Fire Prevention Plans

Fire prevention plans (FPP) are required with every environmental permit application that involves storing or treating combustible waste. If you have never produced a FPP previously then it can be quite a complicated process to gather all of the relevant information and data together. How the fire prevention plans are structured and assessed is dictated by the current FPP guidance which can be found here. Environment Agency.

Note that all elements of the FPP guidance must be complied with or your FPP will not pass assessment and your environmental permit may not be granted.

FPP’s and the guidance have been around since 2016 and have come about due to the high number of fires that have been reported at waste management sites. The Environment Agency now requires that this FPP is pre-approved by a specialist at their permitting support centre before an environmental permit can be issued to the operator. Information required in the FPP includes the following

Waste pile sizes
Separation distances of 6m
Fire fighting water availability and volumes
The amount of fire-water you can hold on your site
Fire detection & suppression
Sources of combustion
Waste acceptance procedures
Site layout
Staff qualifications and training
Maintenance of plant and equipment
PAT testing for electrical items
Hot works and gas cylinder storage

If you cannot achieve the required score to pass the FPP assessment it is very unlikely that a permit will be issued for your site.

Paul Downing & Associates have produced numerous FPP’s to accompany many environmental permit applications and can help you meet the guidance and achieve the scores required for your site to be issued the required permit to operate.

We can produce a FPP as a stand alone document of as part of a larger project and as part of the total environmental permit application process. Contact us today for an informal discussion on Fire Prevention Plans.

Energy

Energy Management Solutions

We offer a range of energy consultancy solutions for the modern manufacturing business, such as compliance to ISO 50001, ESOS and certification for buildings and properties such as EPC's, DEC's & CEEMARS. We can provide an energy audit of you manufacturing or factory business to identify where energy and cost savings can be made. Should you need the services of an energy broker or management company we can look into this for you via our network of approved energy managers.

Environment

Environmental Management

Paul Downing & Associates offer a range of consultancy, waste and energy management solutions for the modern manufacturing business. Paul Downing & Associates offers services for compliance to legislation, permit applications, audits, ISO 14001 and other services. We can help quantify your impacts on the environment and manage legal compliance and certification schemes on your behalf.

Waste

Permits and Consents

We offer a range of services to waste management companies who need waste permits, environmental permits and licences to operate and those who need to need to stay abreast of UK legislation. We also conduct waste audits on operational businesses wanting to minimise resource use. If you are a waste business operating a transfer station or landfill activity we can help you apply, vary or surrender an environmental permit including helping increase your business by applying for additional waste codes and waste volumes for your business.

Paul is very knowledgeable in the Environmental field, and was a great asset in the time he was employed to work at the Alton Brewery.

Steve Batten, Engineering Manager.

Molson Coors

I have used Paul Downing & Associates Ltd to liaise with both Hampshire County Council and The Environment Agency for our environmental permit and waste planning application. Paul and his team have been both professional and thorough with our applications and have guided us through the whole process

James Cooke, Director.

Commercial Storage Ltd – Waste Planning Application

After several failed attempts trying to deal with the EA ourselves, we eventually employed Paul to complete our ELV permit transfer from a previous site owner. His consultancy service was professional and resulted in the EA completing a successful transfer of ownership from the previous owner to us.

Lee Conde, Director

LC Autos Ltd – ELV Permit Transfer

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