Russian system of independent risk assessment. Introduction to fire audit.
Russian system of independent risk assessment. Introduction to fire audit
At the same time, the risks and scale of emergency situations dictate the need, along with state supervision, for active participation of commercial structures (insurance organizations, risk assessment organizations, organizations carrying out licensed types of activities in the field of fire safety) in assessing the state of protected objects, their compliance with established safety requirements and developing effective measures to bring protected objects into proper condition.
Thus, it seems appropriate to create and test a system of independent risk assessment in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies in the Russian Federation.
In the Russian Federation, the Concept of creating a system of independent risk assessment in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations of natural and man-made nature in the Russian Federation has been developed and approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. The Concept is a system of views on the problems of creating and developing a system of independent risk assessment in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations of natural and man-made nature in the Russian Federation and contains substantiated goals, objectives and directions for the development of a system of independent risk assessment in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations of natural and man-made nature in the Russian Federation.
The Concept has been prepared in accordance with the Concept of Administrative Reform in the Russian Federation in 2006–2008 (approved by the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 25, 2005, No. 1789-r) and in pursuance of the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation of June 6, 2006, No. Pr-954, and the Government of the Russian Federation of June 9, 2006, No. MF-P4?2637. In accordance with this Concept, an Action Plan has been developed to create a system of independent risk assessment in the field of fire safety, civil defense, and protection of the population from natural and man-made emergencies in the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the system of independent risk assessment in the Russian Federation).
The main goal is to redistribute responsibility for causing harm or damage between the state and the organization that can directly cause harm or causes it to citizens — their health, property — as a result of man-made emergencies. Today, there is practically only one way to compensate for such damage — this is state aid from the government reserve fund or from other sources. When something happens, the victims count only on state support. Since many citizens do not have the opportunity to insure their property, they are unlikely to wait for compensation for damage from the enterprise or organization that caused it.
It is necessary to ensure that this particular enterprise or organization assumes the corresponding responsibility. The task is to create conditions under which the owner of the enterprise would insure its risks in an insurance company, at established insurance rates, depending on the degree of danger of a particular enterprise. With such a mechanism, the role of inspectors will no longer consist of inspecting the enterprise, but in assessing its safety and consulting on issues of improving it.
Today, control over the implementation of all these measures is mainly carried out by the state through its control and supervisory function. It approves technical regulations, inspectors check their compliance, hold violators accountable in accordance with the law, etc. However, it is necessary that the implementation of measures to ensure the safety of a person, organization or facility becomes entirely the subject of their own concern. After all, they should be more interested in their safety than others. It is possible and necessary to help them realize this, it is enough to use the insurance mechanism. The implementation of this plan is possible only through the improvement of the risk insurance system in the Russian Federation — «safety audit».
An audit of the fire safety system of business entities (hereinafter referred to as a fire safety audit) is an entrepreneurial activity for an independent assessment of the compliance of the fire safety system of business entities with the established fire safety requirements.
A fire safety audit organization is an organization whose main statutory goal is to conduct a fire safety audit and is accredited in accordance with the procedure established by law.
A fire safety auditor is an individual who meets the qualification requirements established by the Law and has a qualification certificate of a fire safety auditor. Fire safety audit is conducted in accordance with the Federal Law on Fire Audit, other federal laws and other regulatory legal acts on conducting fire safety audits issued in accordance with this Federal Law.
The purpose of the fire safety audit is to verify the compliance of protected objects (territories, buildings, structures, vehicles, process installations, equipment, units, products and other property) of business entities with the established fire safety requirements or to assess the fire risk, as well as to prepare a conclusion based on the results of the audit or assessment and proposals for eliminating violations of fire safety requirements.
For protected objects, the fire safety system of which is designed on the basis of hazard analysis and fire risk assessment, a fire safety declaration must be developed. Determination of the degree of fire risk must be carried out to assess the effectiveness of the fire safety system of objects, in cases of absence of design standards, when justifying deviations from the fire safety requirements of technical regulations and (or) regulatory documents.
Fire risk assessment calculations must be an integral part of the fire safety declaration or industrial safety declaration (at facilities for which they must be developed in accordance with Russian legislation).
Fire risk assessment is not carried out at facilities where the fire safety requirements established by technical regulations and (or) regulatory documents on fire safety are fully met (when the fire safety system complies with the design documentation, fire protection installations are in working order and are operated in accordance with fire safety requirements). If there are no special technical regulations, then it is necessary to comply with the requirements of regulatory documents on fire safety and not calculate the risk. The procedure for assessing the fire risk, the list of information contained in the fire safety declaration, and the procedure for its execution are established by the federal executive body authorized to resolve issues in the field of fire safety.
Thus, the provisions of the technical regulation grant the owner the right to choose how to ensure fire safety of the protected object. The classification of fire safety elements presented in the first section of the technical regulation gives an idea of the ways in which fire safety requirements can be met by the owner of the protected object. The content of sections 2, 3, and 4 establishes general requirements for various protected objects at the stages of design, construction, reconstruction, major repairs, and technical re-equipment. The fifth section provides the existing updated fire safety rules for the operation of various protected objects. Sections 6 and 7 formulate general fire safety requirements for fire-fighting equipment and general-purpose products. The eighth section defines the forms and methods for assessing compliance with fire safety requirements for protected objects, fire safety systems for protected objects, production processes, operation, storage, transportation, sale, and disposal. This section sets out in detail the procedure for conducting state fire supervision over compliance with the requirements of this technical regulation.
Fire safety audit is conducted in accordance with the agreement between the fire safety audit organization and the business entity, as it can be conducted on a mandatory and voluntary basis, and is carried out in accordance with the law and other federal laws adopted in accordance with it, regulating relations arising during the fire safety audit.
The norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation on fire safety audit, contained in other federal laws, must comply with this Federal Law.
Relations arising during the fire safety audit may also be regulated by decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, which must not contradict this Law and other federal laws.
During the fire safety audit, the activities of business entities to comply with mandatory fire safety requirements and the compliance of the fire safety system of territories, buildings and structures with fire safety requirements are subject to verification.
Mandatory fire safety audit is conducted at the facilities of business entities: — subject to mandatory civil liability insurance for damage caused during operation of a hazardous facility; — subject to mandatory insurance of the risk of liability for damage caused during operation of a hazardous production facility; — whose fire safety systems are designed on the basis of fire hazard analysis and fire risk assessment (for which a fire safety declaration must be developed); — which have on their territory production and (or) warehouse buildings and structures, as well as process installations of categories A, B and C for explosion and fire hazard; — which are socially significant organizations (life support facilities); — which operate public buildings and structures with a large number of people.
The frequency of mandatory fire safety audits is at least once every three years.
The official document drawn up based on the results of the fire safety audit is the auditor's report. The report is drawn up in accordance with the federal rules for conducting a fire safety audit and contains a substantiated opinion of the fire safety audit organization or an individual fire safety auditor on the compliance of the activities and property of the audited entity with fire safety requirements. The report is accompanied by acts on the selection of samples (tests) of products, inspection of the territory, buildings, structures, premises and technological installations, protocols (conclusions) of the conducted studies (tests) and examinations, explanations of employees who are responsible for violating mandatory fire safety requirements, and other documents or their copies related to the results of the fire safety audit.
The conclusion on the fire safety audit, containing information constituting a state secret, is drawn up in compliance with the requirements stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of state secrets. The formation of a national system of independent safety audit will be carried out on the basis of the implementation and annual clarification of the program for the development of legislative and other regulatory legal acts regulating the forms and methods of work of the supervisory bodies of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, adaptation of the current system of state control (supervision) to the conditions of mandatory and voluntary safety audit.
Financing of activities to create a system of independent audit in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations in the Russian Federation, conducted by federal executive authorities, is carried out within the limits of funds provided in the federal budget for the maintenance of the relevant federal executive authorities.
The creation of an independent audit system in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations in the Russian Federation does not provide for the expenditure of funds from the federal budget for conducting an independent safety audit.
The facilities where the Fire Audit is carried out are not subject to inspection by the state fire supervision authorities (SFSA) in accordance with paragraph 25 of the «Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters for the implementation of the state function of supervision over the implementation of established fire safety requirements by federal executive bodies, executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, organizations, as well as officials and citizens», approved by order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia dated 01.10.2007 No. 517 and registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 31.10.2007, registration No. 10424 for outdoor process installations.