A fire risk assessment examines a building's communal areas for fire hazards, evaluates who is at risk, and sets out the measures that keep the means of escape, compartmentation, detection and signage effective. It is the anchor document for a building's whole fire safety regime.
The responsible person for any building with two or more dwellings must have a suitable and sufficient FRA. Post-Grenfell reforms — the Fire Safety Act 2021 and Building Safety Act 2022 — widened its scope to structure, external walls and flat entrance doors, and raised the bar on recording and competence.
In England and Wales the FRA duty sits in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, clarified by the Fire Safety Act 2021 to include external walls and flat entrance doors, with the Building Safety Act 2022 adding duties for higher-risk buildings.
Regulatory frameworks differ across the UK — see the city pages below for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland specifics.
Usually the freeholder, managing agent or housing provider who has control of the building's communal areas. They can appoint a competent assessor, but the legal duty stays with them.
The law says regularly and after any material change. Annual review is standard practice for residential blocks, with high-rise buildings under more intensive regimes.
It covers communal parts, the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors — not the interior of private dwellings, though findings often trigger in-flat actions like door replacements.
FRAs must be reviewed regularly and after any material change — annual review is the standard for residential blocks, with higher-risk buildings on more intensive regimes under the Building Safety Act.
Local guides for housing providers across the UK
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