Fire risk assessment for a small business: what to do and record

If your small business controls non-domestic premises, identify who holds the fire-safety duty, assess how a fire could start and harm people, put suitable precautions in place, and keep the assessment and actions current. “Small” does not remove the duty. What changes with size and complexity is whether the responsible person can competently assess the premises themselves and which official guidance is appropriate. A simple shop or office may be manageable with a national small-premises guide; a shared building, sleeping accommodation, complex layout or hazardous process may need a different guide and specialist input.

This article covers Great Britain and flags the different national regimes. In England and Wales, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places duties on the responsible person. In Scotland, fire-safety duties for most non-domestic premises come from the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Use the current guide for the nation and premises type rather than copying a form from another jurisdiction. The Home Office guide for small, simple non-domestic premises explicitly applies only to England. Wales and Scotland publish their own materials.

The assessment is a process, not a certificate. The business should be able to show what it checked, who may be at risk, why its precautions are suitable, what still needs doing and who will verify closure. The official guides contain detailed checklists. This page helps a small business select the right route and manage the work; it does not reproduce an official checklist or purport to approve a building.

1. Identify the premises and the dutyholder

Write down the premises address, use, floors, occupancy, opening hours, visitors, contractors and the parts of the building your business controls. In a shared building, agree with the owner, managing agent and other occupiers who controls the common alarm, escape stairs, plant rooms and records. A tenant's assessment of its office cannot ignore a shared stair, and the landlord's common-parts assessment cannot automatically describe every tenant's activities.

In England and Wales, the responsible person may be the employer for a workplace, a person with control of premises in connection with a business or the owner in some circumstances. Welsh Government guidance explains that a person can remain responsible even when another party helps with the assessment. In Scotland, the relevant employer and those with control or safety obligations have duties under the Scottish regime. Naming an external assessor does not transfer away the underlying duty to act on findings.

A small business without a physical premises, such as a consultant working from a private home, has a different premises analysis from a business welcoming customers into a shop. Do not claim the same fire-risk assessment form fits all operations. If the business occupies a mixed commercial/residential building, sleep accommodation, care premises or premises with unusual hazards, select the relevant specific guidance and consider competent specialist advice.

2. Decide whether the official small-premises guide fits

The Home Office's England guide is limited to small, simple, low-risk non-domestic premises under the conditions it sets out. It excludes premises that are part of a larger complex, have sleeping accommodation, hazardous processes or materially different fire precautions. It is not a shortcut for every business with fewer than a certain number of staff. If the premises falls outside its scope, choose the relevant Home Office premises-specific guide. The Welsh Government has a small-premises checklist and other guidance. The Scottish Government provides risk-assessment forms and examples for non-domestic premises, with separate guidance by type.

Ask whether the person doing the assessment understands the building, activities, means of escape, detection and warning systems, vulnerable users and relevant law well enough to reach defensible conclusions. In simple premises a knowledgeable dutyholder may be competent; in a complex premises or where the assessment reveals a technical concern, involve a suitable fire risk assessor or specialist. The assessor should explain their findings, assumptions and limitations, not just provide a generic PDF. If you commission external help, record who did the work and check what parts of the building and strategy they actually assessed.

3. Walk the premises and identify how fire could start

Look at ignition sources, combustible material and the people exposed. For a small shop this may include electrical equipment, portable heaters, stock storage, waste and deliveries; for a café, cooking and extraction arrangements; for a workshop, hot work, dust, solvents or charging equipment. Consider out-of-hours use and contractors. Check whether storage has encroached on escape routes or whether a door has been wedged open for convenience. Do not copy a hazard list without looking at the site.

The assessment should identify who could be harmed: staff, customers, visitors, contractors, neighbouring occupiers and people who may need help to leave. A single maximum-occupancy number does not capture a busy event, shift change, lone worker or someone unfamiliar with the premises. Note the hours and activities under which the risk changes. Where disability or temporary impairment affects evacuation, consult the people involved and document suitable arrangements in a restricted process as needed. The Home Office guide to means of escape for disabled people and the Scottish Government's non-domestic guidance provide relevant context.

4. Evaluate prevention and protection together

First ask what can be prevented or reduced: remove unnecessary fuel, manage waste, maintain equipment, control ignition sources and separate high-risk work. Then evaluate the protection people need if fire starts: suitable detection and alarm, usable escape routes and exits, appropriate fire doors, emergency lighting where necessary, signs, firefighting equipment if suitable, staff instruction and an evacuation plan. The necessary measures depend on the premises and risk assessment. Buying extinguishers is not a substitute for keeping an exit available or detecting a fire promptly.

Record what exists and whether it works. A fire door that will not close is not an effective precaution merely because it is listed on a drawing. An alarm system without a clear response procedure may not protect visitors. A fire escape blocked during deliveries is not available at the time it may be needed. Note maintenance and inspection evidence, but do not confuse a contractor certificate with a complete assessment of how people would escape. If building alterations, stock changes or a new process undermine the earlier assumptions, review the assessment before treating it as current.

For a small business in a shared building, identify dependencies on the landlord's alarm or shared stair and obtain the relevant information. If another occupier's operations affect your route, coordinate with them. A fire plan that assumes a common door will be unlocked after hours must be checked in the real building.

5. Record the assessment and a usable action plan

In England and Wales, the Section 156 changes mean responsible persons under the Fire Safety Order must record the full fire risk assessment, including all findings, and the fire-safety arrangements, regardless of employee count. Do not repeat the old “only if five or more employees” rule for this fire-safety record. See Home Office guidance and Welsh Government guidance. Scottish record duties should be checked against the Scottish fire-safety law and guidance for the premises.

A practical assessment record should identify the premises and assessor, the scope and date, hazards and people at risk, existing precautions, findings, the basis for judgments, actions, owners, target dates and how each issue was closed. Keep the fire-safety arrangements and emergency plan available to the people who need them. If you used an external assessor, record their identity and organisation. A short record for a simple shop can be clear and complete; a large boilerplate report with generic answers can still be inadequate.

Use an action register that distinguishes finding, interim control, permanent remedy, responsible person, deadline and verification. For example, “rear exit obstructed by stock” is a finding. “Move stock today” may be an immediate measure. “Create a marked storage area away from the route and brief the delivery team” is a sustained control. The owner checks the exit remains clear and records the result. Marking the action “closed” on the day a work order is raised would be misleading.

6. Put the evacuation and training arrangements into practice

A completed assessment should lead to an emergency plan that matches the site. State how the alarm is raised, who calls the fire and rescue service, which routes people use, how visitors and people needing assistance leave, where to assemble and who supplies information to firefighters. Train staff for their roles and check that new starters and relevant contractors understand the arrangements. The fire evacuation plan template is a proposed companion form, not a live verified route; if it is not published, link only to the appropriate existing page or official guide.

Do not write “all staff know what to do” without evidence. A drill or exercise can reveal an untested assumption: a side exit is locked, a lone worker does not know how to raise the alarm, or no one knows who accounts for visitors. Record the problem, assign a correction and update both the plan and assessment. The risk assessment should be reviewed regularly and when there is reason to think it is no longer valid, such as a change in layout, use, occupancy, process or a fire-related event. Do not invent a single statutory annual renewal rule for all premises.

Worked example: small shop in a shared parade

A small retailer occupies one unit in a parade and has three employees, customers and an occasional delivery contractor. A manager uses the appropriate national small-premises guide to walk the shop and stockroom. They identify a portable heater close to packaging, stock temporarily placed before the rear exit, and uncertainty about who controls the shared alarm interface. The manager removes the immediate obstruction, changes the storage layout, confirms the alarm and exit arrangements with the landlord, and updates staff briefing. The record names an owner and verification date for each action. If the rear route depends on another occupier's locked area, the manager cannot close the assessment by writing “use rear exit”; they need a real, agreed solution. This is an illustration, not a finding about a real premises.

Common mistakes

• Assuming “small business” means no written fire assessment. In England and Wales the full assessment and arrangements must now be recorded under the Section 156 changes.
• Using the wrong nation's form. The England Home Office small-premises guide is not Scottish or Welsh guidance.
• Applying a simple-premises guide to a complex building. Sleeping accommodation, shared complexes and unusual hazards may need another official guide and competent advice.
• Treating software output as a completed assessment. Someone competent must examine the actual premises, judge the findings and ensure actions are implemented.
• Keeping a list of defects with no action owner. The safety benefit comes from fixing and verifying the issue.
• Forgetting visitors and out-of-hours use. The plan must work when the manager is absent and people unfamiliar with the site are present.

Complys and related pages

The observed Complys fire risk assessment software page is the relevant commercial destination, subject to current implementation and whole-page claim verification. This guide is independent informational content: it explains how a small business chooses the correct official assessment route and follows findings through. The software must not be presented as a substitute for a competent premises inspection, assessor judgment or physical corrective work. If a verified workflow stores assessments and actions, describe only those confirmed capabilities. Before publication, check the exact canonical host and whether an unpublished guide already owns this task.

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