The law does not require a consultant. It requires the assessment to be suitable and sufficient, made by somebody competent to make it, and that is a question about the building and the person rather than about credentials. For a small, simple, single storey workplace a careful person with the government guidance can do it. For most other buildings that answer stops being true quickly.
What the law asks for
The responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed, and must appoint one or more competent persons to assist where they lack the necessary competence themselves. Competence here means sufficient training, experience or knowledge for the building in question. There is no register, no licence and no qualification named in the Order.
Where a template helps
Government publishes free guides for different premises types, each with a worked structure: identify the hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate and act, record, plan and train, and review. A template built on that structure gives you the questions. What it cannot give you is the judgement about whether the answers are adequate for your particular building, which is what the assessment is.
When to bring somebody in
Sleeping occupants. More than one storey or a complex layout. People who cannot evacuate unaided. A building in multiple occupation. Anything involving compartmentation you cannot see, external walls, or a fire engineered strategy. Any premises where a mistake would be catastrophic rather than merely wrong. In all of these the honest answer is that a template documents an opinion nobody qualified has formed.
Person centred assessments
A person centred fire risk assessment looks at an individual who is at particular risk, most often in housing and care settings: somebody who smokes and uses oxygen, who hoards, who cannot respond to an alarm, or who cannot leave unaided. It sits alongside the building assessment and produces measures for that person, and it is increasingly expected in social housing and supported living rather than being optional good practice.
Questions people ask about free fire risk assessment template
Can I do my own fire risk assessment?
Yes, if you are competent to do it for that building. For a small simple single storey premises that is realistic with the government guidance. Sleeping risk, multiple storeys or complex layouts make it much harder to defend.
Are free templates any good?
They give you the structure and the questions, which is genuinely useful. They cannot supply the judgement about whether your answers are adequate, which is the assessment itself.
What is a person centred fire risk assessment?
An assessment focused on an individual at particular risk, common in housing and care settings, producing measures for that person alongside the building's own assessment.