Is a Fire Risk Assessment a Legal Requirement? The Responsible Person’s Duty Explained
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the “responsible person” for virtually every non-domestic premises to carry out, and keep under review, a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment.
- Since 1 October 2023 the assessment must be recorded in full for every premises, regardless of how many people are employed.
- Enforcement is by the fire and rescue authority: notices, unlimited fines and, for serious breaches, imprisonment.
- The duty cannot be delegated away. You can hire a competent assessor, but the legal responsibility stays with the responsible person.
Plenty of business owners believe a Fire Risk Assessment is something you do when the fire service asks, or when you have more than a handful of staff. Neither is true, and since October 2023 the second one has been actively wrong. If you have any control over non-domestic premises in England or Wales, a recorded, current Fire Risk Assessment is a legal duty that sits on you personally. Here is what the law actually says.
The law: the Fire Safety Order 2005
The duty comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually just called the Fire Safety Order. It replaced the old fire certificate regime with a single principle: the person who controls the premises must assess the fire risk and manage it. Article 9 requires a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the risks to which “relevant persons” are exposed, and the rest of the Order builds the practical duties on top of it: escape routes, detection, fire-fighting equipment, emergency plans, training.
It applies to almost all non-domestic premises: offices, shops, warehouses, factories, hospitality, schools, care settings, and the common parts of blocks of flats. The exceptions are narrow.
This is general information, not legal advice. Take advice on your specific premises and situation.
Who the duty lands on
The Order puts the duty on the responsible person. For a workplace that is the employer. Where there is no employer, or for parts of a building outside an employer’s control, it is whoever has control of the premises, typically the owner, landlord or managing agent. In a multi-let building that usually means the landlord for the common parts and each tenant for their own demise, and the Order expects them to cooperate. Our guide to who the responsible person is works through the common cases.
The 2023 change: it must now be recorded in full
Until October 2023 the Order only required the significant findings to be recorded, and then only where five or more people were employed or a licence was in force. That exemption was swept away by section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022. From 1 October 2023 every responsible person must record the full assessment and their fire safety arrangements, whatever the size of the business. If your assessment lives in someone’s head, or on a page of notes from 2019, you are no longer compliant.
What “suitable and sufficient” means in practice
The Order does not prescribe a template, but the courts and the fire service expect an assessment that identifies the fire hazards, identifies the people at risk (including anyone especially vulnerable), evaluates and removes or reduces the risk, records the findings and an action plan, and is reviewed. GOV.UK’s workplace fire safety guidance summarises the expectation. A one-page tick sheet for a 30,000 sq ft warehouse with a mezzanine is unlikely to be “sufficient”; a proportionate assessment of a small ground-floor shop will look very different from one for a hotel.
Get a Fire Risk Assessment
Match with competent fire risk assessors who cover your area and premises type. No-obligation quotes.
Can you do it yourself?
Legally, yes, if you are competent: the Order lets the responsible person carry out the assessment or appoint someone competent to do it. In practice, competence means understanding fire behaviour, the relevant guidance and the building, and being able to defend the assessment if challenged. For a small, simple premises an experienced manager with the right guidance can produce an acceptable assessment. For most commercial buildings, a competent external assessor is the sensible route, and third-party certification such as BAFE SP205 is the easiest way to evidence that competence.
Enforcement and penalties
The fire and rescue authority enforces the Order. It can audit your premises, issue alterations, enforcement or prohibition notices (a prohibition notice can close the building), and prosecute. Offences carry unlimited fines in the Crown Court and, for the most serious breaches, up to two years’ imprisonment. Prosecutions routinely follow fires in premises with no assessment, but they also follow routine audits. “We never got round to it” is not a defence the courts have much patience for.
What to do now
- Confirm who the responsible person is for each part of the building.
- Check you have a recorded, current assessment. If it pre-dates October 2023 and was never written up in full, treat it as missing.
- Commission a competent assessor if the premises are anything beyond small and simple. Our guide to what a Fire Risk Assessment costs sets expectations.
- Act on the findings and diarise the review. The assessment is the start of the duty, not the end of it.
Sources & further reading
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the law that creates the duty
- Building Safety Act 2022, section 156 — the change that requires every assessment to be recorded in full
- Fire safety in the workplace: your responsibilities (GOV.UK) — the government overview of the duty and enforcement
External links open in a new tab. ComSurv is a matching service, not a firm of surveyors, and is not affiliated with these organisations. This article is general information, not legal, surveying or valuation advice; take advice on your specific situation.
