Fire Risk Assessments for Commercial Buildings: Your Complete Guide

Fire safety compliance is one of the areas most commonly flagged during a commercial building survey. Our surveyors regularly identify issues that have fire safety implications — from blocked fire escapes and missing emergency lighting to damaged fire doors and inadequate compartmentalisation. In many cases, the property owner or occupier is completely unaware of the problem.

This guide explains what a fire risk assessment is, who needs one, what it covers, and how it relates to the wider condition of your commercial building.

What Is a Fire Risk Assessment?

A fire risk assessment is a structured evaluation of a building to identify fire hazards, assess the risk to people in or around the building, and determine what fire safety measures are in place and whether they are adequate. It is not a one-off box-ticking exercise — it is an ongoing process that must be reviewed regularly and updated whenever significant changes occur.

A fire risk assessment covers five key steps, as defined by the UK government:

1. Identify fire hazards — sources of ignition (heat, sparks, flames), sources of fuel (combustible materials) and sources of oxygen
2. Identify people at risk — employees, visitors, contractors, people with mobility issues, people who work alone or in isolated areas
3. Evaluate, remove or reduce the risks — assess the likelihood and potential consequences of a fire, and implement measures to reduce risk
4. Record findings, prepare an emergency plan and provide training — document the assessment, create a fire evacuation plan, and train all relevant staff
5. Review and update regularly — reassess when the building layout changes, occupancy changes, following a fire or near-miss, or at least annually

Who Is Responsible for Fire Risk Assessments in Commercial Buildings?

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), the "responsible person" for a commercial premises must ensure a fire risk assessment is carried out. The responsible person is defined as:

• The employer, if the workplace is under their control
• The owner of the building, if it is not a workplace
• Any other person who has control of the building to any extent

In a multi-tenanted commercial building, the position can be more complex. The landlord typically has responsibility for common parts, while each individual tenant is responsible for their own demised areas. Both must carry out — or commission — fire risk assessments for the areas under their control.

Since the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced new and enhanced fire safety duties for certain types of buildings (particularly higher-risk residential buildings), commercial property owners and managers have also been reminded that fire safety obligations are increasingly under scrutiny. Getting a thorough fire risk assessment in place — and keeping it up to date — is more important than ever.

What Does a Fire Risk Assessment Cover?

A thorough fire risk assessment of a commercial building will examine all of the following areas:

Structural and Building Fabric

• Compartmentalisation — are fire-resistant walls, floors and ceilings intact and undamaged?
• Fire stopping — are all penetrations through fire-resistant elements (pipes, cables, ducts) properly fire stopped?
• Roof void compartmentalisation — are fire barriers in roof voids in good condition?

Means of Escape

• Are there adequate escape routes for all occupants?
• Are escape routes clear, unobstructed and adequately signed?
• Are emergency exit doors in good working order, opening in the direction of travel?
• Is travel distance within acceptable limits for the occupancy type?

Fire Detection and Warning Systems

• Is a fire detection and alarm system installed and in working order?
• Is the system appropriate for the occupancy and risk level?
• When was it last serviced and tested?
• Are manual call points accessible and clearly signed?

Fire Suppression Systems

• Are sprinkler systems installed where required or recommended?
• Are fire extinguishers provided, appropriately located, and within their service date?
• Are hose reels or other fixed suppression systems in place where required?

Emergency Lighting

• Is adequate emergency lighting provided on all escape routes?
• Has the system been tested and certified within the required period?

Fire Doors

• Are fire doors correctly rated for their location?
• Are they self-closing and free from damage?
• Do they close fully into their frames with no gaps?
• Are intumescent strips and smoke seals in place and in good condition?

Fire Risk Assessments and Commercial Building Surveys

A commercial building survey is not a standalone fire risk assessment — they are different documents with different purposes. However, a thorough commercial building survey will identify many of the building fabric issues that are relevant to fire safety, including:

• Damaged or missing fire stopping around pipe and cable penetrations
• Deteriorated or removed compartmentalisation walls
• Fire doors in poor condition or fitted with inappropriate hold-open devices
• Blocked or obstructed escape routes
• Absence of emergency lighting or fire detection systems
• Roof void compartmentalisation failures

When our surveyors identify issues with potential fire safety implications, we flag them clearly in the survey report — typically as high-priority items requiring immediate attention. We also recommend that a formal fire risk assessment is carried out by a competent fire risk assessor, as this is separate from the surveying process and requires specific fire safety expertise.

If you are purchasing a commercial building, always ask the vendor whether a current fire risk assessment is in place. Review it as part of your technical due diligence. If the fire risk assessment is out of date, incomplete or identifies significant issues that have not been addressed, factor this into your acquisition negotiation.

The Legal Consequences of Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order is a criminal offence. The consequences can include:

• Enforcement notices from the Fire and Rescue Authority, requiring specific remedial action
• Prohibition notices, restricting or preventing use of the premises
• Prosecution, with unlimited fines on conviction in Crown Court
• Imprisonment in the most serious cases
• Civil liability to anyone injured or killed as a result of a fire attributable to inadequate fire safety management

The Fire and Rescue Authority carries out risk-based inspections of commercial premises. Premises with higher risk — larger occupancies, complex layouts, vulnerable occupants — are inspected more frequently. If serious fire safety failings are found, the response can be swift and severe.

How Often Does a Fire Risk Assessment Need to Be Reviewed?

The RRO does not specify a fixed review period. Instead, it requires that the fire risk assessment is reviewed whenever there is reason to suspect it may no longer be valid, or when there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates. In practice, most fire safety professionals recommend a formal review:

• At least annually for most commercial premises
• Whenever there is a change in the use, layout or occupancy of the building
• After any significant structural work or refurbishment
• Following a fire, near-miss or fire alarm activation
• When there is a change in the responsible person

A new fire risk assessment should also be commissioned whenever a new lease is signed — either as a landlord or tenant. This ensures that the assessment reflects the current use and condition of the building from day one of the tenancy. If you are taking on a commercial lease, consider commissioning both a schedule of condition and a fresh fire risk assessment before the lease starts.

Who Can Carry Out a Fire Risk Assessment?

The responsible person must ensure the fire risk assessment is carried out by a "competent person" — someone with sufficient training, experience and knowledge to understand the fire risks in the specific type of premises. There is no mandatory qualification for fire risk assessors in the UK, though several professional bodies offer accreditation schemes, including:

• IFSM (Institution of Fire Safety Managers)
• IFE (Institution of Fire Engineers)
• BAFE (British Approvals for Fire Equipment) — SP205 scheme for fire risk assessors
• FPA (Fire Protection Association)

For straightforward commercial properties, a competent in-house person may be able to carry out the assessment. For more complex buildings — larger premises, high occupancy, complex construction or higher-risk uses — an external specialist is strongly recommended.

A Real Case Study: Fire Safety Issues Discovered in a Pre-Purchase Survey

In late 2023, a client in the North West instructed us to carry out a commercial building survey on a three-storey office building ahead of acquisition. The building was occupied by a small number of tenants and appeared to be in reasonable decorative condition.

During our survey, we identified the following fire safety concerns:

• Multiple penetrations through the first-floor ceiling that had not been fire stopped, compromising the floor-to-floor compartmentalisation
• Three fire doors on the second floor that were missing intumescent strips and self-closing mechanisms
• Emergency lighting in the stairwell that had been disconnected during a recent redecoration and never reinstated
• Evidence of an outdated fire alarm system — a Category M (manual-only) system rather than the Category L2 automatic detection system appropriate for the occupancy

We flagged all four items as high-priority in our report. The client used our findings to require the vendor to remedy the fire stopping and fire doors before exchange. The alarm upgrade and emergency lighting reinstatement were factored into the purchase price reduction. Total remediation costs were estimated at £28,000 — all addressed before our client took ownership.

Key Takeaways

• ✅ Every commercial building needs a current, written fire risk assessment under the RRO 2005
• ✅ The responsible person — owner, employer or manager — is legally accountable for fire safety
• ✅ Fire risk assessments should be reviewed at least annually and after any significant change
• ✅ A commercial building survey will identify building fabric issues relevant to fire safety
• ✅ Always review the fire risk assessment as part of pre-purchase or pre-lease due diligence
• ✅ Non-compliance can result in unlimited fines, prohibition notices and imprisonment

Frequently Asked Questions