A Fire Risk Assessment is a legal requirement. It will help reduce and remove the risk of fire hazards. If you are responsible for a building, for example an employer, owner or occupier of premises that is not a 'single private dwelling' (a private home), you need to make sure a suitably competent person completes a Fire Risk Assessment. It is your duty to identify fire risks and hazards in your premises and take appropriate action.

Under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the associated Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, the responsible person/duty holder must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and implement and maintain a fire management plan. Failure to carry this out could result in a fine, imprisonment, or both.

WHAT IS A FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT?

• A fire risk assessment (FRA) is a review undertaken of a building in order to assess its fire risk and offer recommendations to make the building safer, if necessary.
• It should identify the fire hazards in your premises, as well as identify the people at risk. The FRA must be carefully recorded and then take the form of a Review.
• A set of recommendations comprising an Action Plan is then prepared, based on the hazards identified and their severity – Low, Moderate or High Risk.
• You will then be able to decide whether the risks identified are acceptable or whether you need to take steps to reduce or remove them, as reasonably as is practicable.

As the responsible person you must carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment of the premises. This will identify what you need to do to prevent fire and keep people safe.

All businesses need a fire risk assessment to be a written record. Make sure you review your risk assessment regularly and whenever significant changes have been made that would have an impact on it. It’s good business sense as well as a legal requirement, often businesses don’t recover after a fire, and effective fire prevention starts with properly understanding the risks.

As the responsible person you must carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment of the premises. This will identify what you need to do to prevent fire and keep people safe.

The Government have recently made changes to section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) with respect to the fire safety responsibilities of the Responsible Person. 

Key Changes

To which buildings do these new fire safety requirements apply

Background to Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022

Duties for all Responsible Persons

Duties of Responsible Persons for buildings which contain two or more sets of domestic premises

Other Changes to Fire Safety Legislation

Amendment of two other articles in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005 (RRFSO).

Article 32 changes the level of fines for offences, which takes effect from 1st October 2023.

Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 strengthens the status of Article 50 in the RRFSO, with respect to clarity of a “breach of the FSO”.

Further Reading

Fire safety responsibilities under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (GOV.UK)

Check your fire safety responsibilities under the Fire Safety Order (GOV.UK)