Case Study: Inchcape

Client

Inchcape is one of the UK’s leading franchised automotive retailer groups offering global distribution and retail for brands including Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz. Operating in 32 international territories on behalf of over 40 brand partners, the business includes over 100 UK dealerships which offer new and used car sales and servicing.

Challenge

Inspectas was approached by Inchcape to provide Fire Risk Assessments across the UK dealership portfolio following a serious fire at its Preston dealership. The requirement was to assess site and portfolio fire risks and to ensure compliance with Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Solution

Inspectas worked collaboratively with Inchcape’s procurement and facilities teams, area and branch managers, assessing and reporting on around 100 sites in just five months. Sites were programmed to align with annual Fire Risk Assessment review dates and a uniform approach was developed to provide existing records and information for the assessment.

Our NSI SP205 BAFE Gold Accredited and best practice PAS79 compliant Fire Risk Assessment inspection and reporting process was rolled out across sites via our lead Fire Risk Assessor. This process involves a systematic and structured review of the fire precautions in place, it is “risk category and level” based and covers up to 31 risk categories. The output is an overall risk rating together with a detailed action plan ensuring consistency and compliance across all sites.

The overarching assessment covered:

Premises Condition
Fire Hazards
Fire Risk
Fire Safety Measures
Further Actions
Exceptions
Escalations
Overall Risk Rating

Success

All Fire Risk Assessments were undertaken with the agreed programme and reports issued within three days of our inspection. Bespoke action plans were extracted and emailed directly to each dealership and the area managers to ensure any urgent or critical matters were quickly addressed.