There is no statutory interval for reviewing a fire risk assessment. The Fire Safety Order requires it to be reviewed regularly so that it remains valid, and to be reviewed whenever there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. Triggers matter more than the calendar, and most buildings that are out of date are out of date because of a change rather than because a year passed.
What the Order says
The assessment must be reviewed by the responsible person regularly so as to keep it up to date, and in particular if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid, or if there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates. Where the change makes the assessment invalid, changes required by the review must be made. No number appears in any of that.
Under what circumstances should the fire risk assessment be reviewed?
A change of use of any part of the building. A significant change to the layout, including new partitions. New or altered processes or storage. A material increase in the number of people, or a change in who they are, particularly if that introduces sleeping risk or people needing assistance. Building work. A fire or a near miss. Any one of these is a reason to review regardless of when the last one was.
How often is a fire risk assessment required in practice?
Annual review, with a more thorough reassessment at a longer interval, is the pattern most organisations settle on, and it is defensible in a stable building. It is not law, it is a decision recorded in the assessment. A simple, unchanged, low occupancy premises can justify longer; a building site, a growing business or a building undergoing works cannot justify anything like it.
What a review looks at
Whether the building is still as described. Whether the people are still as described. Whether the findings from last time were actually actioned, which is where reviews most often find the real problem. Whether anything has changed in the law or guidance. And whether the records since, the alarm tests, the door checks, the drills, show a system that is being operated rather than one that was installed.
Questions people ask about fire risk assessment frequency
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?
The Order says regularly, and whenever there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. Annual review is common practice and a decision recorded in the assessment rather than a legal interval.
What triggers a review outside the normal cycle?
A change of use, a layout change, new processes or storage, more people or different people, building work, and any fire or near miss. Any of these on its own is enough.
Does a review mean starting again?
Not usually. A review checks whether the assessment still describes the building and its people, whether the previous actions were done, and whether anything has changed. A full reassessment is warranted after significant change.
Fire risk assessment how often, if the Order gives no interval?
The Order asks for review regularly and in particular where there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. That is a test about the building rather than a date, so the practical answer most organisations settle on is an annual review with a fuller reassessment at a longer interval, and the reason it is defensible is that buildings change without anybody recording that they have. Where sleeping occupants, a high rise residential building or a licensing regime are involved, the interval is shorter and is usually set by the assessment itself or by the licence.
What is the first step in a fire risk assessment?
Identifying the fire hazards, which means the sources of ignition, the sources of fuel and the sources of oxygen present in this building. It comes first because everything after it depends on it: who is at risk is a question about where a fire could start, and whether the escape route works is a question about what would be burning. Walking the building looking at hazards before looking at precautions is also the order that stops an assessment becoming a checklist of the equipment somebody already installed.
Does a fire risk assessment for communal areas follow the same cycle?
The same tests apply and the triggers are the ones a block of flats actually generates: a change of use in a commercial unit underneath, new partitions or a new bin store, a replaced entrance door set, work to the external wall, a change in who lives there, or a fire anywhere in the building. The common parts are the responsible person's and the flats are not, which is why the review often follows a landlord's programme rather than an event, and why the trigger list is worth keeping visible to whoever manages the block.