Call Now!
Call Now!
It is one of the most common questions asked by property owners, landlords, and business managers across the UK: how many steps make up a fire safety risk assessment? The answer is five — but understanding what each of those five steps actually involves is what separates a genuinely compliant assessment from a document that looks the part but leaves your property exposed.
A fire safety risk assessment is not a form to be filled in. It is a structured, systematic process — rooted in UK fire safety law and designed to identify real risks, protect real people, and ensure that every responsible person in England and Wales meets their legal obligations. Whether you manage a small office in Warrington, a restaurant in Birmingham, an HMO in Manchester, or a commercial building across the West Midlands, understanding these five steps is the foundation of everything.
This guide walks you through every step in plain, practical English — and explains why each one matters more than most people realise.
The five-step framework comes directly from UK government guidance published under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the primary legislation governing fire safety in non-domestic premises across England and Wales. The framework is also embedded in BS 9792:2025, the current British Standard for fire risk assessments, and is the methodology recognised by every Fire and Rescue Authority in the country.
It is not arbitrary. Each step builds logically on the one before — identifying hazards before assessing risks, assessing risks before recording findings, recording findings before planning action. Skip a step, rush through one, or treat any step as a formality, and the entire assessment loses its legal and practical value. To understand what a fire risk assessment does in full, the five-step process is your starting point.
Every fire safety assessment begins with a thorough physical inspection of your premises to identify all potential fire hazards. A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause a fire — and the assessment looks at three components of the fire triangle:
| Component | What It Means | Common Examples |
| Sources of Ignition | Anything that generates heat or a spark | Electrical equipment, cookers, heaters, smokers’ materials, machinery |
| Sources of Fuel | Anything that will burn and feed a fire | Paper, wood, textiles, packaging, flammable liquids, stored goods |
| Sources of Oxygen | Anything that sustains combustion | Air conditioning systems, natural ventilation, oxygen storage cylinders |
This is not a desk exercise. A proper Step 1 requires a qualified assessor to physically inspect every area of your premises — every room, every corridor, every plant room, every storage area. Assumptions have no place here. To see how this integrates with fire safety at work, understanding hazard identification is the critical foundation.
Identifying hazards tells you what could cause a fire. Identifying people at risk tells you who could be harmed — and how seriously. This step is often underestimated, but it is where a good fire risk assessment distinguishes itself from a generic one.
Everyone who uses or visits your building must be considered:
From 6 April 2026, the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) Regulations introduced a specific new duty: Responsible Persons of qualifying residential buildings must now identify ‘relevant residents’ — those with mobility, sensory, or cognitive impairments — and create written Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for each one. This makes Step 2 more important — and more legally consequential — than ever before. For more on this, see our detailed guide on who is responsible for fire risk assessment.
This is the analytical core of the fire and risk assessment process — where judgement and expertise are applied to everything identified in Steps 1 and 2. For every hazard identified, the assessor must determine:
This step also involves reviewing your existing fire safety measures — fire alarms, emergency lighting, fire doors, escape routes, fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, and staff training — and assessing whether they are adequate for the risks present. Inadequate existing measures must be flagged and included in the action plan.
For a fire safety inspection for commercial property, Step 3 is where a specialist assessor’s sector knowledge makes the most difference — distinguishing between tolerable and intolerable risks in complex commercial environments like commercial kitchens, server rooms, or high-density public spaces.
Steps 1 to 3 are about gathering information and making judgements. Step 4 is about turning those judgements into documented, actionable, and legally binding outputs. It has three distinct components:
A written record is a legal requirement for all businesses with five or more employees, all HMO landlords, and all Responsible Persons for residential blocks — and it is strongly advisable for everyone else. Your fire safety risk assessment record must include all identified hazards, the risk rating assigned to each, your existing fire safety measures, the action required, and the timeline for completing it. This document is your primary evidence of compliance. A complete fire safety risk assessment checklist will help ensure nothing is missed.
Your evacuation plan must be practical, clearly communicated, and reviewed regularly. It should specify escape routes, assembly points, responsibilities during an evacuation, and — where required under the April 2026 regulations — individual PEEPs for vulnerable occupants. A poorly planned evacuation is one of the most common causes of preventable fire deaths in UK buildings.
Every person on your premises — employees, tenants, and regular contractors — must be informed about the fire risks identified and the emergency procedures in place. Workplace fire safety depends entirely on people knowing what to do when an alarm sounds. Regular fire drills and fire marshal training are essential components of a genuinely safe premises. For further guidance on this, our post on fire safety training covers the key requirements in detail.
A fire risk assessment is not a one-time task. UK fire safety law requires it to be reviewed regularly — and updated whenever circumstances change. The fifth step is an ongoing duty, not a closing action.
You must review your assessment when:
Understanding how often fire risk assessments should be reviewed is a fundamental part of maintaining ongoing legal compliance. Many Responsible Persons make the mistake of treating their assessment as a permanent document — only to find themselves non-compliant when an inspection reveals it has not been reviewed in three or four years.
UK fire safety law does not just require an assessment to exist — it must be ‘suitable and sufficient’. This is the legal standard set by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and it is what Fire and Rescue Authorities assess during inspections. A suitable and sufficient assessment:
For a straightforward overview of your full fire safety risk assessment process, the five-step framework is the definitive starting point — whether you are commissioning an assessment for the first time or reviewing an existing one.
If you are unsure whether your existing assessment meets this standard — or if it was completed before the April 2026 regulatory changes — now is the time to act. You can find a fire risk assessment near me by contacting our team directly for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Yes — without exception for most premises. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, every Responsible person for a non-domestic premises in England and Wales must ensure a suitable and sufficient fire & safety risk assessment is in place and regularly reviewed. The Fire Safety Act 2021 and Building Safety Act 2022 have since extended these obligations significantly — particularly for residential blocks of flats and higher-risk buildings.
For a full explanation of your obligations, our guide on whether a fire risk assessment is required by law sets out everything property owners, landlords, and business managers need to know. The penalties for non-compliance — unlimited fines, criminal prosecution, prohibition notices — make this one legal obligation that simply cannot be ignored.
Five steps. The UK government’s fire safety framework and BS 9792:2025 both define a five-step process: (1) Identify fire hazards, (2) Identify people at risk, (3) Evaluate, remove and reduce risks, (4) Record findings, prepare an emergency plan and train staff, and (5) Review and update the assessment regularly. All five steps must be completed for an assessment to be legally compliant.
Technically yes — if you are a competent person with sufficient training, experience, and knowledge for your specific premises type. In practice, most property owners and landlords do not meet the competency threshold for complex premises such as HMOs, commercial buildings, care homes, or any premises with vulnerable occupants. A professionally conducted assessment from a BAFE SP205-registered provider is strongly advisable for most non-domestic properties.
Non-compliance with UK fire safety legislation is a criminal offence. Consequences include unlimited fines, criminal prosecution of the Responsible Person, enforcement notices requiring costly remedial action, prohibition notices forcing premises closure, and avoidance of your property insurance. Fire and Rescue Authorities across England and Wales actively inspect and prosecute non-compliant premises.
This depends on the size and complexity of your premises. A small office or retail unit may take 1–2 hours. A large commercial premises, industrial facility, or multi-storey residential block may require a full day or more. The written report is typically produced and delivered within 24–48 hours of the site inspection.
Costs vary depending on property type, size, and complexity. Most standard commercial and HMO assessments range from £150 to £900 + VAT. Fire Safety Risk Assessment provides transparent, competitive pricing across Manchester, Birmingham, Warrington, and the West Midlands — with a free, no-obligation quote before any commitment.
The five steps of a fire safety risk assessment — identify hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate and reduce risks, record findings and plan, review regularly — form one of the most important compliance frameworks in UK property law. Each step has a purpose. Each step has consequences if it is skipped or handled carelessly.
At Fire Safety Risk Assessment, we follow every one of these steps with rigour, expertise, and genuine care for the people in every building we assess. Our BAFE SP205-registered team covers Manchester, Birmingham, Warrington, and the West Midlands — delivering BS 9792:2025-aligned assessments that are accepted by Fire and Rescue Authorities and insurers across the UK.
Whether you are commissioning your first assessment or reviewing an out-of-date one, contact us today for a free, no-obligation quote. We will confirm what your property needs, how long it will take, and what it will cost — clearly, honestly, and without delay.
BAFE SP205 Registered · BS 9792:2025 Compliant · All Property Types · Fast Turnaround
Serving: Manchester | Birmingham | Warrington | West Midlands
Trusted Fire Risk Assessment specialists serving Birmingham, Manchester, West Midlands, Warrington, and across the UK. FSRA provides fully compliant Fire Risk Assessments, Asbestos Surveys, and Legionella Risk Assessments to help businesses and landlords protect people, property, and meet legal obligations.