Aim

To promote awareness of the legislative requirement to undertake a Fire Risk Assessment and to increase uptake of Firesmart's on-line self-assessment solution.

Background

Changes in Health & Safety legislation require UK business owners to undertake a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) of their business premises. Due to lack of awareness and understanding, many business owners were unaware that they were breaking the law by failing to carry out a FRA. Firesmart recognised the need for a quick and relatively easy method of completing the assessment and as a result developed a web-based self-service FRA designed both to help business owners identify potential fire risks within their business and achieve legal compliance.

Brief

Metropolis 2 was to promote and sell the web-based solution to target audiences specified by Firesmart.

Strategy

Metropolis 2 decided that a focused telemarketing campaign would be the most straightforward means of fulfilling the objectives of the brief.

Campaign

Metropolis 2 implemented an outbound tele-marketing campaign. This entailed developing a detailed understanding and close working relationship with a number of Firesmart's key clients. They included:

• a major insurance company, who wished to reduce fire related claims by ensuring its business policy holders completed a FRA
• a blue-chip home entertainment manufacturer, who wished to increase compliance/ H&S standards amongst its UK franchises
• a County Fire & Rescue Service which actively campaigns to reduce fires through prevention, public awareness and proper risk assessment
• a major security and fire safety equipment supplier who wanted to offer a value-added service to its existing customers.

Firesmart's clients initially contacted their own customers by letter to explain the need to complete a Fire Risk Assessment. Metropolis 2 then deployed a specially trained team of telephone advisers to contact business owners in order to explain both the legislation in more detail plus the unique benefits of the Firesmart system.

Metropolis 2 worked in conjunction with Firesmart to produce programmes pertinent to the latter’s key corporate clients, to promote fire safety awareness, the legal requirement to conduct an FRA and the various methods available to achieve compliance, including relative strengths and weaknesses of each. These included:

• Self assessment using a HSE guide - the cheapest method but requiring business owners to read and understand law relating to FRA and then conduct their own. Many people failed to complete an adequate FRA due to time constraints or lack of understanding
• Fire Service-organised training course - cost of training course needs to be added to cost of manager's time spent out of the office. The delegate must absorb sufficient knowledge / understanding from course to conduct a FRA
• Consultancy route - a popular choice for larger businesses, but can be expensive. Also the Fire Service prefers business owners to conduct their own FRA as they know their own business better than anyone. By examining their own premises for possible fire risks, they are more likely to implement changes, than if faced with a weighty consultant’s document
• Firesmart web-based self assessment - the only assessment which takes the business owner, step-by step, through every aspect of fire risk, on-line in less than one hour, providing a written document that acts as a guarantee of compliance.

Results

The success of the process development and pilot tele-marketing campaign carried out by Metropolis 2 proved the viability of Firesmart's business offering and enabled the client to scale-up the project utilising a specialist business to business call centre.