Office fire safety requirements

The office risk profile

Offices are relatively low-risk premises with one important qualifier: people. Fires are usually electrical in origin — chargers, extension leads, kitchen appliances, server equipment — and rarely spread quickly. The safety case therefore rests on early warning and clear escape rather than heavy suppression. That shapes everything below.

Fire risk assessment

You need one, in writing, reviewed annually. Offices change more often than people realise: a new partition creating a dead-end corridor, a mezzanine, a hot-desking layout doubling headcount on one floor, or a comms room built into a former store. Each of those changes the assessment. If your last refit is not reflected in the document, the document is out of date.

Detection and warning

Small single-storey offices with clear sight lines may only need a manual system with call points and sounders. Most multi-storey or larger offices need automatic detection to category L3 — detection in escape routes and rooms opening onto them — or L2, which adds specified higher-risk rooms such as comms rooms, kitchens and plant. Service six-monthly and run the weekly call point test.

Escape routes and travel distances

Fire safety guidance for offices typically allows around 18 metres travel where escape is possible in only one direction, and up to 45 metres where there is a choice of routes, in normal-risk conditions. Corridors used for escape should be kept clear — no printers, no stacked boxes, no coat rails. Doors on escape routes must open in the direction of travel where more than 60 people use them.

Extinguisher provision

Work on roughly one 13A-rated water or foam extinguisher per 200m² of floor area, minimum two per floor, sited on escape routes near exits. Add CO2 extinguishers adjacent to server rooms, comms cabinets and electrical intake rooms. Kitchens with deep-fat frying need wet chemical, though most office tea points do not. Mount at the correct height, sign them, and check them monthly.

Emergency lighting

Escape routes, stairs, changes of level, exit doors and the outside of final exits need emergency illumination, tested monthly with an annual three-hour duration test. Open-plan floors over 60m² need anti-panic lighting. Watch for new partitions creating unlit pockets — this is the commonest office defect we record.

People and plans

Appoint fire wardens — roughly one per floor plus cover for absence — and train them in sweeping and reporting. Everyone else needs fire awareness at induction and a refresher at least annually. Prepare Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans for anyone who cannot use stairs unaided, and check that evacuation chairs, if provided, have trained operators. Run at least one drill a year and record the evacuation time.

Shared and serviced offices

In a multi-tenanted building the managing agent is responsible for the common parts, the building alarm and the escape routes, but each tenant is a responsible person for its own demise. You need your own fire risk assessment covering your floor, your own staff training, and a written understanding of how your evacuation plan meshes with the building's. In serviced offices, ask the operator for the building fire risk assessment, the alarm servicing records and the drill history before you sign.

Modern hazards worth naming

Lithium battery charging — e-bikes, scooters and power banks — should be controlled and never on an escape route. Under-desk heaters, unattended dishwashers and overloaded extension blocks account for a growing share of office fires. A short, specific policy beats a long, general one.