Fire safety
The fire risk assessment is only the start. What a fire officer actually asks for is everything that has happened since — the weekly alarm test, the drill, the door checks, the actions the assessment raised and whether anybody closed them.
What the law requires
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts the duty on a "responsible person" — in a workplace, the employer or whoever has control of the premises. That person must make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, act on what it finds, and keep it under review. Where five or more people are employed, the significant findings must be recorded. The Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that the Order covers the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors of buildings containing two or more domestic premises, and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added duties for higher-risk and multi-occupied residential buildings.
Legislation referred to on this page: Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 · Fire Safety Act 2021 · Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Named so you can read the source. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and whether a duty applies to your organisation is a question for you and your adviser.
Who it applies to
- Almost every non-domestic premises in England and Wales — workplaces, shops, hospitality, places of worship, village halls, offices.
- The common parts of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupation.
- Recording the significant findings is a duty wherever five or more people are employed; in practice most organisations record them whatever the headcount, because an assessment nobody can produce is very hard to rely on.
What you have to be able to show
The list an inspector, insurer or auditor actually works through.
- The current fire risk assessment, dated, with the name of whoever carried it out.
- What the assessment recommended, and what happened to each recommendation.
- The fire alarm test log — typically weekly, at a different call point each time.
- Emergency lighting tests, extinguisher servicing certificates and fire door inspections.
- Evacuation drills: when, how long, who took part, what went wrong.
- That staff know the procedure — and something showing they were told.
How DutyHub records it
DutyHub does not carry out any of the work below. It records who did, when, and what they found.
The assessment as a controlled document
Approved by a named person, with an effective date and a review date. The register goes green only while an approved version is in force — not because somebody uploaded a file.
Recurring checks with QR labels
A phone at the call point, the panel or the extinguisher. The check is stamped with who did it and when, and a missed one turns the duty amber before it turns red.
Actions with an owner and a date
Every recommendation becomes an action. An open urgent action pulls the scheme to red even when the assessment itself is in date, because that is the honest reading.
Drills and acknowledgements
Drills are recorded against the premises. Procedure acknowledgements go out as no-login links, so a Saturday crew can confirm without an account.
The evidence pack
One dated PDF with an index and page numbers: the assessment, the logs, the certificates and the action history, with a manifest of exactly which versions went in.
Start with what applies to you
Add your premises and answer a short set of questions about them. DutyHub works out which duties land on which building, and shows you the gaps before anybody else finds them.
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