ABSTRACT
Risk assessment is now a ubiquitous and an expected part of almost any business or commercial activity. It can be dressed up in complex methodologies and the wealth of jargon which is often used to protect the specialist knowledge of professionals who make their living from such assessments. However, assessment is fundamentally very simple and can in its principles be understood by the average educated lay person. Risk assessment at is heart is simply the identification of those hazards which might jeopardise a business or activity and the assessment to which they have been mitigated, or removed, by the precautions which have been put in place, so leaving just the residual risk. The assessment of the dangers from fire is simply just this and in its fundamentals no different from business or financial risk assessment.
