What is a fire risk assessment?

A fire risk assessment identifies what could start a fire, who could be harmed by one, and whether people can escape safely if it happens, carried out by the person legally responsible for the premises. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) applies to virtually all premises in England and Wales and covers nearly every type of building, structure, and open space, but it excludes single private domestic dwellings. In Scotland, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 sets equivalent duties. In Northern Ireland, the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 applies.

The assessment looks at three core areas: sources of ignition and fuel, the condition of escape routes and fire detection systems, and the needs of vulnerable occupants. If you manage or operate any non-domestic premises, completing one is a legal obligation, and what the law specifically requires goes further than most people assume.

Fire risk assessment requirements in the UK

The FSO places legal duties on anyone in control of premises to carry out and record a fire risk assessment and put in place and maintain general fire precautions. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 brought in additional duties for responsible persons under the FSO. This includes a requirement to share all fire safety records when ownership or management of a building changes hands.

Failure to comply can result in the fire authorities closing your business and in serious cases may result in significant fines or even a prison sentence. A compliant fire safety risk assessment must cover five things:

• Identify fire hazards: sources of ignition, fuel, and oxygen present on the premises
• Identify people at risk: employees, visitors, contractors, and anyone with specific needs
• Evaluate and act: decide whether existing precautions are sufficient or need improvement
• Record significant findings: document hazards, people at risk, and the actions taken or planned
• Review regularly: reassess after any significant change to the premises, processes, or occupancy

These five duties apply in most cases. Confusion tends to set in over a different question entirely: whose name is actually on the responsibility.

Who is responsible for making a fire risk assessment?

The FSO places the responsibility for fire safety on the "responsible person" associated with the premises. This may be the owner, occupier, or employer, generally those people with any control over the premises. In multi-tenanted buildings, responsibility may be shared across parties and is often coordinated through a managing agent.

The responsible person can, and in most cases should, engage a competent person to carry out the assessment on their behalf. What they cannot do is delegate the underlying legal duty. If the engaged assessor produces a poor or inadequate assessment, the legal liability remains with the responsible person.

For simple, low-risk premises, the responsible person may be able to complete the assessment themselves using government guidance. For complex or higher-risk buildings, appointing a qualified assessor with recognised third-party accreditation is strongly advisable.

How to conduct a fire safety risk assessment in five steps

The five-step framework below is recommended by UK fire and rescue services for most workplace fire risk assessments and building fire risk assessments. It gives you a structured, repeatable process for identifying risk and deciding where action is needed.

Step 1: Identify fire hazards

Walk through your premises room by room and note anything that could start or feed a fire. Sources of ignition include electrical equipment, heating systems, and areas where hot work such as welding or cutting takes place. Fuel sources include paper, textiles, timber, flammable liquids, and accumulated waste. Oxygen is present throughout the air but can be increased by mechanical ventilation systems or stored oxidising materials.

Step 2: Identify people at risk

Consider everyone who may be in or near the building, not only your employees. The following groups often need specific attention:

• People working alone, at night, or in isolated areas
• Visitors, customers, and members of the public
• Contractors and maintenance engineers working on site
• Anyone with a disability, mobility limitation, or sensory impairment
• Young workers or people unfamiliar with the building layout

Where an individual cannot evacuate without assistance, you may need to prepare a personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP). A PEEP sets out the specific steps needed to help that person exit the building safely.

Step 3: Evaluate risks and review existing fire precautions

Assess how likely a fire is to start and what the consequences would be if it did. Then check your existing fire precautions against that risk level to decide whether they are adequate:

• Detection and warning: smoke detectors, heat detectors, and fire alarm systems
• Escape routes: clearly marked, unobstructed, and adequately lit with appropriate signage
• Firefighting equipment: extinguishers and fire blankets appropriate to the types of risk identified
• Maintenance: regular testing and servicing of all fire safety systems and equipment
• Staff training: fire drills and practised evacuation procedures

If any area falls short, you must take corrective action and document what you plan to do and by when.

Step 4: Record your findings in a fire risk assessment report

In England and Wales, you must record the significant findings of your fire risk assessment in writing, regardless of how many people work at your premises. This wasn't always the case, smaller premises were once exempt, but since 1 October 2023, Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 removed that exemption, so the duty to document now applies to every responsible person.

The report should cover the hazards identified, the people at risk, existing precautions, any additional actions required, and a clear action plan with deadlines and named responsibilities. Fire risk assessment forms and templates are available from government sources and your local fire and rescue service.

Step 5: Review and update the assessment regularly

There is no single legally fixed review interval. Most fire safety professionals recommend at least an annual review, with more frequent checks for higher-risk premises.

You must also trigger a review when:

• The building layout, use, or occupancy changes significantly
• New equipment, processes, or materials are introduced
• A fire or near-miss incident occurs
• Existing measures are found to be inadequate

The obligation to keep the assessment current is ongoing, and so is the responsibility for the follow-up actions it identifies.

How Joblogic supports fire risk management

For service and maintenance businesses, the compliance work does not end with the assessment. Fire alarms, extinguishers, and emergency lighting across dozens of client sites all need regular servicing, and that work needs to be clearly documented. A Contract Manager overseeing several sites feels this most directly, since a missed service on one site is invisible until an audit or an incident makes it visible.

Managing this through ad-hoc jobs alone creates real operational risk. Without structured job records, engineers arrive on site without the right asset information, compliance tracking is inconsistent, and billing disputes follow. Planned preventative maintenance (PPM) contracts give you the structure to avoid those problems, with defined visit schedules, clear task lists, and evidence captured against the correct asset every time.

Joblogic helps you manage that ongoing responsibility in one place:

• PPM scheduling: set recurring PPM visits for fire safety equipment so nothing is missed, with automatic reminders when visits are due
• Digital asset register: keep a live record of every fire safety asset across all client sites, with full service histories and compliance status in a single view
• Mobile evidence capture: engineers can complete fire safety checklists and photograph findings on site, with everything attached directly to the correct asset record
• Compliance reporting: produce reports for individual sites or across your full portfolio, so both your team and your clients have a clear picture of where obligations stand

When your fire risk assessment identifies follow-up actions, the same system helps you schedule, track, and evidence that work from first visit to final sign-off. Book a demo to speak with a specialist who can walk you through how Joblogic supports fire safety compliance in practice.

Frequently asked questions

What is a type 1 fire risk assessment?

Type 1 and Type 2 are specific to residential blocks, HMOs, and buildings with communal areas, not commercial or standalone business premises. A Type 1 assessment is the standard, non-destructive review of common parts and covers the majority of blocks. A Type 2 goes further, some limited destructive inspection of common parts, and is used when a Type 1 review can't confirm compartmentation is intact, for example where evidence of fire doors or fire-stopping in risers and voids is missing or in doubt. The framework sits under PAS 79, now BS 9792:2025 for housing specifically. If your premises is a standalone commercial building rather than a residential block, this classification doesn't apply, your assessment follows the general framework covered earlier in this guide.

Does a fire risk assessment report need to be kept on site?

There is no legal requirement to keep the report on site, but it must be available to the fire and rescue authority on request. Keeping it in an accessible digital format is good practice and reduces the risk of the record being lost or out of date.

Who remains legally accountable if a third party carries out a fire risk assessment?

The responsible person, not the assessor. Appointing someone competent reduces risk, but it doesn't transfer liability, so it's worth checking the assessor's accreditation and getting the findings in writing before treating the job as done. If the assessment turns out to be poor or incomplete, that's a conversation with the assessor about their standard of work, not a shield against the regulator.

What happens if a fire risk assessment finds your precautions are inadequate?

You must take corrective action and document your plan, including what will be done, who is responsible, and by when. If a fire and rescue authority inspects your premises and finds you are non-compliant, they can issue an enforcement notice or prohibit use of the building entirely.

Do fire risk assessment requirements apply to landlords of rented properties?

The FSO applies to all workplaces, commercial buildings, and public places, and the common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. If you are a landlord with shared areas such as corridors, stairwells, or communal entrances, those areas fall within the scope of the FSO and must be assessed.