The National Examination

Board in Occupational Safety

and Health (NEBOSH)
Dominus Way,
NEBOSH
Certificate in Fire Safety
Meridian Business Park,
Leicester LE19 1QW
Tel: +44 (0) 116 263 4700
Fax: +44 (0) 116 282 4000
Email: [email protected] Unit FSC2: Risk assessment
www.nebosh.org.uk
Version: 3 Guidance and information for learners and Learning
Specification date: April 2020
Publication date: December 2022 Partners
Registered Charity Number: 1010444
© NEBOSH. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic,
electrostatic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise,
without the express permission in writing from NEBOSH.
Course Part 1 Guidance for learners
Overview
Contents Learning outcome 4

Assessment criteria 4

Introduction 5

Stages of assessment 6

Location 10

Assessment time and tutor guidance 10

Assessment forms and submitting Unit FSC2 for marking 11

Results 14

Resubmission in case of referral 14

Part 2 Guidance for Learning Partners

Setting up the assessment 16

Location 16

Guidance on assessment completion 16

Learning Partner’s staff, family or friends taking the Unit FSC2 assessment 16

Assessment submission 17
 Part 1:
Guidance for learners
Part 1 Learning outcome The rest of this guidance tells you what you
need to do to complete the assessment. The
Do a fire risk assessment in their own workplace
Guidance for – prioritising risks, inspecting the workplace,
guidance also contains some helpful hints and tips
(including how to complete the various forms).
learners recognising a range of common fire hazards,
evaluating risks (taking account of current
controls), recommending further control, An assessment pack has been produced to
planning actionsmeasures, planning actions. provide you with everything that you will need to
complete the FRA. This can be downloaded from
the NEBOSH website (www.nebosh.org.uk).
Assessment criteria
Produce a fire risk assessment of a workplace
which considers a wide range of identified When completing your FRA, it can be difficult to
hazards (drawn from elements 1-6 of the know how much detail is enough. So, here’s some
FSC syllabus) and meets best practice useful tips. Your FRA should not be about creating
standards ‘suitable and sufficient’. huge amounts of paperwork, but instead be about
identifying sensible and proportionate measures
Introduction to control the fire risks in your workplace. We
want your FRA to be realistic and the level of
This assessment requires you to apply detail to be proportionate to the level of fire risk in
what you have learnt in your studies of your organisation. To help you with this we have
the whole syllabus (elements 1-6). To do produced an example in the assessment pack.
this, you will need to complete a fire risk
assessment (FRA) of your workplace.

The stages of the assessment are as follows:

General Fire safety Summary and

Review
information audit action plan

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 4

Part 1 Stages of assessment
You must use the table in Section 1 (1a - 1c) of
Guidance for the assessment pack to complete this part.
learners General
information
Fire safety
audit
Summary and
action plan
Review

You will need to include the following information:

Section 1a - general information:

Your assessment is going to be marked by an • your name and the date you completed
Examiner appointed by us. The Examiner will the fire risk assessment;
need a clear description of your organisation to Section 1b - organisational and building information:
allow them to judge whether your FRA is suitable
• the name of the responsible person
at the organisation (e.g. employer or
person in charge of the premises);
• what the building is used for (eg,
an office, a warehouse etc);
• the maximum occupancy and the
hours the building is occupied;
• the number of floors in the building;
• the approximate floor area per floor of the building;
• what materials have been used
to construct the building
• what the layout of the building is;
Section 1c - building occupants:
• the types of occupants in the building (eg, does
anyone sleep there or are there any young
people in the building). You will need to supply
supporting information in the additional comments
box for any categories of people present.

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 5

Part 1 General Fire safety Summary and
Guidance for information audit action plan
Review You must use the table in Section 2 (2a - 2c) of
the assessment pack to complete this part.
learners

This part works like an audit checklist. It asks a series of general questions so that you consider
a wide range of fire safety issues for your organisation. You must answer each question in the
checklist with either “yes” or “no”. You can provide extra detail in the “additional comments” for each
question. We expect the majority of the issues to be applicable to most workplaces. However,
not all workplaces will, for example, have portable heaters or flammable solvents.

Specific Guidance on the use of the additional comments box for each question:
We want the FRA to be as realistic and practically useful as possible. Because every workplace is different, we
have avoided using too many very specific, detailed questions which would otherwise make the checklist overly
long. Instead we have provided an additional comments box. The general rule for the additional comments is
that we expect you to provide sensible, realistic and proportionate comments for each question in this part.
You should use this box to add detail to clarify or note any issues or to add information that you feel is useful and
relevant whilst carrying out your fire safety audit. However, if a realistic answer to a question is “not applicable”,
please just answer it “no” and note “not applicable” or “n/a” in the additional comments. You can also cross-
reference between comments boxes eg, “see above” if the answer comments would otherwise be repeated.

How this works is best understood by use of examples. So that you can get idea of the level of detail
required and how the additional comments box works, please see the examples in Table 1 below
(this has been extracted from the full example that is included in the assessment pack).

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Part 1
Guidance for Example
Heating, ventilation and
lighting
Yes No Additional comments
learners 1 Are there fixed heating and Yes The gas boiler is located within the plant room. This is a cement
ventilation installations lined room that is reinforced with a steel frame door that can only
within the premises? be accessed by key holders. Fire detection equipment is installed
in this building. There are gas safety valves installed, these are
tested yearly with the heating system.
There is an air conditioning system that can be used in the office
and meeting rooms.
2 Are the fixed heating and Yes Heating system and ventilation system are serviced yearly as part
ventilations installations of a service plan.
regularly maintained?
3 Are there any portable No No portable heaters used in the organisation.
heaters within the premises?

4 Is there periodic inspection Yes Emergency lighting is tested once a month. There is no record of
and testing in place for the previous month’s test.
emergency lighting?

Table 1

In example 1, we follow the general rule of giving extra information such as what types and how many.
more information in the additional comments box. The
In example 4, the general rule is again followed
additional comments here add detail as to what these
(similar to the case of example 2).
‘fixed heating and ventilation installations’ are.
There is also an additional optional comments box
In example 2, we again follow the general rule as
at the very end of the audit checklist. This should
it is natural to support the answer with detail on
be used to note down any issues or information
how frequently the maintenance is carried out.
that you feel is not covered in the questions. But
In example 3, there are no portable heaters within the there is no need to add any information here if
premises, so there is no need to say very much about you feel that all issues have already been covered
them. If the answer were yes, it would be natural to add adequately in the earlier parts of the audit checklist.

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 7

Part 1 General Fire safety Summary and
Review You must use the table in Section 3 of the
Guidance for information audit action plan
assessment pack to complete this part.
learners

Once you have completed the audit checklist, you must pick at least 10 of the most significant/highest risk issues that you
feel need attention. These issues need to be your top priorities for action and must already have been identified during
the fire safety audit (i.e, you must not include issues that haven’t already been identified as part of the fire safety audit).
You must justify why you think these are the top priorities. Your justification must include financial and moral arguments
and may also include legal considerations (especially where there is country specific legislation).
Include details on current measures in place, additional controls, responsible person and timescales. Please see the
example on page 10 (table 2, this has been extracted from the full example that is included in the assessment pack
available on the NEBOSH website).

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 8

Part 1 Significant Justification for Current fire prevention Additional actions/ Responsible Completion
Issue and precaution controls required person date(s)
Guidance for Identified
selection
measures

learners - must include moral and

financial argument(s) for each
issue
- may include legal arguments
if applicable legislation can be
stated
Visitors - no site All visitors should be Visitors currently sign into A formal induction process Facilities 1 month
/ building safety given the same fire the building and provide must be put in place that Manager
induction information as workers the name of the person informs visitors of all safety/
to enable an efficient they are visiting. All visitors fire arrangements. Each
building evacuation if are accompanied around visitor to sign to confirm they
required. Providing fire the building by the person have received this induction
information to all visitors they are visiting. It is and that they understand all
will not only ensure a swift the responsibility of the emergency procedures.
evacuation but it could person they are visiting to
also preserve the lives of inform visitors of the safety
both visitors and workers arrangements; this includes
as they will be fully aware the emergency procedures.
of what they need to do in
the event of a fire. If fire
safety information is not
provided, then this could
result in serious injuries
or loss of life in the event
of a fire. Injuries or loss
of life would have serious
financial implications to
the organisation such
as court fees, financial
settlements to the injured
or families of those that
have lost lives. Insurances
would increase, reputation
of the organisation would
be affecting which could
result in loss of profit.

Table 2

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 9

Part 1 General Fire safety Summary and
Review
You must use the table in Section 4 of the
Guidance for information audit action plan assessment pack to complete this part.

learners
The final part of the assessment is to: without endangering your own health and safety
(eg, so that advice can be given on any restricted
1. Set a realistic review date for the FRA.
areas, whether PPE must be worn etc).
2. Explain why you have chosen that review date.
3. Indicate how you will follow-up on the FRA to
Assessment time and tutor guidance
check that the actions have been carried out. The time needed to complete the assessment is
not restricted. We do, however, recommend that
Location you take around three hours to complete all four
The assessment must be carried out in your own parts of the assessment. We feel that the three
workplace. This means that your FRA should be hours will allow you to show your understanding
realistic and provide added value for you and your of the assessment requirements and complete a
organisation. We want it to actually help you identify good quality FRA. Please note, however, that the
and control real fire issues in your workplace and not three hours is for guidance; you may choose to take
just be an academic exercise. But it also must help more, or less, time to complete your assessment.
you meet our assessment criteria. So, your workplace
We advise that you discuss your approach with
should be large enough to provide a sufficient
your tutor after reading this guidance. They can
range of fire issues (remember you need at least 10
give you advice on whether you are ‘heading in the
significant/highest risk issues for the action plan).
right direction’ – for example, they may comment
If you do not have access to a suitable on whether you have chosen a suitable workplace
workplace, please speak to your Learning or situation that will give enough scope to be able
Partner. Your Learning Partner will help you to tackle this assessment properly. Do not submit
to make arrangements for the assessment to drafts of your work to your tutor as they are not
be carried out at other suitable premises. allowed to pre-mark or comment on specific details.

Before carrying out the assessment, you must

speak to the management at the premises to
ensure that you can carry out the inspection

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 10

Part 1
Assessment forms and submitting indicate that it is being continued (eg, just write
Guidance for Unit FSC2 for marking “continued”) and then use a continuation sheet. You
learners Your assessment can either be handwritten or
don’t need to use specific wording - you just need
to make it clear what is being continued. Here’s
completed electronically. The assessment pack contains how we suggest you do this for sections 1 and 2:
two sets of forms; one for a handwritten assessment
and the other for an electronic assessment. Continuation sheet for Section 1:

We would recommend that you submit electronically Simply print off an extra blank copy of
but understand that there will be occasions the same “Section 1” table and indicate
when this is not possible. The headings in which line you are continuing.
both sets of forms are the same, so feel free
Continuation sheet for Section 2:
to choose the format that is best for you.
We have included a blank continuation table at the
Electronic forms
end of section 2. Print off as many of these as you
When you start your assessment you must double- need. When you use the table enter the topic you
click the page footer and insert your learner number are referring to in the ‘header row’ of the first column
and name on the first sheet. The tables in the with ‘continuation’ in brackets after the topic. In the
template will automatically expand as you type into left-hand column add the question you are referring
them. The page numbering will change automatically to and then record your additional comments in the
as you increase the number of pages that you last column.
Heating See example below in red text:
and Lighting
Yes No Additional comments
use. Please ensure that you use a font and font (continuation)
Are there fixed heating There are gas safety valves
size that is easy to read eg, Arial size 10 to 12.
installations within the installed, these are tested
premises? yearly with the heating
Handwritten forms system.

You must ensure that your learner name and number Continuation sheet for Section 2

are written on the top of every form. Additionally, you

Please feel free to print off as many of the blank forms
must ensure that you include the page numbers at the
as required. Instructions for completion are given
top of every sheet where indicated eg, page 2 of 8.
at the top of Section. However, to show how this
For handwritten submissions, we recognise that could look please see the following example (we’ve
sometimes the additional comments box might not used colour coding (blue and red) to distinguish
have enough room for everything that you need between the first part and the continued part).
to add. So, if you are running out of room, simply

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 11

Part 1
Issue Number 1

Guidance for
Significant issue identified Training and drills – there is no fire/safety refresher training provided to workers

learners Justification for selection All workers should receive basic fire safety training and attend refresher sessions at pre-determined intervals. Refresher
training is especially important when changes have been made to the emergency plan, when working practices or workers
responsibilities change and also to take account of any changes to circumstances of workers or any other relevant persons
that may put them at higher risk. Refresher training ensures that all workers are reminded what they must do to
safeguard themselves and others in the event of a fire. Records of refresher training must be kept therefore providing
evidence that adequate fire training has been given. Continued …
Current fire prevention and Fire and health and safety training is provided to every worker when they join the organisation.
precaution measures

Additional actions/controls 1. Decide on content for training.

required 2. Yearly refresher training to be rolled out to all workers. Each time refresher training is completed by workers the
date is to be recorded on their training records.

Responsible person 1. Facilities Manager and HR Team

2. Facilities Manager

Completion date(s) 1. 1 month

2. 3 months

Issue Number 1 … continued

Significant issue identified

Justification for selection Continued …

It is a legal requirement to provide workers with information relating to fire safety The Regulatory Reform (Fire
Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO 2005) is clear that workers are provided with adequate safety training when they are
first employed and the training should be repeated periodically.
Current fire prevention and
precaution measures

Additional actions/controls
required

Responsible person

Completion date(s)

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 12

Part 1 Both sets of forms have been designed to take you
through all of the assessment sections. Completing
Guidance for all sections of the forms and referring to this document
for additional guidance should help you achieve a
learners ‘Pass’ for your assessment. We also recommend that
you refer to the ‘worked example’ so that you can see
what level of detail is required for each section. The
example can be downloaded from the resources section
on the qualification page of the NEBOSH website.

Submission

Your assessment (Sections 1 - 4) must be entirely

your own work. By submitting your assessment for
marking, you are declaring that it is your own work.
Falsely claiming that your assessment is your own
work is malpractice and NEBOSH may impose severe
penalties, as set out in the NEBOSH Malpractice Policy.

Your assessment must be submitted to your Learning

Partner electronically as a PDF (portable document
format) document. If you do not know how to, or are
unable to, produce a pdf document, please ask your
Learning Partner for advice. If your submission is
handwritten, we would recommend that you retain a
copy before sending it to your Learning Partner (and if
you are sending it as a hardcopy, we recommend using
a postal service that enables you to track the delivery).

Your Learning Partner will tell you the date that

they need to receive your assessment. Once
received, your assessment will be upload to
NEBOSH for marking. If you fail to submit your
assessment to your Learning Partner by the date
requested, you will be marked as ‘absent’.

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 13

Part 1 Results
We aim to issue results within 50 working
Guidance for days of the date of the assessment.
learners
Resubmission in case of referral
You can only achieve a ‘Pass’ or ‘Refer’ for the
assessment. If you need to resubmit you will need
to register for the assessment again and pay the
appropriate fee. You are not limited on the number
of times that you can resubmit the practical for
marking but you must speak to your Learning
Partner who will tell you the date by which your
assessment must be received by them. However,
you must remember that both units (FSC1 and
FSC2) must be passed within a five year period.

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 14

 Part 2:
Guidance for Learning Partners
Part 2 This section gives specific information for
Learning Partners that is not included in Part 1.
carries out the assessment that they speak
to the management at the premises. This is
Guidance to ensure that the learner can carry out the

for Learning Setting up the assessment

inspection without endangering their own
health and safety (eg, so that advice can
Partners The FSC1 unit will be held bi monthly and be given on any restricted areas etc).
you can choose to either connect the FSC2
to this date or set up a separate on demand
assessment. If you chose the first option, you
Guidance on assessment completion
can start to upload assessments for marking You may give your learners guidance on
the day after the registration closing date. If whether they are ‘heading in the right direction’
you book an on-demand assessment, you – for example, you may comment on whether
must upload the assessments 10 working days they have chosen a suitable workplace or
after the assessment date at the latest. situation that will give sufficient scope to
achieve the necessary breadth and depth of
content required. You must not carry out a
Location pre-mark prior to submission to NEBOSH.
The assessment should normally be carried
out in your learner’s own workplace as the
FRA should be realistic. You should ensure
A Learning Partner’s staff, family or
that the learner has access to a workplace
friends taking the unit FSC2 assessment
that is large enough to provide a sufficient You must declare in writing to NEBOSH any
range of fire issues. If your learner does not staff member, spouse, family or other close
have access to a suitable workplace, you must personal relationship with any learner taking
help the learner to make arrangements to the FSC2 assessment. You must refer to the
instructions given in the document ‘Instructions for
carry out the practical assessment at suitable
Conducting Examinations’ for further information.
premises. If you are running the practical in
this way you should contact the Operations
team at NEBOSH for advice and approval.
You should ensure that before the learner

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 16

Part 2 Assessment submission
Guidance You must satisfy yourself that the assessments
that your learners submit are their own work.
for Learning By submitting their assessments for marking
Partners the learner is declaring that it is entirely their
own work. Falsely claiming that it is their
own work is malpractice and NEBOSH may
impose severe penalties (see the NEBOSH
Malpractice Policy for further information).
You must tell your learners the date that you will
require their completed assessment by. You must
allow sufficient time for the upload (please see
‘Setting up the assessment’ for further information).
Assessments must be uploaded in PDF format
via the Course Provider Interface (CPI). Before
uploading the assessments, please make
sure that the pages are in order eg, run from
pages 1 to 5 and are rotated so that they can
be immediately read eg, the pages are the
right way up. You will need to click on the
‘Practical Upload’ tab; this will allow you to
either upload the assessments or, if the learner
fails to submit their completed assessment to
you on time, mark the learner as ‘absent’.

NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety 17