Fire Risk Assessment: What the Responsible Person Must Do

If you run a workplace in England or Wales, fire safety law gives one person or organisation the job of making sure the building is safe: the responsible person. Plenty of employers hold that role without ever having thought of it in those terms. This guide explains who the responsible person is, what they must do, and how the fire risk assessment fits in. If you are mainly looking for the training side, our guide to fire safety training requirements for UK employers covers it.

Scope: this article covers England and Wales only. GOV.UK states that there are different rules on fire safety in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, so employers there should follow their own national guidance.

Who is the "responsible person"?

The duty comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, often called the Fire Safety Order. Article 3 defines the responsible person. For a workplace, it is the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under their control. For other premises, it is the person who has control of them in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking (for profit or not), or the owner where the person in control is not running a business there.

GOV.UK describes it in plainer terms. You are the responsible person for business or other non-domestic premises if you are:

• an employer
• the owner
• the landlord
• an occupier
• anyone else with control of the premises, for example a facilities manager, building manager, managing agent or risk assessor

There can be more than one responsible person. Where there is, GOV.UK says they have to work together to meet their responsibilities. In shared buildings you will need to co-ordinate fire safety plans, and for common or shared areas the responsible person is the landlord, freeholder or managing agent.

Article 5 reinforces this. The duties also fall on anyone else who has control of the premises, to the extent of that control, and a person with a contractual or tenancy obligation to maintain, repair or keep the premises safe is treated as having control to the extent of that obligation. In practice, if you rent an office, check your lease and speak to your landlord so that nothing falls between the two of you.

The Order also applies if you have paying guests, for example if you run a bed and breakfast or guesthouse, or let a self-catering property.

What the responsible person must do

GOV.UK sets out five responsibilities. As the responsible person you must:

• carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises and review it regularly
• tell staff or their representatives about the risks you have identified
• put in place, and maintain, appropriate fire safety measures
• plan for an emergency
• provide staff information, fire safety instruction and training

The risk assessment comes first because everything else depends on it. If you have not identified the hazards and who might be harmed, you cannot sensibly decide what alarms, exits, equipment or training you need. Training is one of the five duties above and follows from what the assessment finds.

What the fire risk assessment must cover

Article 9(1) requires the responsible person to make a "suitable and sufficient" assessment of the risks to which relevant people are exposed, so that they can identify the general fire precautions they need to take. GOV.UK breaks the process into five steps:

• Step 1: identify the fire hazards.
• Step 2: identify people at risk.
• Step 3: evaluate, remove or reduce the risks.
• Step 4: record your findings, prepare an emergency plan and provide training.
• Step 5: review and update the fire risk assessment regularly.

GOV.UK also lists things you will need to consider:

• emergency routes and exits
• fire detection and warning systems
• fire fighting equipment
• the removal or safe storage of dangerous substances
• an emergency fire evacuation plan
• the needs of vulnerable people, for example the elderly, young children or those with disabilities
• providing information to employees and other people on the premises
• staff fire safety training

Two further points come from the Order itself. Where a dangerous substance is, or is liable to be, present, the assessment must include the matters in Part 1 of Schedule 1. And you must not employ a young person unless you have made or reviewed an assessment of the risks to young persons.

Keep a written record

GOV.UK is direct on this point: you must keep a written record of your fire risk assessment. Article 9(6) says the responsible person must, as soon as practicable after the assessment is made or reviewed, make a record of the assessment or review. Article 9(7) says that record must in particular include the findings, including the measures that have been or will be taken, and any group of people identified as being especially at risk.

The wording of article 9(6) was amended with effect from 1 October 2023 (the amendment is made under the Building Safety Act 2022). The current text has no condition about the size of your workforce, so do not assume a small business can rely on a verbal or informal assessment.

Records matter if the premises change hands. Under article 22A, when one responsible person is replaced by another, the outgoing person must give the new responsible person the relevant fire safety information they hold. That includes the records of assessments and reviews, and the identity of anyone appointed to help make or review the assessment.

How often to review it

There is no fixed interval in the law, and you should be wary of anyone who quotes one as a legal rule. Article 9(3) says the assessment must be reviewed regularly so as to keep it up to date, and particularly if:

• there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid, or
• there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates, including when the premises, or the way the work is organised, undergo significant changes, extensions or conversions.

If the review shows that changes are needed, the responsible person must make them. A sensible approach is to diarise a regular review and to bring it forward after a layout change, a new process or a near miss.

Doing it yourself or appointing a competent person

GOV.UK says you can do the fire risk assessment yourself with the help of the standard fire safety risk assessment guides. If you do not have the expertise or time, you need to appoint a "competent person", for example a professional risk assessor. Your local fire and rescue authority might be able to advise if you are unsure whether your assessment has been done properly, but it cannot carry out risk assessments for you.

Appointing someone to help does not hand the responsibility over. The duty still sits with the responsible person, so choose an assessor with care, read the report, and make sure the actions are carried out.

GOV.UK lists downloadable guides for different types of premises, including offices and shops, factories and warehouses, sleeping accommodation, residential care premises, educational premises, healthcare premises and purpose-built blocks of flats. If you run a care home, our article on fire risk assessment for care homes goes into the sector detail, and our guide to personal emergency evacuation plans for care home residents covers people who need help to leave.

Turning the assessment into action

People who are given a specific role in an emergency need appropriate training, which is covered in our guide to fire marshal and fire warden training.

Inspection and enforcement

Your local fire and rescue authority visits premises to check that the fire risk assessment and fire prevention measures are appropriate. GOV.UK says fire safety officers should help you understand the rules and comply with them, but they can also take action. That can range from an informal notice suggesting safety measures to a formal fire safety notice, such as an alterations notice, an enforcement notice or a prohibition notice, which takes effect immediately where the fire risk is so great that access to the premises needs to be prohibited or restricted.

If you disagree with a notice, GOV.UK says you may be able to arrange an informal review, and that you can appeal to your local magistrates' court within 21 days of receiving it. On penalties, GOV.UK says you could be fined or go to prison if you do not follow fire safety regulations: minor penalties can be up to £5,000, while major penalties can have unlimited fines and up to 2 years in prison.

A note for residential blocks in England

If you are the responsible person for a residential building in England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 may also apply. They came into force on 23 January 2023, extend to England and Wales but apply in England only, and include a duty on the responsible person for a high-rise residential building (at least 18 metres high or at least seven storeys) to install and maintain a secure information box. Read the Regulations on legislation.gov.uk if this applies to you.

A short checklist

• Confirm who the responsible person (or people) is for each part of your premises, and agree who does what.
• Complete a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, yourself or with a competent person.
• Write it down, including findings, the measures taken or planned and any groups at particular risk.
• Tell staff or their representatives about the risks identified.
• Put in place and maintain fire safety measures, and carry out regular checks.
• Prepare an emergency plan, train staff and run at least one recorded drill a year.
• Review the assessment regularly, and after significant changes or if you suspect it is out of date.

For the official step-by-step wording, see GOV.UK's page on fire risk assessments, and article 9 of the Fire Safety Order on legislation.gov.uk.

Not legal advice. This article is general information for employers in England and Wales and is not legal advice. Fire safety law and guidance can change, and your premises may have specific requirements, so check the current official guidance on GOV.UK or speak to your local fire and rescue authority or a competent fire risk assessor.