The responsible person for fire safety is whoever has control of a workplace or other non-domestic premises — usually the employer, but sometimes the owner, occupier or managing agent instead or as well. This role is set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which applies across England and Wales. The responsible person is legally obliged to carry out a fire risk assessment and put in place adequate fire precautions, and failure to do so is a criminal offence.
Confusion over who actually holds this role is one of the most common compliance failures among UK landlords, business owners and property managers. Getting it wrong does not remove the duty — it simply means enforcement action lands on whoever the fire and rescue authority identifies as having had control, often after the fact and often during an inspection or following an incident.
What the Fire Safety Order requires
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (commonly called the Fire Safety Order or FSO) is the main piece of fire safety legislation for non-domestic premises in England and Wales. It replaced the old fire certificate system and places the duty for fire safety directly on the responsible person rather than on a certificate issued by the fire brigade.
Article 9 of the Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the premises, identifying the fire hazards present, the people at risk, and the measures needed to reduce or remove those risks. Where five or more people are employed, the significant findings of the assessment must be recorded in writing — but in practice, recording it in writing is strongly advised for any premises, since it is the only evidence of compliance if challenged by an inspector.
Beyond the risk assessment, the Order requires the responsible person to provide and maintain fire-fighting equipment, fire detection and warning systems, emergency routes and exits, and emergency lighting where needed. They must also establish emergency procedures, arrange for staff to receive appropriate fire safety training, and ensure that the premises and any equipment provided are maintained in efficient working order.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate but broadly equivalent regimes — the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Regulatory Reform) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 — so the exact legislation referenced depends on where the premises are located.
Who counts as the responsible person
Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order defines the responsible person in two ways, and both can apply to the same premises at the same time:
- The employer, if the premises are a workplace to any extent — this applies even if the business only occupies part of a larger building.
- Any other person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade, business or other undertaking — this can include the owner, landlord, occupier, managing agent, or a facilities management company.
Where a building is split between multiple occupiers — for example a block of shops, a shared office building, or a multi-let industrial estate — responsibility is usually divided according to who controls which areas. A landlord typically remains the responsible person for shared parts such as communal stairwells, corridors, fire exits and plant rooms, while each tenant is the responsible person for the areas they exclusively occupy and control.
This applies to a wide range of situations: a sole trader running a shop, a landlord letting commercial units, a charity operating from a community hall, a self-employed contractor with a yard or workshop, and a limited company with office premises. Purely domestic premises — a private home with no business use — fall outside the Fire Safety Order, though common parts of blocks of flats are covered separately.
Key duties at a glance
Once identified, the responsible person has a defined set of legal duties under the Fire Safety Order:
- Carry out a fire risk assessment (Article 9) — identify hazards, people at risk, and necessary precautions; review whenever circumstances change.
- Record significant findings in writing (Article 9(6)) — mandatory where five or more people are employed, strongly recommended for everyone else.
- Provide fire-fighting equipment and detection systems (Article 13) — extinguishers, alarms, detectors appropriate to the premises.
- Maintain emergency routes and exits (Article 14) — ensure escape routes remain clear, unlocked and adequately signed at all times.
- Establish emergency procedures (Article 15) — evacuation plans, assembly points, and arrangements for people with disabilities.
- Provide staff training and information (Article 21) — fire safety induction, evacuation drills, and information for employees of other employers using the premises.
- Maintain equipment and premises (Article 17) — keep fire safety equipment, facilities and devices in efficient working order through regular servicing.
- Review and update the assessment (Article 9(3)) — whenever there is reason to believe it is no longer valid, such as after building works or a change in occupancy.
Penalties for non-compliance
Enforcement of the Fire Safety Order is carried out by local fire and rescue authorities. Inspectors have the power to issue enforcement notices requiring specific improvements within a set time, alteration notices for premises undergoing changes, and prohibition notices that can close premises immediately where there is a serious and imminent risk to life.
Breaches of the Fire Safety Order are criminal offences. Prosecution can result in unlimited fines in the Crown Court, and up to two years imprisonment for the responsible person or, under Article 32, any director, manager or officer found to have consented to, connived in, or been neglectful in relation to the breach. The magistrates' court can impose fines up to the statutory maximum for less serious breaches.
HSE and fire and rescue authority data consistently shows that failure to maintain adequate means of escape and failure to carry out a suitable fire risk assessment are among the most common grounds for enforcement notices issued to UK businesses. Fires in non-domestic premises remain a significant cause of serious injury and major financial loss to UK businesses every year.
How this relates to your fire risk assessment
Identifying the responsible person is only the first step — the duty itself is to produce and maintain a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. This is a distinct legal requirement from the general risk assessment duty under health and safety law, but the two often overlap in practice, and both need to be in place to be fully compliant. If you are unsure whether your business needs either, check whether you need a risk assessment and review the broader risk assessment legal requirements that apply to UK employers.
A compliant fire risk assessment must be specific to the premises — covering the layout, occupancy, fire hazards, escape routes and existing precautions of that particular building. Generic templates downloaded from the internet rarely hold up to scrutiny because they do not reflect the actual premises. For a fuller grounding in how fire risk assessments fit within wider UK risk assessment law, read the ultimate guide to risk assessment.
Anyrisks generates a site-specific fire risk assessment in minutes, covering fire hazards, people at risk, existing and required control measures, and emergency procedures, delivered as a PDF and editable Word document for £29. You can also try the AI risk assessment generator if you need a risk assessment covering activities beyond fire safety alone.
Fire safety responsibility in multi-let commercial property
Multi-let commercial buildings are where confusion over the responsible person role causes the most problems in practice. Consider a three-storey building with a ground-floor retail unit, a first-floor hairdresser, and a second-floor office let to a small accountancy firm, all owned by a single landlord who retains the stairwell, fire exits and plant room.
In this scenario, there are four separate responsible persons, each with duties limited to the area they control. The landlord is the responsible person for the shared stairwell, fire exits, fire alarm panel servicing the common parts, and emergency lighting in communal areas. Each of the three tenants is the responsible person for their own unit, covering their own fire risk assessment, portable fire extinguishers, internal escape routes and staff fire training.
If the landlord fails to maintain the communal fire alarm, they are liable regardless of what the tenants do. If the hairdresser fails to carry out a fire risk assessment for their salon, that liability sits with the hairdresser, not the landlord. Lease agreements often set out who is responsible for what, but the lease cannot override the Fire Safety Order — fire and rescue authorities will still hold whoever has actual control of an area responsible for that area, lease terms notwithstanding.
Also see: The Ultimate Guide to Risk Assessment · Do I Need a Risk Assessment? · Risk Assessment Legal Requirements · AI Risk Assessment Generator
