Fire Safety Guides

With the exception of a very few specialised sites and specific risks, the majority of non-domestic premises and sites throughout England and Wales must now conform with the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order).

Ultimately, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep their premises safe, but there will be one or more people who have overall legal responsibility.  The Fire Safety Order states that every premises has a Responsible Person who must carry out a fire risk assessment taking into account fire risks and hazards on the premises.  There may be more than one person who has responsibility for the fire risk assessment, e.g. the building owner, a manager, supervisor or team leader. 

To help you carry out a fire risk assessment, the Department of Communities and Local Government has produced ‘A Short Guide to Making your Premises Safe from Fire’. This booklet will give you a general understanding of basic fire safety principles and the methodology of carrying out a fire risk assessment.

It has also produced a series of technical risk assessment guides relating to specific types of business premises, e.g. offices and shops, factories and warehouses, residential care premises, theatres and cinemas. You should select the guide most appropriate for your business and use this as a basis for completing your own fire risk assessment.

A fire risk assessment is an organised and methodical look at your premises, the activities carried out there and the likelihood that a fire could start and cause harm to those in and around the premises. This must be carried out by the responsible person or a competent person appointed to undertake a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the risks of fire to their employees and others who may be affected by their work or business. The guides help you to carry out a fire risk assessment at your workplace and identify the general fire precautions you need to have in place.

Fire Safety Log Book

We have produced a new Fire Safety Log Book to help you keep and maintain your fire safety records.  There is no statutory requirement to maintain a fire safety log book, but possibly the most effective way of demonstrating compliance with fire safety legislation is to keep records, and the new log book is one way of doing that.   Whilst this log book is not comprehensive it seeks to cover the main requirements for demonstrating compliance with current fire safety legislation. 

One of the good things about keeping this log book up to date is that evidence of good systems and procedures will be readily available should the business be inspected by our officers.  You might like to keep it with any records relating to your current fire risk assessment making sure that you review it periodically.

CFRS Fire Safety Log Book (new window, Word Document 104KB)

Last updated: Tuesday 11 May 2021