Almost every business owner, landlord and managing agent in Bradford has been told at some point that they "need a fire risk assessment". Far fewer have been told what the law actually requires, who it falls on or what a compliant assessment has to contain.
This guide sets that out properly.
The short answer
Yes. If you operate a business, employ anyone, control premises used by the public or own a building containing two or more flats, you are almost certainly required by law to have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and since October 2023 you are required to record it in writing regardless of how small your organisation is.
Where the duty comes from
The governing legislation in England and Wales is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually shortened to the Fire Safety Order or the RRO.
Article 9(1) requires the responsible person to make "a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed" so as to identify the general fire precautions they need to take. That is the fire risk assessment.
A "relevant person" is anyone lawfully on the premises, plus anyone in the immediate vicinity who could be at risk from a fire on the premises. Firefighters attending a fire are specifically excluded, which is why an ordinary fire risk assessment is not a substitute for provisions made for firefighter safety.
Which premises it applies to
Article 6 of the Order applies it to all premises except a short list of exclusions, which include single private dwellings, offshore installations, ships in respect of normal crew activities, aircraft and vehicles, mines and certain agricultural land.
Everything else is in scope. That covers:
- Offices, shops, retail units and shopping centres
- Factories, warehouses, industrial units and logistics facilities
- Hotels, guest houses, hostels and holiday lets
- Pubs, restaurants, cafés and licensed premises
- Care homes, nursing homes, sheltered and supported housing
- Schools, colleges, universities and nurseries
- Hospitals, surgeries and clinics
- Places of worship, village halls and community buildings
- Houses in multiple occupation
- Village halls, sports clubs and members' clubs
- Construction sites and temporary structures
What changed for residential buildings
The Fire Safety Act 2021 amended Article 6 to put beyond doubt that where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises, the Order applies to:
- the building's structure
- its external walls, including doors and windows in those walls and anything attached to the exterior, such as balconies and cladding
- any common parts
- all doors between the domestic premises and the common parts, in other words every flat entrance door
This came into force in England on 16 May 2022. Its practical effect is significant. Flat entrance doors and external wall construction are now unambiguously within the scope of the fire risk assessment for a block of flats, not optional extras.
The inside of a private flat remains outside the Order. Conditions within individual dwellings are dealt with under housing legislation, principally the Housing Act 2004 and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
Who is the "responsible person"?
Article 3 defines it:
- In a workplace, the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under their control.
- In any other premises, the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade, business or other undertaking, whether for profit or not or failing that, the owner.
Critically, Article 5(3) extends every duty to any other person who has, to any extent, control of the premises so far as the requirements relate to matters within their control. Article 5(4) goes further: if you have a contractual or tenancy obligation relating to the maintenance or repair of premises, you are treated as having control to that extent.
The result is that in a multi-tenanted building there is rarely one responsible person. There are usually several, each with duties for their own area and Article 22 requires them to co-operate and co-ordinate with one another.
What changed on 1 October 2023
Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Fire Safety Order in ways that materially raised the bar. From 1 October 2023:
1. Every fire risk assessment must be recorded, in full. The old exemption for employers with fewer than five employees is gone. Article 9(6) now requires a record of the assessment in every case. The word "significant" was also removed from Article 9(7)(a) so all findings must be recorded, not only the significant ones.
2. Fire safety arrangements must be recorded. Article 11(2) was amended to remove the small-organisation carve-out. Your planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review arrangements have to be written down.
3. Residents must be given information. A new Article 21A requires responsible persons for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises to give residents comprehensible and relevant information about fire safety matters, including the risks identified by the risk assessment, the preventive and protective measures and the name and a UK address for the responsible person. Article 21A(5) requires records to be kept.
4. Responsible persons must find each other and share information. Article 22 was strengthened. A new Article 22(A1) requires every responsible person to take reasonably practicable steps to ascertain whether any other responsible person shares or has duties in respect of the premises. New Article 22(1)(za) and (zb) require each to tell the others their name and a UK address for service and the part of the premises they consider themselves responsible for, keeping a record of that. A new Article 22A requires an outgoing responsible person to pass information to an incoming one.
A note on assessor competence
Section 156(4) of the Building Safety Act 2022 would have inserted a new Article 9A, expressly prohibiting the responsible person from appointing anyone to assist with making or reviewing the assessment unless that person is competent. That provision has not been commenced. Every other part of section 156 was brought into force on 1 October 2023, this one was not and remains outstanding.
This is widely misreported, including by firms that ought to know better. It does not, however, mean competence is optional. Two duties already in force cover the same ground:
- Article 9(1) requires the assessment to be suitable and sufficient. In practice that cannot be achieved by someone who lacks competence for the premises in question.
- Article 18 requires the responsible person to appoint one or more competent persons to assist in undertaking the preventive and protective measures and Article 18(5) defines competence as having sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities, to assist properly.
The responsible person also retains the duty personally. Appointing a consultant does not transfer it. If the assessment turns out not to be suitable and sufficient, it is the responsible person who has failed to comply with Article 9.
If your last assessment predates October 2023 and consists of a two-page checklist with no named assessor, it is unlikely to satisfy the current requirements.
Commercial premises versus residential buildings
The methodology differs and so does the standard applied.
| Commercial and other non-housing premises | Housing and residential blocks | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | PAS 79-1:2020 | BS 9792:2025 |
| Scope | The workplace or premises as a whole | Common parts and depending on type, a sample of dwellings |
| Typical focus | Escape routes, alarm coverage, process hazards, management, staff training | Compartmentation, flat entrance doors, evacuation strategy, external walls, resident engagement |
BS 9792:2025 came into effect on 31 August 2025 and supersedes the withdrawn PAS 79-2:2020. It is the current code of practice for fire risk assessment in housing, covering purpose-built blocks of flats, converted flats, sheltered and extra care housing, supported housing and houses in multiple occupation.
For mixed-use buildings, such as shops at street level with flats above, both documents apply. The commercial parts are assessed to PAS 79-1:2020 and the residential parts to BS 9792:2025.
What a compliant assessment must contain
Both standards set out what has to be recorded. As a minimum, a defensible report should include:
- The type and scope of the assessment and what was deliberately excluded
- The name of the assessor, their qualifications and any third-party certification
- The dates of inspection and of issue
- Any areas that could not be accessed and why
- The benchmark standards used to judge the existing precautions
- A clear assessment of fire risk, expressed in defined categories. Both standards recommend at least five, typically running from trivial through tolerable, moderate and substantial to intolerable
- Where an existing measure falls short of current guidance but no upgrade is recommended, a written justification for accepting it
- A prioritised action plan
- The date by which the assessment is to be reviewed
That last point matters more than people expect. An assessment with no review date and no risk rating methodology is difficult to defend in front of an inspecting officer.
What happens if you do not have one
Failing to comply with the fire safety duties in Articles 8 to 22B, where that failure places one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury, is a criminal offence under Article 32. The most serious offences carry an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment on conviction on indictment.
Beyond prosecution, the practical consequences tend to arrive first: a prohibition notice closing all or part of your premises, a refusal or delay on a licence, a failed due diligence exercise on a sale or refinance and an insurer questioning cover after a claim.
Do I need a professional or can I do it myself?
The law does not require you to appoint a consultant. It requires the assessment to be suitable and sufficient and it requires the competent persons you appoint under Article 18 to be competent.
For a small, single-storey, low-risk premises with a simple layout and no sleeping risk, a well-informed responsible person using the government guides can often produce something adequate. For anything else and particularly for any premises where people sleep, any building with complex compartmentation, any multi-occupied residential building or any premises where an assessment has to withstand scrutiny from an insurer, an enforcing authority or a purchaser's solicitor, professional assessment is the sensible route.
BS 8674:2025 now sets out the competence framework for individual fire risk assessors, with three core levels broadly corresponding to low, moderate and high-risk premises. Appointing an assessor whose competence level does not match your building is a common and avoidable failure.
Frequently asked questions
Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement for a small business? Yes. The duty under Article 9 of the Fire Safety Order applies regardless of size. Since 1 October 2023, the requirement to record the assessment applies to all employers, including those with fewer than five employees.
Do I need a fire risk assessment for a single rented house? A single private dwelling occupied by one household is outside the Fire Safety Order. Other duties still apply, including the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If the property is a house in multiple occupation, the Fire Safety Order does apply.
Does a fire risk assessment cover the inside of flats? Only in a Type 3 or Type 4 assessment, which include a sample of dwellings. A Type 1 assessment covers the common parts, together with a sample of flat entrance doors viewed from the communal side.
How long is a fire risk assessment valid? There is no statutory expiry date. Article 9(3) requires it to be reviewed regularly to keep it up to date and particularly where there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change.
Who enforces the Fire Safety Order? For most premises, the local fire and rescue authority. Certain premises, including construction sites, Crown premises and some others, have different enforcing authorities.
