Short answer. There is no fixed legal interval for reviewing a fire risk assessment: the law requires a review whenever there is reason to think it is no longer valid, or when something significant changes. In practice, most premises need a formal review at least once a year, with an immediate review after any building work, change of use, or fire incident.
If the review shows the assessment itself is out of date, York Green carries out the fire risk assessment to PAS 79-1:2020 with a fixed price agreed before the visit.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 9(3), requires the responsible person to keep the fire risk assessment under review. It sets no fixed expiry date. A review is required whenever there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, or when there has been a significant change to the premises, its occupants or how it is used.
How often does the law require a fire risk assessment review?
Article 9(3) is trigger-based, not calendar-based: it does not say "annually" or "every five years." What it does say is that the assessment must stay current, so a review is a legal duty every time a relevant change happens, not on a fixed schedule. Since 1 October 2023, section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 also requires every responsible person to record the fire risk assessment in full, not just a summary, which makes a documented review far easier to evidence.
Does a fire risk assessment need reviewing if nothing has changed?
Even where nothing obvious has changed, most fire safety professionals recommend a formal review at least once a year. Small changes accumulate: a fire extinguisher moved during a refurbishment and never put back, a fire door that now catches on new flooring, a storage area that has gradually crept into an escape route, a new starter who never received a fire safety induction. An annual check catches this kind of drift before it becomes a real problem.
Does building work trigger a fire risk assessment review?
Any building work should trigger a review, even something as small as a new partition, an altered layout, or a replaced door. Building work changes travel distances, compartmentation and the position of fire safety equipment, all of which the existing assessment was written around.
Does a change of occupancy mean a new fire risk assessment?
Review as soon as occupancy changes significantly: more people, a shift from daytime to 24-hour use, or the introduction of occupants who would need more help to evacuate. The assessment needs to reflect who is actually in the building, not who was there when it was written.
Should a fire risk assessment be reviewed after a fire or near miss?
Always, and promptly. A fire or near miss, however minor the damage, is direct evidence that something in the existing precautions did not work as intended, and the assessment should be reviewed before the next similar event has the chance to happen.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed in an office?
An annual review is a sensible default for most offices, since layouts, staff numbers and storage arrangements tend to shift gradually rather than all at once. A refit, a change in floor layout, or a jump in headcount should each bring the review forward rather than waiting for the annual date.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed in a care home?
Care settings warrant closer attention because the population most at risk changes often. Any change in the dependency or mobility needs of residents, staffing levels, or night-time cover should prompt an immediate review, alongside a formal annual check.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed in a warehouse?
Racking layout, stock density and the materials being stored can all change fire load and escape routes without anyone thinking of it as a fire safety issue. A warehouse that reorganises its storage regularly should review the assessment at a similar frequency, alongside an annual formal check as a baseline.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed in a school?
Schools should review before each new term where classroom use, occupancy numbers or building layout has changed, in addition to at least an annual review. Holiday-period building work is common in schools and is a frequent trigger that gets missed because the review falls outside term time.
How often should fire extinguishers be inspected?
A visual user check is worth doing monthly, but the formal annual service by a competent engineer, in line with BS 5306-3, is what confirms an extinguisher will actually work when needed. Extinguishers that have been discharged, damaged, or tampered with need attention immediately, not at the next scheduled service.
How often should fire alarms be tested?
BS 5839-1 recommends a weekly test of a call point on a rotating basis, plus a six-monthly inspection and service by a competent fire alarm engineer. Any fault reported by the system, or any false alarm pattern, should be investigated as soon as it occurs rather than left for the next scheduled visit.
How often should fire doors be inspected?
Good practice for higher-risk or high-traffic premises is a quarterly visual inspection, checking that the door closes fully into its frame, seals and hardware are intact, and nothing has been wedged open. As noted above, this is a legal minimum in blocks of flats over 11 metres for doors to communal areas.
How often should emergency lighting be tested?
BS 5266-1 sets out a brief monthly function test and a full annual test that discharges the batteries for their rated duration, to confirm the system will genuinely last long enough for people to evacuate. Faults found during either test should be fixed before the next occupied use of the building, not filed for later.
How often should fire evacuation drills be held?
There is no fixed statutory interval, but at least one drill a year is a reasonable minimum for most premises, and twice a year is common practice where staff turnover is high or where the building has complex escape arrangements. Drills are also the best way to find out whether the fire risk assessment's assumptions about evacuation actually hold up.
How often should fire safety training be refreshed?
New staff need fire safety induction before they start work, not weeks later, and existing staff generally need a refresher at least annually. Anyone with a specific fire safety role, such as a fire warden, needs training refreshed more often, since the skills involved are perishable if never practised.
What happens if a fire risk assessment is never reviewed?
The biggest risk is not choosing the wrong interval, it is not reviewing at all. A fire risk assessment that is filed and forgotten becomes progressively less accurate as the building changes around it, and a responsible person relying on it has weaker grounds to argue they took reasonably practicable precautions if something goes wrong. For more on what the original assessment should cover, see what happens during a fire risk assessment, or get in touch about a fire risk assessment review if yours is overdue.