Who Needs a Fire Risk Assessment? The Legal Requirements Explained

The question of who needs a fire risk assessment comes up constantly, and the answer is broader than many business owners assume. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, any non-domestic premises in England and Wales must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and the duty falls on the "responsible person" — typically the employer, owner or managing agent. That covers offices, shops, factories, schools, care homes, restaurants, HMOs, places of worship and more. If people who are not your household visit or work in a building you control, you almost certainly need one. The penalties for non-compliance are serious, including an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment on indictment. This guide sets out exactly who the law requires to have an assessment, who carries the duty, and the exceptions you should know about.

The Legal Starting Point: The RRO 2005

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is the single piece of law that answers who needs a fire risk assessment across England and Wales. It replaced a patchwork of older fire-safety legislation and placed a single, clear duty on those in control of non-domestic premises: to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the fire risks to relevant persons.

Article 9 is the operative provision. It requires the responsible person to identify fire hazards, decide who might be harmed, evaluate the risk, and record the findings where five or more people are employed. The assessment is the foundation of every other duty in the Order, because the emergency procedures, training and maintenance required elsewhere all flow from what the assessment identifies.

The Order applies to virtually all non-domestic premises and the common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. Its reach is wide by design — fire does not respect the type of building it starts in. Understanding that the duty is attached to the premises and the person controlling them, not to a specific business activity, is the key to working out whether you are caught.

Who Is the Responsible Person?

The duty to have an assessment lands on the "responsible person", and identifying who that is settles the question of who needs a fire risk assessment in any given building. In most cases the responsible person is the employer, in respect of premises under their control. Where there is no employer, it is the person who has control of the premises as occupier or owner.

In multi-occupied buildings there can be several responsible persons — a freeholder, a managing agent and various tenant employers — each with duties over the parts they control, and a duty to cooperate over shared areas. None can point at the other as an excuse for inaction.

Crucially, the duty cannot be bought away. You may appoint a competent person under Article 18 to carry out the assessment, but you remain the responsible person and remain legally accountable. If you control a premises where others work, visit or sleep, assume the duty applies to you and act on it.

Non-Domestic Premises: The Core Rule

The core rule is straightforward: if premises are used for a non-domestic purpose, a fire risk assessment is required. That sweeps in the obvious — factories, warehouses, shops, offices, restaurants, pubs — and the less obvious, such as village halls, community centres, places of worship and charitable premises open to the public.

It also covers the common parts of buildings containing flats and the shared areas of HMOs, even though the individual dwellings themselves are domestic. The fire risk to a resident using a shared staircase is a non-domestic risk for the purposes of the Order, and the person controlling those common parts must assess it.

The only real dividing line is purely domestic premises occupied as a single private dwelling, where the RRO does not apply. The moment a building, or part of it, is used for a trade, business or other undertaking — or is a place people other than your household visit — the duty switches on. When in doubt, the safe assumption is that an assessment is needed.

Sector-Specific Examples

To make the rule concrete, it helps to run through the sectors where the duty most often surprises people. Care homes and hospitals are high-risk and require Enhanced-tier assessments because residents cannot self-evacuate. Schools and nurseries need assessments that account for children and large assemblies.

Hospitality — restaurants, hotels, pubs — must assess kitchens, sleeping guests and crowded public areas. HMOs and blocks of flats require assessment of shared escape routes and, under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, specific fire-door checking. Offices and shops need them as a matter of course, as do industrial and storage premises with significant fire loads.

Even low-occupancy premises are not exempt: a small office with two staff still needs a recorded assessment once the five-employee threshold is crossed, and a written record is good practice below it. The through-line is use, not size. If the public or employees are present, the responsible person needs a current, competent assessment.

Domestic Premises and the Exceptions

The main exception to the duty is the private dwelling occupied as a single household. A homeowner living alone, or with their family, does not need a fire risk assessment under the RRO — though good practice and house-insurance terms may still encourage basic precautions.

The moment a dwelling is rented to others, or part of it is used for business, the position changes. A landlord letting a single self-contained flat to one tenant has limited RRO duties, but an HMO landlord, or the controller of common parts in a block, does. A person running a business from home that brings visitors or employees onto the premises brings the domestic parts used for that purpose into scope.

It is worth noting that other regimes may require assessment-like documents — a landlord's gas or electrical duties, or a charity's own safeguarding policies — but those are separate from the RRO. The clean test for the fire-safety duty remains: non-domestic use, or shared residential escape routes, switches it on.

When You Must Review Your Assessment

Having an assessment is not the end of the duty; keeping it current is. The RRO requires the responsible person to keep the assessment under review, and to revise it where there is reason to think it is no longer valid or where there have been significant changes.

Triggers for review include building alterations, a change of use, new equipment or processes, a near-miss or actual fire, and changes to the people in the building — particularly the arrival of vulnerable occupants. A care home taking on residents with higher dependency, or an HMO with a changed tenant mix, should prompt a fresh look.

There is no fixed statutory expiry, but an assessment more than a year or two old, or one that no longer matches the building, is unlikely to be judged "suitable and sufficient". Regular review is also the habit that keeps action points closed and evidence fresh for inspectors. If you are unsure whether your current document still fits, treat that uncertainty as the trigger to review.

Conclusion

So, who needs a fire risk assessment? In short, the responsible person for any non-domestic premises in England and Wales — and the common parts of residential buildings — under the RRO 2005. Employers, owners, landlords and managing agents all carry the duty, and the penalties for ignoring it include an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment on indictment. The only true exception is the single private dwelling. If your building sees employees, visitors or tenants, you need a current, competent assessment. HawkSwift's NEBOSH-qualified assessors deliver PAS 79-1:2020 assessments from £199 + VAT with a 48-hour turnaround. Review your fire risk assessment and stay compliant.

*This article is general guidance based on the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It is not formal legal advice — for a definitive view on your premises, book a HawkSwift fire risk assessment.*