Fire safety guide · England

Fire safety in shared business premises: how responsible persons coordinate

In a shared business building, each organisation with responsibility for part of the premises must understand its own fire-safety duties and coordinate with the others. A tenant’s assessment cannot stop at its suite door if its staff need a common stair to escape; a landlord’s assessment of the common parts cannot assume every occupier’s activities are unchanged.

The Home Office says it is common to have more than one Responsible Person in an office building or shopping centre, and the Fire Safety Order requires them to cooperate and coordinate. That includes a coherent fire procedure, taking reasonable steps to identify one another, and recording the extent of responsibilities. This guide is about the interface between dutyholders; it does not design alarm systems or decide a disputed legal duty from a lease alone. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different regimes. Home Office: guide for persons with duties under fire safety legislation.

Identify the Responsible Persons before assigning actions

Start with organisations, not job titles. In an employer-controlled workplace the employer will be a Responsible Person; in a rented office the landlord may also have responsibilities. The Home Office warns that the identity of a Responsible Person is a matter of law, not a role parties can choose between themselves. A building manager may administer the work without becoming the only legal dutyholder. For each floor, unit and common area, record the employing organisation, owner or person with relevant control, the management contact, a UK address, and the practical extent of control. Do not let a lease clause become the entire assessment: legal responsibility and day-to-day task ownership should both be visible, and they may not be identical.

A useful responsibility map

Use one row per interface: area or system; Responsible Persons; operational owner; assessment reference; maintenance and test owner; emergency contact; evidence location; and what change must be communicated. Cover the shared stair, final exit, reception, alarm, emergency lighting, service riser, loading bay, and any route through one occupier’s space. Mark any item whose owner is disputed. Do not mark it “landlord” simply because it is inconvenient to investigate. The map is a working coordination aid, not a legal certificate.

Bring assessments together without merging every document

Each Responsible Person needs a suitable and sufficient assessment for its own premises and activities, but the assessments must meet at their boundaries. Ask practical questions: does the tenant’s escape plan rely on a door managed by the landlord? Does the landlord’s assessment know about the tenant’s storage, evening hours or visitors? Create an interface record showing, for each shared issue, the originating assessment, affected people, agreed measure, owner, due date, interim control, verification and date communicated. A closed task needs evidence the physical defect was corrected, not just that an email was sent.

Agree one coherent warning and evacuation procedure

People should not receive conflicting instructions depending on which organisation trained them. Confirm the building’s fire strategy and the actual alarm and evacuation arrangements with competent input, then make every occupier’s instructions match. Map how a fire is discovered and reported, who can operate the alarm, what the signal means in each area, who contacts emergency services, and how the incident controller knows which areas are occupied, checking early mornings, evenings and unstaffed periods. Ensure one tenant cannot undermine another’s route by storage or security changes, and test the interfaces during drills.

Maintain shared measures and coordinate every change

Put maintenance and inspection responsibilities into the interface map: who commissions competent servicing, who does routine checks, where faults are reported, who authorises repair and who informs affected occupiers. Separate three stages: a fault is reported, its risk is managed while unresolved, and the measure is verified as restored. The responsibility map must change when the building changes: a new tenant, a mezzanine or kitchen, a refurbishment that isolates detection or blocks an exit. At tenant handover, transfer current, relevant fire-safety information to the incoming Responsible Person to maintain a continual record through the building’s life.

FAQs

Is one building-wide fire risk assessment enough?

It depends on the building and who controls what, but one document should not be assumed to remove each Responsible Person's duty to assess its relevant premises and activities. The key check is whether every relevant area and interface is assessed and the parties coordinate their findings.

Can the managing agent take the whole duty?

A managing agent may perform important fire-safety work and have duties related to the extent of its control, but that does not automatically erase the duties of employers, owners or others with control. Establish the actual legal position and record who performs each task.

What should be exchanged between tenants?

Share information needed to coordinate safety: risks from activities that can affect others, routes and systems relied on, relevant assessment findings, planned works, impairments and emergency arrangements, through a controlled interface record that protects personal details appropriately.

Does this guide cover flats above a shop?

No. A mixed-use or residential building can involve additional duties and building-specific rules, including accountable persons in some higher-risk buildings. Use a specialist assessment and the applicable residential guidance; this page owns coordination for shared business premises in England.

Where Complys fits

Complys can create or modernise a premises-specific fire risk assessment and store documents and review dates. It does not identify legal Responsible Persons, reconcile every tenant’s assessment, maintain physical systems or automatically communicate with other organisations. A Responsible Person still needs accurate site facts, competent review and real cooperation with others.

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