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FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT · GUIDE & FREE TEMPLATE

If you're responsible for premises, the law requires a fire risk assessment. Here's what it must cover, and a template to start.

If you run a business, manage a building, or are otherwise responsible for premises that aren't a single private home, the law requires you to have a fire risk assessment. Not "should have." Must have. This page explains who's on the hook, what the assessment has to cover, and gives you a free template to start from.

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THE FIVE STEPS

What a fire risk assessment must cover.

In England and Wales, fire safety in non-domestic premises is governed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the RRO). It places the duty on the "responsible person", and the assessment follows a clear structure. The template walks you through it. Here's what it has to address:

Identify the fire hazards

Sources of ignition (heaters, electrics, hot work), sources of fuel (paper, packaging, flammable liquids), and sources of oxygen that could feed a fire.

Identify the people at risk

Everyone in or near the building, with particular attention to anyone who'd struggle to escape: disabled people, the very young, lone workers, sleeping occupants in care or residential settings.

Evaluate, remove and reduce

Decide what could realistically happen, then cut the hazards down: store flammables properly, maintain electrics, keep escape routes clear, fit and test detection and alarms.

Record, plan and train

Write down your significant findings, prepare an emergency plan, and make sure staff know what to do. Provide and maintain firefighting equipment and clear signage.

Review regularly

Keep the assessment current. Review it when the building, the use, the occupancy or the layout changes, and at sensible intervals otherwise.

Record it in writing

If five or more people are employed, or the premises are licensed, the significant findings must be recorded in writing. The Order applies to almost all non-domestic premises.

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THE HONEST LIMIT OF A TEMPLATE

When you can use the template, and when you need a professional.

A template helps you organise a fire risk assessment. It cannot judge whether your escape routes are adequate for your occupancy, whether your compartmentation holds, or whether your alarm system suits your building. Those are technical judgements, and getting them wrong is how people die and how responsible persons end up prosecuted.

— STEP 01

Lower-risk premises

For lower-risk premises, a competent person working through the template carefully may be enough, as long as they have the training, knowledge and experience to assess the specific risks in the building.

— STEP 02

Sleeping occupants or complex layouts

For anything with sleeping occupants, complex layouts, or significant fire-loading, you need someone who assesses fire risk for a living. This is where a competent fire risk assessor is the sensible and often necessary course.

— STEP 03

Your named Spectra consultant

A generic form won't know your building, your occupancy or your escape routes. Your named Spectra consultant produces a fire risk assessment that stands up when a fire officer, an insurer or an enforcing authority asks. [CLIENT/LEGAL TO SUPPLY: if Spectra delivers fire risk assessments directly, confirm scope and the competence/qualification of the assessor to state on-page; if Spectra refers out, adjust the consultancy widget accordingly]

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QUESTIONS

Common fire risk assessment questions

Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person for almost all non-domestic premises in England and Wales to carry out and maintain a fire risk assessment. If you employ five or more people or hold a licence, the significant findings must be recorded in writing. Failing to comply is a criminal offence.

Who can carry out a fire risk assessment?

The responsible person can do it themselves if they're competent, meaning they have the training, knowledge and experience to assess the specific risks in the building. For simple, low-risk premises that may be achievable in-house. For higher-risk or complex premises, the sensible and often necessary course is to appoint a competent fire risk assessor.

Who is the "responsible person"?

In a workplace, it's the employer. In other premises, it's whoever has control: the owner, landlord, managing agent or occupier. A building can have more than one responsible person, and where it does, they must cooperate. The duty to assess fire risk can't be contracted away, only the assessment work itself.

How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?

Review it regularly and whenever there's a significant change: alterations to the building, a change of use, new occupants, new equipment or processes, or after a fire or near miss. There's no single legal interval, but many organisations review annually as a matter of good practice and update sooner when something changes.

What happens if I don't have a fire risk assessment?

You're committing a criminal offence under the Fire Safety Order. Fire and rescue authorities can serve enforcement or prohibition notices, and serious breaches lead to prosecution, unlimited fines and, in the worst cases, imprisonment. Beyond the law, you're leaving people exposed to a risk you're legally required to manage.

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A template gets you started. Getting it right is the hard part.