A guide for your business
From offices to shops and factories to warehouses, Communities and Local Government have developed a set of guides to help you comply with fire safety law. They advise you on how to carry out a fire risk assessment and identify the general fire precautions you need to have in place.
These simple guides have been produced so that a responsible person, with limited training or experience, should be able to carry out a fire risk assessment. If you read the guide and decide you are unable to apply the guidance then you should seek expert advice.
Guide chart and check list
Download a colour-coded chart listing the titles of all the guides and a short checklist to help you complete your risk assessment at www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw/aboutguides. An online self-assessment form is also available at www.fire.gov.uk to help you ensure your premises comply with the new legislation.
The guides
All the links below link to pages on www.communities.gov.uk
Guide 1 - Offices and shops
Relevant for offices and retail premises (including individual units within larger premises e.g. shopping centres).
Guide 2 - Factories and warehouses
Relevant for factories and warehouse storage premises.
Guide 3 - Sleeping accommodation
Relevant for all premises where the main use is to provide sleeping accommodation, e.g. hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, residential training centres, holiday accommodation and the common areas of flats, maisonettes, HMOs and sheltered housing (other than those providing care -residential care premises), but excluding hospitals, residential care premises, places of custody and single private dwellings.
Guide 4 - Residential care premises
Residential care and nursing homes, common areas of sheltered housing (where care is provided) and similar premises, which are permanently staffed and where the primary use is the provision of care rather than healthcare (see Healthcare premises).
Guide 5 - Educational premises
Teaching establishments ranging from pre-school through to universities, except the residential parts (see Sleeping accommodation).
Guide 6 - Small and medium places of assembly
Smaller public houses, clubs, restaurants and cafés, village halls, community centres, libraries, marquees, churches and other places of worship or study accommodating up to 300 people.
Guide 7 - Large places of assembly
Larger premises where more than 300 people could gather, e.g. shopping centres (not the individual shops), large nightclubs and pubs, exhibition and conference centres, sports stadia, marquees, museums, libraries, churches, cathedrals and other places of worship or study.
Guide 8 - Theatres and cinemas
Theatres, cinemas, concert halls and similar premises used primarily for this purpose.
Guide 9 - Open air events and venues
Open air events, e.g. theme parks, zoos, music concerts, sporting events
(not stadia – see Large places of assembly), fairgrounds and county fairs.
Guide 10 - Healthcare premises
Premises where the primary use is the provision of healthcare (including private), e.g. hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, dentists and other similar healthcare premises.
Guide 11 - Transport premises and facilities
Transportation terminals and interchanges, e.g. airports, railway stations (including sub-surface), transport tunnels, ports, bus and coach stations and similar premises but excluding the the means of transport (e.g. trains, buses, planes and ships).
Supplementary Guide - Means of escape for disabled people