The Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017 triggered the biggest overhaul of UK fire safety law in decades. While the headlines focused on residential blocks, some of these changes reach into workplaces too. Understanding these evolving obligations is essential to keeping your operations fully compliant and protecting your workforce.
The Legal Shake-up for Commercial Property
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 still forms the backbone of workplace fire safety, but recent reforms have tightened compliance. The headline residential changes came through the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which mainly cover multi-occupied homes.
For workplaces, the most important provision is Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, which strengthens and expands the Fire Safety Order across all non-domestic premises.
How to Meet New Competence Standards
Section 156 also clarifies competence duties. When you appoint someone to carry out or review your fire risk assessment, that person must be competent, meaning they have the right training, experience and knowledge. Property managers and business owners need a clear grasp of risk control to meet these expectations.
Many professionals today build that grounding by completing IOSH managing safely training, which gives managers a solid foundation in workplace safety management before they take on fire risk duties or bring in a specialist assessor. Ignoring these duties can now lead to far heavier penalties.
The professional landscape for assessors has tightened with the introduction of the BS 8674 standard, which separates competency into foundation, intermediate, and advanced tiers. With strict government frameworks moving toward mandatory independent accreditation for anyone conducting these assessments, relying on an untrained staff member is no longer a viable option.
Who Counts as the Responsible Person?
The legislation frequently mentions the “responsible person”, but many business tenants don’t realise the title applies to them. If you own a business, employ people, or control a workplace, you share this legal duty. You cannot simply assume the landlord handles everything.
In shared office blocks, warehouses, or retail units, responsibility is often split. The landlord typically looks after the main structure and common stairwells, while you control your specific unit. It’s vital to cooperate and share safety information with other occupants so the whole building stays secure.
Practical Steps for Modern Workplace Managers
Your first priority should be a thorough review of your existing fire risk assessment. Keeping it up to date is a legal requirement, especially if you’ve changed the office layout or added new machinery recently.
Fire doors deserve close attention. Regularly checking that doors close fully into their frames is vital, as faulty fire doors remain one of the most frequent points of failure identified during official fire service inspections.
Staff training must match the layout of your building. They should know how to guide customers out safely in an emergency. To keep your team safe, make sure to put these essential actions in place:
- Check that escape routes stay completely clear of stock or waste.
- Provide clear fire safety training to every new staff member.
- Test alarms weekly
- Check emergency lighting monthly with a full annual test, in line with BS 5266.
Clear Up the Shared Workspace Confusion
Shared workspaces and serviced offices cause a lot of confusion about legal duties.
You still hold a duty of care towards your own staff. If an emergency happens, your team needs to know exactly how to get out from your specific workspace. Ask for a copy of the landlord’s overarching risk assessment so you can align your internal policies with it.
All in All
The post-Grenfell rules mean fire safety cannot be an afterthought or a quick box-ticking exercise. Under enforcement updates, failing to provide a copy of your risk assessment to an inspector or non-compliance with specific administrative requests can now result in an unlimited fine instead of the previous £1,000 limit.
Taking proactive steps to update your assessment and train your team protects your business from legal trouble. More importantly, it makes sure every worker gets home safely at the end of the day.
