Fire Risk Assessments for Offices
Updated September 2026 · England and Wales
Short answer: every office needs a fire risk assessment, whatever its size, and since October 2023 every business must record it in full in writing, not just those with five or more staff. If you rent part of a building, you’re responsible for your own space and the landlord is responsible for the shared parts, and the law now requires you to swap details and work together. A small office assessment typically costs £180 to £360.
Office fire safety sounds simple, and in a single-occupier office it mostly is. The problems start in shared buildings, where nobody is sure whether the landlord or the tenants own the fire alarm, and in hybrid offices, where the trained fire wardens are at home on the day the alarm goes off.
This guide covers the rule change most small businesses missed, how responsibility splits in a multi-let building, fire wardens when half the team works from home, and what office assessments usually find. Sources are linked throughout.
The five-employee rule is gone
For years, the rule was that businesses with five or more employees had to write down the significant findings of their fire risk assessment. Smaller businesses still had to do the assessment, but didn’t have to record it. Many small office owners took that to mean they didn’t need one at all.
That changed on 1 October 2023. Under the Building Safety Act 2022, every responsible person must now record the whole fire risk assessment and their fire safety arrangements in writing, whatever the number of staff. London Fire Brigade puts it simply: all responsible persons must record all findings “regardless of the size or purpose of the premises.”
Two other changes came in at the same time. Anyone who helps you with the assessment must be competent, and you must record their name and organisation. And if you share a building with other businesses, you now have specific duties to find each other and share information, covered below.
You will still see the old five-employee rule repeated on business forums. It no longer applies.
Multi-let offices: who is responsible for what
Most small businesses rent space in a building someone else owns. The Fire Safety Order doesn’t give that building a single responsible person. The employer is responsible for the space it controls, and the landlord, or anyone whose lease gives them repair or safety duties, is responsible for the parts they control.
| Who | Usually responsible for |
|---|---|
| The landlord | A fire risk assessment of the common parts: the entrance, stairs, corridors, lifts, plant rooms and external fire escapes. Usually also any building-wide fire alarm, emergency lighting in shared areas and the fire doors on shared routes. The exact split depends on the lease. |
| Each tenant | A fire risk assessment of its own space. Its own fire extinguishers, staff training, fire drills, fire wardens and personal evacuation plans for staff who need help. Keeping its own exits and corridors clear. |
| Everyone | Since October 2023: take reasonable steps to find out who else is a responsible person in the building, give them your name and a UK address for notices, tell them which part of the building you consider yourself responsible for (and keep a record of that), share any risks your business creates, and co-ordinate your fire safety measures. |
Based on the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 5 and article 22 as amended from 1 October 2023. When a tenant or owner changes, the outgoing responsible person must also pass on relevant fire safety information to the new one (article 22A).
“Hi, who is responsible for the Fire Risk Assessment and Fire extinguishers and other equipment in a commercial 3 storey multiple occupancy building?”
Occupier of a three-storey commercial building, Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, August 2025
The expert answer matched the law: each tenant is a responsible person for its own space and needs its own assessment and equipment, while the landlord covers the shared areas and any central alarm. That means several fire risk assessments in one building, and they need to fit together. If your office relies on a landlord’s alarm, ask to see the landlord’s assessment for the common parts, and give the landlord yours.
Signing a new lease? Before you move in, ask the landlord for the common parts fire risk assessment, the date the alarm and emergency lighting were last serviced, and who tests them. It’s much easier to get answers before you’ve signed.
Fire wardens when half the team works from home
The government’s guide for offices expects the people with a role in your emergency plan, such as fire wardens or marshals, to be given details of your fire risk assessment and extra training. It doesn’t set a number. But hybrid working has quietly broken many warden rotas that were built for a full office.
“now that has been withdrawn stating lack of fire wardens in the building”
Office worker in a building of around 500 people, MoneySavingExpert forum, October 2023
Most colleagues were working from home, so this employee’s flexible hours were withdrawn to cover warden duty. That solves nothing long term. Better options: train more people so cover doesn’t depend on one person, link desk booking to warden cover so there’s always a trained person in, and make your procedure work even when no warden is in, for example with a clear “last person out checks the floor” rule and an up-to-date sign-in list for fire roll calls.
- Plan for your quietest day, not your busiest. Fridays and early mornings are when warden cover usually fails.
- Keep staff evacuation plans current. Anyone who needs help to get out, including temporarily after an injury, needs a plan that works whoever is in that day.
- Visitors and contractors should sign in and out, so the roll call means something.
A small office: what you actually need
“I think it falls on me to get this sorted and it makes me really nervous having to plan all this and not 100% what we need.”
Office manager for a 13-person office above a shop, Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, September 2022
This is the most common situation in small businesses: fire safety lands on whoever runs the office, with no training. The old alarm bell in this office appeared to be disconnected, and the expert reply made a point worth repeating: domestic smoke alarms are not a workplace fire alarm. The fire risk assessment decides what you need, and for a small office it is usually a short list.
For a typical small office of up to 20 people, the list usually looks like this:
- A written fire risk assessment, reviewed at least every year or after any change to the layout or the business.
- A way of raising the alarm that everyone will hear. In most offices that means manual call points and sounders, not a handheld bell or domestic alarms.
- Clear escape routes and exits that open easily from the inside, with signs where the route isn’t obvious.
- Suitable fire extinguishers, usually water or foam plus CO2 for electrical equipment, serviced annually.
- Emergency lighting where escape routes would be dark if the power failed.
- Training and drills. The government says “You should carry out at least one fire drill per year and record the results.” New starters should be told the fire procedure on day one.
E-bikes, e-scooters and battery charging
Cycle-to-work schemes have brought lithium-ion batteries into offices, often charged under desks or in corridors. London Fire Brigade’s guidance for responsible persons says fire risk assessments should consider “where e-bikes and e-scooters are stored”, “whether batteries are charged in communal areas” and “whether escape routes could be blocked”. Government guidance for Crown premises goes further: ideally store e-bikes outside, or in a fire-resisting room with automatic detection, and keep battery packs attached to the bike rather than bringing them into the workplace.
If staff charge e-bikes or scooters at work, set a written rule on where and when, keep charging away from escape routes, and ban charging overnight or unattended.
What office fire risk assessments usually find
- Fire doors wedged open with bins, chairs or door wedges, usually on the door between the office and the stairs.
- Escape routes used as storage: archive boxes, deliveries and old furniture in corridors and stairwells.
- Nobody knows who owns the alarm. In shared buildings, the tenant assumes the landlord tests it, and the landlord assumes the tenant does.
- Overloaded extension leads and daisy-chained adaptors under desks and in kitchens.
- An assessment that describes a different office: written before a refit, a move to hot desking or a new tenant downstairs.
- No record of drills, alarm tests or extinguisher servicing.
- People sleeping in the building. Staff or contractors staying overnight turns an office into sleeping accommodation, and fire services treat it very seriously, as the cases below show.
Office cases that went to court
Office prosecutions are less common than those for flats or HMOs. When they do happen, a clear pattern shows up: offices being used for sleeping, and assessments left untouched for years.
The Bedford case is the one most landlords should read. Nothing dramatic happened: the assessment simply wasn’t reviewed for years while the building deteriorated around it.
How much an office fire risk assessment costs
Floor area matters much less than you’d expect. In our survey of 20 published UK price lists, one firm’s full price ladder showed an office 100 times bigger costing only about three times as much. Typical prices including VAT:
The full breakdown, and the costs that tend to follow an assessment, are in our fire risk assessment cost guide.
What a typical office assessment looks like
Example
The property: a 600 m² office on the second floor of a three-storey multi-let building, with 45 staff. The landlord runs the shared stair and reception.
The visit: two to three hours. The tenant’s assessment covers its own floor, but the assessor also looks at the shared stair because it’s the only way out.
What usually comes up: a store room full of archive boxes next to the stair door, an out-of-date fire warden list, and no written agreement with the landlord about who tests the alarm and how the two of them share findings.
Cost: around £300 to £450 for an office up to 1,000 m².
An illustrative example based on the guidance and prices on this page. Not a real customer or property.
Office fire risk assessments: quick answers
Does a small office need a fire risk assessment?
Yes. Every workplace needs one, whatever the number of staff. Since 1 October 2023, every responsible person must also record the full assessment in writing, not just businesses with five or more employees.
Who is responsible for the fire risk assessment in a shared office building?
Each business is responsible for the space it controls, and the landlord is responsible for the common parts such as stairs, corridors and any shared fire alarm. Everyone must co-operate, share contact details and tell each other which parts they are responsible for.
Is the landlord or the tenant responsible for the fire alarm?
It depends on the lease and on who controls the system. In multi-let buildings, a building-wide alarm is usually the landlord’s responsibility. If you’re the only tenant and the lease puts it on you, it’s yours.
How many fire wardens does an office need?
There is no fixed legal number. Your fire risk assessment should set it based on the layout, the number of floors and how many people are in on a typical day. With hybrid working, plan for your quietest day, not your busiest.
How often should an office have a fire drill?
Government guidance says you should carry out at least one fire drill a year and record the results. Larger offices, or those with high staff turnover, often do more.
Can I do my own office fire risk assessment?
Yes, if you are competent to. For a small, simple office, following the government’s offices guide can work. For larger offices, shared buildings or anything unusual, a professional assessment is the safer choice, and you must record who did it.
How much does an office fire risk assessment cost?
Typically £180 to £360 for an office under 250 m², £300 to £450 up to 1,000 m², and £400 to £650 for larger offices. Common parts assessments of multi-let buildings are typically £200 to £400.
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