What fire safety does a business legally need?

Under the Fire Safety Order 2005 every business needs a current fire risk assessment, adequate detection and warning, suitable firefighting equipment, clear and lit escape routes, an emergency plan, staff training, and records of maintenance and drills.

Does a small business need a written fire risk assessment?

If you have five or more employees, are licensed, or occupy premises with common parts, the significant findings must be recorded in writing. In practice every business should record it — an unwritten assessment is impossible to evidence.

How often should fire drills be held?

At least annually for most premises, and twice a year where risk is higher or staff turnover is significant. Record the date, time to evacuate, issues found and actions taken.

Commercial Fire Safety Checklist for UK Businesses

Short answer

A compliant business needs six things: a current written fire risk assessment, working detection and warning, suitable and serviced firefighting equipment, protected and illuminated escape routes, a written emergency plan with trained staff, and records proving all of it is maintained. Everything else follows from those six.

1. Fire risk assessment

Everything starts here. The assessment identifies hazards, the people at risk, the adequacy of existing measures, and an action plan with priorities. It must be reviewed at least annually and whenever the premises, occupancy, layout or processes change materially. If yours is more than a year old, predates your last refit, or was written by whoever had a spare afternoon, it is the first thing to put right.

2. Detection and warning

The alarm system must suit the building's size, layout and use, designed to the appropriate BS 5839-1 category. Test one call point weekly on rotation, service six-monthly through a competent engineer, and keep a false alarm log. Confirm the sounders are audible in every occupied space, including plant rooms and toilets, with doors closed and machinery running.

3. Firefighting equipment

Extinguishers should be selected for the risks present — water or foam for ordinary combustibles, CO2 for electrical risk, wet chemical for commercial cooking oils — and sited on escape routes with clear signage and mounting brackets. Annual service to BS 5306-3 by a competent technician, monthly visual checks by staff, and an extended service at five years for most types.

4. Escape routes and exits

Routes must be short enough for the risk, wide enough for the occupancy, free of storage, protected by fire doors where required and lit by emergency lighting. Final exits must open easily without a key, from the inside, at all times the building is occupied — locked fire exits remain one of the most common causes of enforcement action in the UK.

5. Emergency plan and evacuation

Write the plan down: how the alarm is raised, who calls the Fire and Rescue Service, the assembly point, who sweeps which area, how visitors and contractors are accounted for, and how anyone who cannot use the stairs is helped out. Anyone needing assistance should have a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan. Test the plan with a drill at least annually and record the outcome honestly, including the time taken.

6. Training

All staff need fire awareness training at induction and periodically after — how the alarm sounds, the routes out, the assembly point, and when not to fight a fire. Fire wardens need additional training in sweeping, reporting and extinguisher use. Keep an attendance register; "we told them" is not evidence.

7. Housekeeping and ignition control

Waste stored away from the building and not against external walls.
Hot works under a written permit, with a one-hour fire watch afterwards.
Electrical installation inspected periodically; no daisy-chained extension leads.
Charging of e-bikes, scooters and lithium batteries controlled and kept off escape routes.
Flammable liquids in appropriate cabinets, in minimum quantities.

8. Records

One log book, kept current, holding the risk assessment, alarm and emergency lighting test records, extinguisher certificates, fire door inspections, drill reports, training registers and contractor certificates. When an inspecting officer arrives unannounced, the speed with which you produce this book sets the tone for the entire visit.

A simple annual rhythm

Weekly: call point test. Monthly: emergency lighting flick test and extinguisher visual check. Six-monthly: alarm service. Annually: fire risk assessment review, extinguisher service, emergency lighting duration test, fire door inspection, drill and refresher training. Put those dates in one calendar and compliance stops being a scramble.

Commercial fire safety checklist

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