MARSHALEvery Fire Safety
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Written and reviewed by serving and retired fire marshals.
The People Behind the Answers
Station Commander David Ashworth
Station Commander (Retired)
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue
Compartmentation & Structural Fire Protection“Most compartmentation failures I investigated weren't design faults — they were maintenance failures nobody had documented.”
Fire Safety Officer Karen Nwachukwu
Senior Fire Safety Officer
London Fire Brigade
Means of Escape & Residential Blocks“An enforcement notice is not the end — it's a formal question that expects a formal, documented answer.”
Inspector Tariq Mehmood
Fire Safety Inspector
West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue
Risk Assessment & New Build Sign-Off“The first risk assessment you write is always the hardest. After that, you're building a living document, not a one-off exercise.”
Compartmentation & Means of Escape
The questions that arrive at enforcement stage — answered with the same directness a visiting inspector would use.
A compartmentation failure is any breach in the fire-resisting elements that divide a building into protected zones. This includes unsealed service penetrations (where cables or pipes pass through a fire wall without intumescent collars), missing or damaged fire doors, and voids above suspended ceilings that connect compartments. Responsibility rests with the Responsible Person under Article 3 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — in most premises, that is the employer or the person in control of the premises. In residential blocks, the duty sits with the building owner or managing agent for all common areas.
Every unsealed cable penetration is a chimney waiting for a fire to find it.
RRO 2005, Article 9 / BS 9999:2017, Section 7.4
The Responsible Person must ensure that fire-resisting construction is maintained in an effective condition at all times.
Reviewed by: Station Commander David Ashworth
A compliant fire door carries a third-party certification label — typically from Certifire, BWF-CERTIFIRE, or a UKAS-accredited body — stating the FD rating (FD30 or FD60). Beyond the label, the door must be correctly installed: gaps around the frame should be no more than 3mm, the door should close fully under its own weight from any angle, intumescent strips and cold smoke seals must be intact, and the self-closing device must function without being held open. If any of these conditions fail, the door does not perform to its rating, regardless of the certification it carries.
A propped-open fire door is not a fire door. It is a hazard wearing a label.
BS 9999:2017, Clause 15.3 / BS EN 1634-1
Fire doors must be inspected at intervals sufficient to ensure they remain in effective working order. Guidance recommends at minimum six-monthly checks.
Reviewed by: Fire Safety Officer Karen Nwachukwu
A means-of-escape route passing through a kitchen is almost always non-compliant. Kitchens are high-risk areas due to the likelihood of fire ignition, and any route that traverses them forces occupants toward the most probable fire source. The general principle in BS 9999 is that escape routes must be protected from the effects of fire and smoke, kept clear at all times, and must not pass through areas of high fire risk. There are very narrow exceptions in small, single-storey premises with a low occupancy and a suitable fire risk assessment — but these require specific justification in writing and are not a default position.
If your escape route goes through a kitchen, your fire risk assessment needs to explain why — in detail.
BS 9999:2017, Section 9 / MHCLG Fire Safety Guidance 2022
Escape routes shall not pass through rooms where there is a high probability of fire or where access is restricted.
Reviewed by: Inspector Tariq Mehmood
In residential blocks up to 11 metres in height, a single staircase can be acceptable under the "stay put" strategy — provided the building has adequate compartmentation so that the fire is contained and residents in unaffected flats remain in place. Above 11 metres (or where stay put is not viable), the guidance shifts significantly toward requiring alternative escape routes. Post-Grenfell, the Fire Safety Act 2021 and updated PAS 9980 guidance have increased scrutiny on single-staircase blocks considerably. Any building relying on a single staircase should have its fire risk assessment reviewed against the latest guidance, particularly if it is above four storeys.
Stay put is a strategy, not an excuse to avoid a second staircase.
Approved Document B (2019), Volume 1 / PAS 9980:2022
The adequacy of a single means of escape must be assessed against the height, occupancy, and compartmentation standard of the specific building.
Reviewed by: Fire Safety Officer Karen Nwachukwu
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Risk Assessment & Enforcement
From a first appointment to a formal notice — the procedural questions that determine whether you stay compliant or face prosecution.
The phrase "suitable and sufficient" comes from Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and is deliberately not prescriptive — it means appropriate to the specific premises, not comprehensive to the point of paralysis. In practice, a suitable and sufficient assessment must identify the fire hazards present, identify the people at risk (including those with disabilities or who may be unfamiliar with the premises), evaluate and reduce the risk from those hazards, record the significant findings if you employ five or more people, and review the assessment whenever there is a significant change. For a first assessment in a low-risk office, this can be a clear, structured document of four to six pages. For a complex mixed-use building, it will be considerably more.
The test is not whether your assessment is long — it is whether it would satisfy an inspector who has never seen your building.
RRO 2005, Article 9 / Home Office Guidance Note
A "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment is one that is appropriate to the nature of the activity, the premises, and the number and category of persons at risk.
Reviewed by: Inspector Tariq Mehmood
First: read the notice in full and note the compliance date precisely — enforcement notices specify a period within which action must be completed, and that date is legally binding. Second: identify whether the notice requires immediate action (an Prohibition Notice stops use of the premises immediately) or scheduled action (an Enforcement Notice sets a deadline). Third: engage a competent fire safety consultant or solicitor if you intend to appeal — you have 21 days from the date of service to appeal to a magistrates' court, and the appeal suspends the notice pending the hearing. Fourth: do not ignore it. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice is a criminal offence under Article 32 of the RRO, carrying an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment.
Twenty-one days to appeal. Not twenty-two.
RRO 2005, Articles 30–32
An appeal against an enforcement or prohibition notice must be made to a magistrates' court within 21 days of the notice being served. During an appeal, the enforcement notice is suspended; a prohibition notice is not.
Reviewed by: Fire Safety Officer Karen Nwachukwu
A pre-completion red flag from the local authority (or a Registered Building Inspector) typically means the building's fire safety design diverges from the approved plans, a required document is missing, or an inspection has identified a non-compliance. The first step is to request a written schedule of deficiencies — inspectors are required to provide this, and it gives you a definitive list rather than a verbal summary. Address each item with documented evidence: photographic records, third-party certification for materials, updated fire strategy documents, or a revised risk assessment. For complex disputes, commissioning an independent fire engineer's report that directly rebuts the authority's findings is often the fastest route to resolution, because it forces a technical dialogue rather than a procedural one.
A written schedule of deficiencies is not a letter of condemnation. It is a checklist.
Building Safety Act 2022 / Building Regulations 2010, Reg. 38
Regulation 38 requires that fire safety information is given to the Responsible Person on completion of a new building or alteration. Failure to provide this information is a common cause of delayed sign-off.
Reviewed by: Inspector Tariq Mehmood
There is no fixed legal interval for review — the RRO requires review "regularly" and "if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change." In practice, HSE and fire service guidance recommends annual review for most premises, and more frequently for higher-risk environments. Triggers that require an immediate review include: a fire or near-miss incident on the premises; a change in use, layout, or occupancy; installation of new plant, machinery, or hazardous substances; a change in the number of persons with disabilities; following a complaint from employees or safety representatives; or receipt of an enforcement notice. A review does not always mean rewriting the entire assessment — it means checking whether the existing findings remain accurate and recording that the review has taken place.
Annual review is the floor, not the ceiling.
RRO 2005, Article 9(3)
The Responsible Person must review the risk assessment regularly and forthwith if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates.
Reviewed by: Station Commander David Ashworth
The Fire Safety Compliance Checklist
A 47-point checklist covering compartmentation, means of escape, fire risk assessment obligations, and pre-completion requirements — compiled from active enforcement experience.
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