Workplaces and businesses – fire safety

Advice and guidance to keep workplaces safe and help businesses meet their legal requirements.

Fire risk assessments

A fire risk assessment helps identify the likelihood of a fire starting from the activities carried out in a premises and who could be at harm. It helps identify the precautions and arrangements necessary to reduce the risk of fire and to protect people if a fire does start.

Fire certificates are no longer valid, however, it can be a good starting point for your fire risk assessment.

If you are a business in a large, multi-occupied building, you are responsible for the safety of your employees and any other relevant person, including employees of other businesses and visitors. 

As an employer you must take account of the risk to both your employees and other relevant persons to the extent to which you have control of the premises and other employers in the building must do the same. 

The owner (or landlord if they have legal responsibility) of the building must take into account the risk to persons in the common parts. 

Article 22 of the FSO requires all parties to cooperate and coordinate, where two or more responsible persons have duties. 

Fire safety in the workplace: Fire risk assessments (GOV.UK) – find guides for different premises so you can complete your own fire risk assessment. 

Risk assessors

You can find a risk assessor to complete a fire risk assessment for you. We'd recommend this for premises with any sleeping accommodation, complicated layouts and / or processes, and occupants that are vulnerable.

National Fire Risk Assessors Register (NFRAR)

Fire Risk Assessors register

BAFE Fire Safety Register – the independent registration body for third-party certificated fire safety organisations.

Guide to choosing a competent fire risk assessor (National Fire Chiefs Council)

Safety equipment in your premises

Fire safety in the workplace (GOV.UK) – advice on what safety equipment you may need in your premises, and when and how to test it.

Fire extinguishers should be tested annually by a competent service engineer. A test certificate should be provided to help you demonstrate compliance.

Defective / unwanted fire extinguishers

Please contact the manufacturer or supplier for disposal advice. Some suppliers have a takeback scheme and there are organisations that recycle fire extinguishers.

We cannot dispose of fire extinguishers for you.

Fire safety training

Fire safety training for your staff should be carried out:

• when people first start
• any time there is a significant change in your premises, the type of people working in or visiting it or the processes taking place in it.

Training should be refreshed annually. It should include:

• the importance of good housekeeping
• avoiding storing combustible materials near ignition sources
• familiarisation with emergency exits from the building
• current fire safety measures in place and how to recognise faults and who to report them to
• what to do upon discovering a fire
• how to call the fire and rescue service and what relevant information to pass (Where exactly is the fire in the building? Are any persons still in the building? etc)

• roles for individual staff members in relation to evacuating the public and checking the premises is empty (if safe to do so)

• correct selection and use of fire extinguishers.

The training should be site specific and relative to your building, layout and processes taking place in it.

Fire evacuation drills should be carried out at least once a year and cover all staff (more than one drill may be required to achieve this). The evacuation drill should be observed, timed and any issues identified debriefed and fixed.

Consider any adjustments to staff fire training that may need to be made in relation to physical and other disabilities, and those for whom English is not their first language.

Your fire safety training should reflect the risks at your premises, the complexity of your premises and the processes taking place within it, and the staff or customers present within it.

The fire safety training at a low risk simple premises could be simpler than the training at a high risk complex premises, with complex premises and vulnerable staff and or visitors.

Fire safety legislation

Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (RPEEPs)

Enforcement

We can offer support, advice and guidance on how best to improve your fire safety arrangements. We'll take account of measures which are proportionate and reasonable to the identified risk and your business. 

In cases where a serious risk exists and is not being managed, we have a statutory duty to enforce compliance. Failure to comply with the Fire Safety Order could lead to fines and up to 2 years in prison.  

How we can help

Our business fire safety team deals with commercial buildings and the common areas of flats.

We can inspect your premises in most cases, particularly in higher risk premises, as part of our risk-based inspection programme. However, we will not carry out a fire risk assessment for you as it is your responsibility under the Fire Safety Order. 

Contact administration.cfs@hertfordshire.gov.uk for more information.

Fire safety courses

We don't currently run fire safety training courses. However, we do hold free business fire safety seminars occasionally for different businesses types to help you to meet your legal obligations under the FSO.

Again, email administration.cfs@hertfordshire.gov.uk to find out when the next seminars will be.

Building control submissions

If you're altering the layout of your premises by making structural changes, we can comment on proposals, but you may require building regulations approval. Responsibility sits with building control bodies, either from the local authority or the private sector as an registered building inspector.

If building regulations is required, the appointed building control body have a duty to consult with us. Always consult an appropriate building control body in the first instance. 

Building consultations

We offer free goodwill fire safety advice and business support. You can save significant time and money if you consult with us early when planning or designing buildings.

The consultation process aims to ensure that there will be no need for extra building work prior to people occupying the building. The process gives an opportunity for Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, as the local fire and rescue service and the enforcing authority for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), to make comments during the design phase of the project.

Government Planning Portal– offers further information about planning and building regulations.

Fire safety at home – advice about home fire safety, including self-checks and visits.