Fire warden and fire marshal mean the same thing in Great Britain and neither term appears in the Order. What the Order does say, in article 15, is that the responsible person must nominate a sufficient number of competent persons to implement the evacuation procedures. Those nominated people are what the trade calls wardens, and the word competent is doing the work in that sentence.
What the role actually is
Day to day: watching for the things that make evacuation fail, which are wedged fire doors, blocked exits, stored combustibles and disabled detection. On the alarm: sweeping their designated area, directing people to the assembly point, helping anyone who needs it, and reporting to the person in charge that the area is clear. They are not firefighters, and the first job of a warden is to leave with everybody else.
How many you need
Enough that every part of the building is covered on every shift, allowing for holidays, sickness and lone working. That is a judgement from the fire risk assessment rather than a ratio, and the common failure is nominating people who are all in the same department on the same floor working the same hours.
Fire drills, and what they are for
A drill tests the procedure, not the people. It should reveal how long evacuation actually takes, whether anybody stayed to finish something, whether the assembly point works in rain and in the dark, and whether the roll call tells you who is missing. Government guidance for most premises expects at least an annual drill, and the interval for higher risk and sleeping premises comes from the assessment. A drill that is announced, rehearsed and always at 10am on a Tuesday tests very little.
The extinguisher acronym, and its limits
PASS is Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep: the sequence for using an extinguisher. It is taught alongside a more important rule, which is that a warden tackles a fire only if it is small, only if the escape route behind them is clear, and only if they have been trained. Getting out and closing the door behind you is the correct answer far more often than PASS is.
Questions people ask about fire marshal
Is a fire warden a legal requirement?
Article 15 of the Order requires the responsible person to nominate a sufficient number of competent persons to implement the evacuation procedures. Fire warden is the usual name for that nominated person.
What is the difference between a fire warden and a fire marshal?
In Great Britain, nothing. Both terms describe the person nominated to help implement the evacuation procedure.
How often should fire drills be carried out?
Most workplaces run at least one a year. Higher risk premises and those with sleeping accommodation usually need more, and the interval comes from the fire risk assessment.
What does PASS stand for?
Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep: how to operate a portable extinguisher. It applies only where tackling the fire is safe and the person has been trained.