When an insurer, a landlord or building control asks "do you have a current fire risk assessment?", they're pointing, whether they say so or not, at one specific legal duty. It lives in Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Here's what that actually means, without the legalese.

First, what the Fire Safety Order is

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually just called the Fire Safety Order, is the main piece of fire-safety law for non-domestic premises in England and Wales. It came into force in 2006 and changed the model: instead of the fire service issuing certificates, the law puts the duty on a "responsible person" to manage fire safety themselves. In most businesses that's the employer, owner or whoever has control of the premises.

What Article 9 actually requires

Article 9 is the risk-assessment duty at the heart of the Order. In plain terms, it requires the responsible person to:

  • make a "suitable and sufficient" assessment of the fire risks to which people on or near the premises are exposed;
  • use that assessment to identify the general fire precautions that are needed; and
  • record the significant findings where five or more people are employed (or where a licence or alterations notice applies).

It also expects the assessment to be kept under review, it is not a one-and-done exercise.

Why your insurer and landlord care

Insurers and landlords don't enforce the Fire Safety Order, that's for the fire and rescue authority. But they rely on it. A current, competent assessment is your evidence that you've met this duty, and that matters to anyone whose money or property is exposed to your premises. Many commercial insurance policies make a valid fire risk assessment a condition of cover. Leases often require one. Without it, you risk a claim being questioned, a lease breach, or simply being unable to complete a transaction.

For most premises, the real risk isn't a fire officer at the door. It's an insurer or landlord asking for a current assessment you don't have.

"Current" is the word that catches people out

An assessment isn't a certificate you file once and forget. It should be reviewed regularly, and specifically whenever something material changes, a new use of the building, a layout change, a refurbishment, a change in who occupies it. An assessment written five years ago, for a building you've since altered, may no longer be suitable and sufficient. When someone asks for a "current" assessment, that's what they mean.

So what do you actually need?

Three things, really: an assessment that is genuinely suitable and sufficient, carried out by someone competent, and kept current. Get those right and the question "do you have a current fire risk assessment?" stops being a problem and becomes a one-word answer.

This is a plain-English summary to help you understand the duty, not legal advice. The Fire Safety Order itself is the authoritative source, and your specific obligations depend on your premises.