iosh.co.uk/index.cfm?go=discussion.view&forum=2&thread=20603

Some people on this one don't seem to know what a risk assessment is!

Andy Brazier