Who Can Carry Out A Fire Risk Assessment?

It is a fair question with a precise answer. The law says a competent person can complete a fire risk assessment. Competent means someone with the right knowledge, training, and experience for the building and the risks it presents. In very simple settings, a responsible person with the right background may be able to carry out a fire risk assessment confidently. In most real world cases, especially where buildings are larger, more complex, or house vulnerable people, businesses appoint a qualified fire risk assessor to ensure the fire risk assessment is suitable and sufficient and to reduce liability.

This article explains what competence means in practice, when you can keep the task in house, when you should commission a specialist, and how to choose a provider who will deliver a clear, usable fire risk assessment. You will see how the law frames the duty, what evidence an assessor should bring to the table, and how a well scoped fire risk assessment supports safety, compliance, and a smoother experience with auditors and insurers.

What The Law Says About Competence

Across the UK, the duty to base general fire precautions on an assessment of risk is a common theme. In England and Wales, the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (RRFSO) requires the responsible person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to relevant persons. Nothing in the law mandates a particular type of professional to complete a fire risk assessment. Instead, the duty rests on competence and on the quality of the outcome.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legislation and guidance. The principle is the same. You must ensure your fire risk assessment is suitable and sufficient for your building and use. If you hand the task to someone without the training or experience to understand how a fire could start, how it could spread, how people will be protected, and how controls are maintained, you will not meet the duty and you will carry unnecessary risk.

Suitable and sufficient is not a slogan. Your fire risk assessment must be grounded in evidence, consider people at risk, test management arrangements, and conclude with a prioritised action plan. The person who carries it out must be able to judge the adequacy of fire doors, the maintenance of detection and alarm systems, the capacity and protection of escape routes, and the way your routine work and contractors affect ignition sources. That is the practical benchmark for competence.

What Competence Looks Like In Practice

Competence is a blend of knowledge, experience, and professional behaviour. If you are trusting someone to complete a fire risk assessment that will stand up to scrutiny, look for the following.

• Technical Knowledge: Understanding of ignition sources, housekeeping, storage risks, and how operations change risk. Familiarity with fire detection and alarm systems, emergency lighting, passive fire protection including compartmentation and fire doors, active systems such as sprinklers or smoke control, and evacuation strategies including stay put and simultaneous evacuation. Without this grasp, a fire risk assessment cannot be relied upon.
• Recognised Training And Qualifications: Evidence of structured learning in fire safety and risk assessment. This shows the individual can apply method as well as experience and can produce a fire risk assessment that is consistent and reasoned.
• Relevant Experience: A track record with similar buildings and uses. A care home, a warehouse, a historic theatre, or a mixed use block each needs a fire risk assessment that reflects very different realities. Experience with your type of setting matters.
• Professional Standing: Membership or listing with recognised bodies such as the Institution Of Fire Engineers (IFE), the Institute Of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM), the Institute Of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO), or certification under the Fire Risk Assessment Certification Scheme (FRACS). Registration is not the only sign of competence, but it is a strong indicator that the assessor’s work will produce a robust fire risk assessment and that they are subject to oversight.
• Insurance: Professional indemnity and public liability insurance that fit the scale of your premises and the scope of the fire risk assessment. Insurance signals professionalism and protects you if something goes wrong.

Can You Do Your Own Fire Risk Assessment?

Yes, if you are competent for the building and its risks. For a small, simple shop or office with stable use, basic electrical equipment, clear escape routes, and no unusual hazards, an in house fire risk assessment can be reasonable. To make that judgement, ask yourself whether you understand the building, the occupants, and the systems well enough to identify hazards, evaluate controls, and produce a practical action plan that others can follow. If the answer is yes, you can write a short, focused fire risk assessment and maintain it with regular reviews.

Be honest about blind spots. Templates can be helpful to prompt thinking, but a template does not produce a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment by itself. You need to walk the building, open doors, look into risers, check maintenance records, and talk to people who work there at different times of day. You need to know where to seek advice when you hit a technical question. If that comfort is missing, you should commission a competent fire risk assessor so that your fire risk assessment is defensible.

Remember accountability. The responsible person remains accountable for the outcomes of the fire risk assessment even if a contractor completes it. If you decide to carry out your own fire risk assessment, record your method, your findings, your evidence, and your action plan. Keep it under review and update it when anything changes.

When To Appoint A Specialist Assessor

Certain settings and changes raise the bar. If any of the following apply, a specialist is advisable so that your fire risk assessment goes beyond the obvious and reflects the technical and managerial realities of your building.

• Sleeping risk, including hotels, hostels, student blocks, and care settings.
• High rise residential common parts, where smoke control, firefighting lifts, and complex evacuation strategies require deeper understanding.
• Fire engineered features such as pressurised stairs, engineered smoke ventilation, or atria, where a fire risk assessment must respect design intent.
• Vulnerable occupants who may need help to evacuate, which changes strategies and staff competencies.
• Mixed use layouts or heritage constraints that limit alterations and complicate compartmentation checks.
• Frequent change of use, seasonal peaks, or construction and refurbishment activity alongside occupancy.

A specialist will shape a fire risk assessment that is proportionate, avoids unnecessary disruption, and pinpoints risks that generalists miss. They will leave you with an action plan that addresses the right priorities in the right order, which is what enforcers and insurers look for when judging a fire risk assessment.

How To Choose A Competent Fire Risk Assessor

Choosing on price alone is a common mistake. You need someone who will produce a fire risk assessment that reads clearly, makes sense to your team, and stands up to scrutiny. Start by asking for a CV that shows relevant experience with your type of premises, evidence of training, and any registrations. Request a sample report. A good sample shows clear descriptions, photos that support findings, and a prioritised action plan. Confirm professional indemnity and public liability insurance levels appropriate to your building.

Test their approach. A competent assessor will ask for information before visiting, such as drawings, previous fire risk assessment reports, maintenance certificates, fire door inspection records, and drill logs. They will allow time on site to see all areas, not just public corridors. They will explain how they sample, how they will test management arrangements, and how they will record assumptions and limitations. If an assessor offers to complete a full fire risk assessment without visiting or suggests an unrealistically short site time for a complex building, take that as a red flag.

Get references or testimonials for similar buildings. Speak to clients who can confirm that actions were practical and that the finished fire risk assessment helped them improve safety and satisfy audits. It is reasonable to ask how the assessor stays current with changes in guidance and with learning from incidents in your sector. A focus on learning and improvement is a good sign that you will receive a thoughtful fire risk assessment, not a tick list.

Scoping The Work and Agreeing Deliverables

Clarity at the start prevents friction later. Agree the scope in writing. Define the areas included, the systems to be considered, and any intrusive checks or separate surveys that may be needed. A general fire risk assessment is a visual, non destructive exercise. If your building needs a detailed fire door survey or an invasive compartmentation survey, agree that as a separate task with clear objectives. The fire risk assessment should signpost such needs without pretending to have done work that was not in scope.

Agree what the finished document will look like. A usable fire risk assessment will include a summary in plain English, a description of the building and its use, a record of the information reviewed, observations from the site inspection, reasoned judgements on adequacy, and a prioritised action plan with owners and timescales. Photos should support significant findings. Assumptions and limitations should be clear so that future reviews of the fire risk assessment understand the basis of the conclusions.

Suitable and Sufficient Without Overcomplication

The phrase suitable and sufficient protects you from both extremes. A thin, generic note is not enough. A bloated technical report can be just as unhelpful if it buries the actions and confuses the people who must act. A recognised framework such as PAS 79 gives structure to a fire risk assessment, but it should be applied thoughtfully. The point is a clear line of sight from hazards to controls to actions, not rigid templating.

Ask for a fire risk assessment that your team can use. That means readable prose, photos that clarify points of detail, and actions that express what needs to be done in a way the recipient can execute. Make sure the assessment covers people at risk, including visitors and contractors, and that it explains how the evacuation strategy works for your building. If your assessor keeps this level of clarity in view, your fire risk assessment will be easier to maintain and to review as your building changes.

Costs, Value, and Liability

Price matters, but the value of a robust fire risk assessment is measured on the day you need to show what you did to manage risk. Enforcement officers and insurers pay attention to the quality of the document, the logic of the findings, and the coherence of your action plan. A cheap report that avoids hard questions costs more later when changes are ordered under pressure or when you face delay in claims handling.

A good fire risk assessment helps you spend wisely. It distinguishes high priority life safety issues from lower priority improvements and supports your case for investment. It also reduces uncertainty by making assumptions explicit. That transparency reduces liability because it shows you have identified risk, set controls, and created a plan to keep those controls working. That is what suitable and sufficient looks like in practice and why the person who carries out your fire risk assessment is a significant decision.

Common Mistakes and How To Avoid Them

• Appointing Without Checking Competence: Someone may be confident and still not be competent for your building. Verify training, experience, and example outputs before you commission a fire risk assessment.
• Overreliance On Templates: Templates can guide structure, but they cannot replace a site specific fire risk assessment. Beware documents that read as if they could apply anywhere.
• Remote Or Superficial Work: A walk through that avoids plant rooms, roof spaces, or service risers will miss the details that matter. A credible fire risk assessment shows access was achieved and explains any limitations.
• Weak Action Planning: Findings that do not convert into prioritised actions with owners and timescales will not be delivered. A good fire risk assessment does the hard work of setting a clear plan.
• No Follow Up: The assessment is only the start. Without tracking and review, risks drift back. Build review dates into your calendar and treat the fire risk assessment as a live document.

Sector Notes: Who Should Carry It Out In Different Settings

Offices and Co Working

Most offices are straightforward, yet they still need a competent person to complete a fire risk assessment that tests escape routes, electrical safety, hot work by contractors, and the management of visitors and those with additional needs. In co working spaces, responsibilities split between the operator and member businesses. The operator should commission a building wide fire risk assessment, while each member business should consider local risks that sit within their control.

Retail and Hospitality

Shops, cafes, pubs, and restaurants change with seasons, promotions, and staffing. Kitchens add ignition sources and ventilation risks. A competent assessor will produce a fire risk assessment that looks beyond the shop floor to stock rooms, plant areas, and ductwork, and that reflects busy trading patterns and staff turnover. Experience with similar sites adds real value.

Industrial, Warehousing, and Logistics

Here the scale and variety of risks demand deeper experience. A credible fire risk assessment will consider storage heights, racking layouts, battery charging, hot work, vehicle movements, and how sprinklers and smoke control interact with use. A specialist assessor is advisable for most large sites so that the fire risk assessment aligns with protection system design and operational realities.

Education and Research

Schools and universities mix public access with labs, workshops, and assembly spaces. A competent assessor will coordinate local departmental risks with a building wide fire risk assessment so that the evacuation strategy is coherent. Experience with labs and specialist equipment helps avoid superficial findings.

Healthcare and Care Homes

Because many occupants cannot self evacuate, a fire risk assessment must weigh staffing levels, progressive horizontal evacuation, compartmentation integrity, and the maintenance of critical systems. In this sector, a specialist is the sensible choice. The resulting fire risk assessment needs to support drills and shift patterns, not just daytime assumptions.

Purpose Built Flats and Mixed Use Buildings

In residential blocks, the duty usually covers the common parts. A competent assessor will understand smoke control, firefighting access, flat entrance doors, and the interaction between any ground floor commercial use and residential areas above. The fire risk assessment must respect the building’s evacuation strategy and should set out management checks of doors and systems that residents depend on.

Construction and Refurbishment Projects

On live projects, risks evolve quickly. A project needs a fire risk assessment at start and review points as phases change. A competent assessor will consider temporary alarms, access for the fire and rescue service, storage of cylinders and flammables, and the protection of escape routes through the works. Coordination with the principal contractor’s controls is essential.

Working In Multi Occupied Buildings

In a shared building, each occupier must hold a current fire risk assessment for the areas they control. The landlord or managing agent must complete a fire risk assessment for the common parts. Coordination is essential. Where systems and procedures interact, a lead assessor model can help to ensure consistency. Interface documents should set out how alarm cause and effect, evacuation, and maintenance responsibilities fit together so that each fire risk assessment tells a coherent part of one building story.

Changes by one party can undermine another’s controls. When tenants refit, change stock, or alter layouts, the landlord’s fire risk assessment may need review. When the landlord upgrades alarm systems or changes door strategies, tenants must update their documents. Cooperation and communication keep the set of fire risk assessment documents aligned.

Audits, Enforcement, And How Competence Is Tested

Fire and rescue services audit premises and will ask to see your current fire risk assessment, action plan, and evidence that actions are tracked to completion. They may ask who completed the document and what qualifications or experience they hold. A well presented, reasoned fire risk assessment produced by a competent person builds confidence and reduces the likelihood of formal notices. If your document is thin, generic, or out of date, you can expect greater scrutiny.

Insurers also look at competence and evidence quality. A clear fire risk assessment that shows sensible prioritisation and a record of closed actions helps with claims handling and with business continuity planning. If you want to explore plain English guidance on duties and assessor selection, the Home Office guidance for businesses is a reliable starting point. Use it to inform your choice of who should carry out your next fire risk assessment and to set expectations for the finished document.

Clear Criteria for Choosing Who Carries Out Your Assessment

The law requires competence and a fire risk assessment that is suitable, sufficient, and usable. That means selecting someone who understands your building and can produce a report that is clear, evidenced, and action focused. For straightforward premises, a Responsible Person with the right training and experience can complete and maintain the assessment. For complex layouts, higher risk activities, or multi-occupied sites, commissioning a specialist is the safer and more efficient choice. Test competence before you commit, agree the scope and deliverables up front, and insist on an assessment your team can actually use. That is how you protect people, satisfy auditors, and keep operations running without distraction.

When you want to sense-check your approach or set expectations internally, credible guidance makes a difference. Reviewing the latest Home Office advice and learning from similar types of buildings helps strengthen your next assessment and makes it easier to keep current. Above all, keep the document live: act on findings, store clear evidence, and review it whenever anything significant changes.

For clarity on roles, responsibilities, and sector-specific checklists, the Home Office resources referenced earlier are a solid starting point. Use them as context, then choose a competent person who will tailor the assessment to your site instead of producing a generic snapshot that leaves doubt or gaps.

To move forward confidently, set a simple plan. Decide who will undertake your next fire risk assessment, gather the information they’ll need, arrange access, and confirm dates. When the right person does the job properly, the assessment becomes a practical tool—not a box-ticking exercise.

Ready to work with a specialist who delivers clarity, proportionality, and a reliable action plan?

Book a conversation with our consultants and secure a date that suits your timetable. We’ll align the scope to your risks, complete the assessment thoroughly, and provide a document that stands up to scrutiny and supports safe, smooth operations.

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