About the guides - introduction and checklist

Fire safety law changed in October 2006 with the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The requirement for businesses to have fire certificates has been abolished and any previously held are no longer valid. Instead the law:

emphasises preventing fires and reducing risk
makes it your responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone who uses your premises and in the immediate vicinity

A set of guides has been developed to tell you what you have to do to comply with fire safety law, help you to carry out a fire risk assessment and identify the general fire precautions you need to have in place.

Download/order the guides

See the links on the right hand side of this page for information on how to download or order hard copies of each guide.

The guides have been designed so that a responsible person, with limited formal training or experience, should be able to carry out a fire risk assessment and know what, if any, additional fire precaution or prevention arrangements need to be in place.

More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive training or experience in fire risk assessment. However these guides will be appropriate for more complex, multi-occupied buildings to address fire safety issues in individual occupancies.

If, having read the guide, you decide are unable to apply the guidance then you should seek expert advice. Your local fire and rescue authority may be able to help. However they will not be able to carry the risk assessment out for you.

In addition to the main series of guides, we have produced a supplementary guide on the Means of Escape for Disabled People. This is designed to read alongside the relevant premises guide.

Guide chart and checklist

Below you can download a colour-coded chart listing the titles of all our guides and a short checklist to help you complete your risk assessment.

An online form is also available on the Fire Gateway website to help you consider whether your premises are likely to meet the requirements of the legislation (see link on the right).