What a fire risk assessment must cover

Key takeaways

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to every non-domestic premises in England and Wales and to the common parts of flats and HMOs.
The responsible person, the employer or whoever controls the premises, must make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment under article 9.
Since 1 October 2023 the whole assessment must be recorded, whatever the size of the organisation.
Review when the premises, the people or the activities change, after any fire or near miss, and on a fixed cycle in between.

Who must make one

The Order places its duties on the responsible person. In a workplace that is the employer; in any other premises it is the owner, or the person who has control of the premises in connection with a trade, business or undertaking, which usually means a landlord or a managing agent. Where a building has several occupiers, each is a responsible person for the part it controls and all of them must cooperate and coordinate with each other. The duties cannot be contracted out: an assessor can be engaged, but the responsible person remains responsible for the assessment being suitable and sufficient.

What it must examine

PAS 79-1:2020 sets out the methodology most competent assessors follow, and it matches what fire and rescue services expect to see. In outline:

The premises and their use: construction, layout, occupancy and what goes on in them, including anything that changes at night or at weekends.
Fire hazards: sources of ignition, sources of fuel and sources of oxygen, and the housekeeping that keeps them apart.
People at risk: everyone in the building, with particular attention to those who are asleep, unfamiliar with it, isolated, or who would need help to evacuate.
Means of escape: travel distances, the number and width of exits, protected routes, final exit doors, and whether any of it has been compromised by storage, locks or alterations.
Fire detection and warning: the alarm system, its category, its coverage and its testing regime.
Emergency lighting and signage: whether escape routes can be found and followed in the dark.
Fire-fighting equipment: the extinguishers, their types, positions and servicing, and any fixed systems.
Compartmentation and structural protection: fire doors, walls, ceilings, service penetrations and the external wall, where the Fire Safety Act 2021 applies.
Management: training, drills, maintenance records, the arrangements for contractors and visitors, and personal emergency evacuation plans for anyone who needs one.

Each hazard is evaluated against the controls in place, the remaining risk is judged, and the significant findings are turned into an action plan with priorities, owners and dates. The action plan is the point of the exercise; an assessment without one is an inspection report.

The recording rule that changed in 2023

Until October 2023 the Order required only the significant findings to be recorded, and only where five or more people were employed or a licence or alterations notice applied. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended article 9 with effect from 1 October 2023: the responsible person must now record the full fire risk assessment and the fire safety arrangements, whatever the size of the organisation, and must record the name and organisation of anyone engaged to make or review it. A verbal assessment, or one that exists only in the assessor’s notes, no longer meets the duty.

When to review it

Article 9(3) requires the assessment to be reviewed regularly, and in any event where there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the matters it relates to. In practice that means:

Any change to the building: refurbishment, an extension, new partitions, a change to the layout of an escape route.
Any change of use or occupancy, including a new tenant or a new activity in an existing tenant’s space.
Any fire, near miss or false alarm pattern.
A change in the people: sleeping accommodation introduced, a disabled employee starting, a night shift added.
A fixed interval regardless: annual review is the norm, with a full reassessment every three to five years, and sooner in higher-risk premises.

Enforcement

Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Order and can issue alterations, enforcement and prohibition notices. A prohibition notice closes the premises or part of them immediately. Offences under article 32 carry unlimited fines and up to two years’ imprisonment, and prosecutions of landlords, managing agents and hospitality operators for missing or inadequate assessments are routine.

In the record

This guide describes the law. What Stephen Laws has delivered under it is set out in Training and courses, Competent person and policy, and in the retail fit-out, fabrication and process sectors.

Questions this guide raises

Does the responsible person have to use a professional assessor?

No. The Order requires the assessment to be suitable and sufficient and the person making it to be competent. For simple, low-risk premises a well-informed responsible person can do it; for premises with sleeping accommodation, complex layouts or vulnerable occupants, most responsible persons engage a competent assessor and remain accountable for the result.

What is the difference between a fire risk assessment and a fire safety strategy?

A fire strategy is a design document for a new or altered building showing how it meets the Building Regulations. A fire risk assessment is the ongoing assessment of the building in use. One does not replace the other.

What a fire risk assessment must cover, and when to review it