A multinational group in the manufacturing sector commissioned TECSA to carry out an independent fire safety audit at one of its large production plants located in Northern Europe, with the aim of verifying its compliance with the group’s corporate fire protection standard and generally accepted fire prevention practices. The audit, carried out on-site — without prior notice to the site — by a senior specialist acting as Lead Auditor, was designed to assess the level of safety achieved, both through a review of documentation and an extensive site inspection covering all areas to gather photographic evidence, and to identify areas for improvement in relation to the key audit topics.
The audit was carried out using a structured fire safety assessment checklist covering thirteen key areas: company standards, alarms and notification, detection, suppression, storage, electrical installations, flammable liquids, hot work, management of system bypasses (red tags), fire doors, no-smoking policies, emergency response plans and site-specific checks. For each area, a sample of the documents available at the time of the audit was reviewed (fire safety plans, test and inspection logs, third-party audit reports, hot work permits in accordance with international insurance practices) were sampled, and over 80 photographic records were collected during the site visit, supplemented by random interviews with staff to verify their knowledge of the standards, the alarm signal and the actions to be taken in an emergency. Each piece of evidence was recorded in the checklist with a code indicating its type (photographs, documents, observations), ensuring full traceability of the conclusions.
The audit confirmed an overall adequate level of fire safety — the detection and alarm system was operational and periodically tested, fire extinguishers and hose reels were inventoried and inspected monthly, hot work permits were managed in accordance with the standard, and staff were aware of the actions to be taken in an emergency — with no critical non-conformities identified. As this is a support activity for the site, all recommendations were formulated as suggestions: 23 in total, categorised by broad topic and focusing on the emergency response plan, stock management and electrical safety, with a graphical summary of their distribution to allow for an immediate comparison of the findings. The suggestions, based on the evidence gathered, have informed the plant’s improvement plan alongside projects already initiated by the site (sprinkler system, new warehouse, emergency doors with panic bars), confirming TECSA’s ability to carry out independent audits of fire safety standards against statutory requirements and relevant international standards.
