Fire Safety Law: Duties Under the Fire Safety Order and Fire Safety Act 2021

Effective fire safety relies on safe work procedures and constant vigilance. Workplace fires are commonly linked to unsafe conditions, poor housekeeping, maintenance failures or failures to follow safe systems of work.

Implementing fire safety arrangements based on the Fire Safety Order and current guidance helps protect employees, visitors, residents and premises.

Everyone in the workplace has the responsibility to stay vigilant against the risk of fire. However, your duties and legal obligations in the workplace will differ depending on your role.

Fire safety responsibilities are shared across the workplace, but legal duties differ. The ‘responsible person’ has specific duties under the Fire Safety Order, while employees must co-operate, follow instructions and report serious risks or shortcomings.

Under Article 3 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, a ‘responsible person’ is legally responsible for fire safety in the workplace.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 did not create this role. It clarified that the responsible person must consider the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors when assessing fire risk in multi-occupied residential buildings.

A ‘responsible person’ can be an employer, landlord, occupier, owner, or anyone who has a degree of control over a premises, such as a manager.

Employers may appoint fire wardens to support fire safety arrangements, but this does not normally make the fire warden the legal responsible person. The responsible person remains whoever has legal control of the premises or relevant fire safety matters.

Fire wardens typically help to coordinate evacuations as part of a wider team, particularly in larger organisations. This can include senior fire wardens and perhaps a fire safety manager.

Fire wardens should assist in guiding people out of the building to a place of safety. This will involve standing in specific locations to guide staff and visitors to the nearest fire exit. It may also involve ensuring that staff power down equipment and store away flammable materials.

Where it is safe and part of the site’s evacuation plan, trained fire wardens may carry out checks of designated areas during evacuation and report concerns to the person managing the roll call.

Where safe to do so, fire wardens may close doors behind them to help limit the spread of fire and smoke, but they must not delay evacuation or put themselves at risk.

Once everybody has left the building, they should be guided to a designated assembly point where a roll call will be taken. Fire wardens who have performed sweeps of their areas must report to the person who is taking the roll call. This may involve reporting anyone who has refused to leave as part of the evacuation.

Once the premises are clear, nobody should re-enter the premises until the fire and rescue services say that it is safe to do so. Where safe and instructed, staff may be positioned at entrances to discourage people from re-entering the building until the fire and rescue service confirms it is safe.

During fire drills, nominated fire wardens will assist staff in following the prescribed fire evacuation policy.

Under the Fire Safety Order and general UK health and safety legislation, employees must always act to take reasonable care of their own personal safety and the safety of those around them. They must co-operate with their supervisors and employer to identify and manage workplace risks. Any potential areas of risk, whether this is the actions of another employee or a work situation, must be reported immediately.

There are three main responsibilities employees have for maintaining the principles of fire safety:

• Fire prevention – Identifying fire hazards and taking action to keep the workplace safe
• Fire evacuation – Assisting with the rapid, safe evacuation of the premises in the event of a fire
• Fire extinguisher use – Some staff may be trained to use extinguishers where this is part of the emergency plan, but evacuation must remain the priority

In general, all employees should remain on guard and look for potential hazards. In simple terms, this will involve good housekeeping to ensure that unnecessary sources of fuel and ignition do not come together in unplanned ways.

To prevent fires, it’s essential that unsafe conditions, such as faulty equipment, blocked fire exits, or blocked escape routes are reported immediately. If there are any signs the fire safety policy is not being followed, all employees share a responsibility to report the issue.

Keep your workplace clean and tidy by disposing of any waste safely.

If you are a smoker, it’s essential you only use designated smoking areas.Hot works involve an increased fire risk by nature. If

you are involved, then it’s essential you understand how permits to work operate and follow fire safety arrangements.
Fire safety equipment should be regularly maintained and checked to confirm it is in good working order.

Fire extinguishers should not be removed from their designated points except for emergency use, authorised maintenance or replacement.

Fire alarm call points and fire exits should remain clear and free of obstructions.

Fire doors must be kept in good working order.

Smoke detectors, sprinklers, emergency lighting and fire safety signage must remain unblocked and kept in good working order.

During an evacuation, employees must do their best to remain calm and follow procedures. Machinery should only be shut down if this is safe, does not delay evacuation and is required by the emergency procedure.

All employees should make their way promptly to the nearest fire exit and from there to the designated fire evacuation assembly point. Lifts should not be used unless they are designated evacuation lifts and the evacuation plan says they may be used. Personal belongings may have to be left behind.

Staff should follow the evacuation plan, including any arrangements for assisting people who may need help, but must not put themselves at risk.

Only attempt to fight a fire if you have received more specific training, the fire is small, and you have a clear exit route so the fire cannot entrap you. If, at any point, you do not feel confident about extinguishing a fire, then leave the premises immediately.

Don’t take risks: get everyone to evacuate the area immediately – including yourself.

Fire safety law did not stop with the Fire Safety Act 2021. Two further sets of requirements have since come into force and place additional legal duties on responsible persons.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply in England. These regulations came into force on 23 January 2023 under Article 24 of the Fire Safety Order. They require responsible persons of multi-occupied residential buildings (two or more sets of domestic premises) to provide residents with fire safety instructions and information on the importance of fire doors.

For buildings over 11 metres in height, responsible persons must also carry out quarterly checks of fire doors in the common parts and annual (best-endeavour) checks of flat entrance doors. Additional duties — such as providing floor and building plans to fire and rescue services, installing wayfinding signage and secure information boxes — apply to high-rise buildings (18 metres or more).

From 1 October 2023, Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Fire Safety Order and introduced new duties that apply to all responsible persons, regardless of the size or type of premises. Responsible persons must now:

• Record their completed fire risk assessment in full — previously only the significant findings had to be recorded, and only where there were five or more employees. That threshold has been removed.
• Record the name of any individual, and where applicable the organisation, engaged to carry out or review the assessment.
• Record their fire safety arrangements (how fire safety is managed at the premises).
• Record their contact details, including a UK-based address, and share these with other responsible persons and residents where applicable.
• Take reasonably practicable steps to identify any other responsible persons who share the premises, and identify themselves to them.
• Share all relevant fire safety information with any incoming responsible person.

Fines for certain offences under the Fire Safety Order were also increased. Because these duties apply to workplaces and non-domestic premises generally, not only to residential buildings, most responsible persons now have record-keeping obligations they did not have before.

The primary enforcing authority is the local Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA). Its fire safety inspectors inspect non-domestic premises, review fire risk assessments and fire safety arrangements, and issue statutory notices where there is non-compliance.

Other enforcing bodies may apply in specific settings, including local authorities for certain housing-related matters and the HSE for some construction-site premises. It should be noted that fire safety legislation on construction sites is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Meeting fire safety duties starts with understanding them, and a lack of awareness is no defence if something goes wrong. Whether you are a responsible person, a fire warden or a member of staff, the right training makes fire safety part of how your workplace runs day to day.

Our fire safety courses help employees recognise fire hazards, follow safe systems of work and respond correctly in an emergency, and support those responsible for fire safety in meeting their legal obligations.