What Happens During a Fire Safety Inspection

Fire safety audits do not go well for a large number of premises. In 2024/25, fire and rescue services in England completed 51,020 audits across all premises types and only 58% were found satisfactory, the lowest rate in fourteen years¹. Hotels fare worse: 45% of hotel audits found unsatisfactory conditions¹.

Fire and rescue services run risk-based audits. Notice periods vary, but a few weeks is typical. If someone has complained or your premises has been flagged on a risk register, officers may turn up unannounced. They carry authorisation under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and will show ID. Audit length depends on the size and complexity of the building. Shorter business safety checks, often carried out by operational crews, tend to be quicker. Audits are most common in October and November and drop off in February, likely driven by winter fire risk campaigns and post-summer catch-up².

The Fire Safety Order places legal responsibility on the "responsible person," usually the employer or whoever has control of the premises. In multi-occupancy buildings, fire safety duties are often shared depending on the lease, who controls what areas, and the layout. There is no automatic landlord/tenant split. Directors can face personal criminal liability. For community-owned venues, the management committee or trustees hold responsibility collectively.

The document check

The officer asks for documentation before walking the building. The following items form the core fire safety paperwork that should be available on the premises:

1. Your fire risk assessment. This must be a full written document, not a mental note. Written assessments became a legal requirement in October 2023 under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022.
2. Fire safety policy and emergency evacuation plan.
3. Fire logbook.
4. Fire drill records.
5. Staff training records: who was trained, when, and what was covered.
6. Weekly fire alarm test log.
7. Monthly emergency lighting test log.
8. Fire extinguisher service certificates.
9. Fire alarm maintenance certificate (BS 5839 recommends six-monthly servicing; check your system requirements).

The following are relevant where the system or installation exists on your premises:

1. Electrical installation condition report (where required by your insurer or risk assessment).
2. Portable appliance testing records (expected where your risk assessment identifies it as a control measure, but not a blanket legal requirement).
3. Gas safety certificate (where gas appliances are present).
4. Kitchen extraction cleaning certificates (where commercial cooking takes place).

If an officer asks for a document and you cannot produce it, it will likely be noted. Producing paperwork after the fact is unlikely to change what was recorded on the day.

The physical walkthrough

After the paperwork, the officer walks the building, typically starting at the top floor and working down. This is where most findings come from. Across 9,429 enforcement notices on the NFCC National Enforcement Register, escape routes and emergency exits are cited more often than the fire risk assessment². The physical state of the building drives enforcement, not the paperwork.

Fire doors attract close attention. Officers check whether they self-close properly, whether any have been wedged open, and whether the intumescent seals around the edges are intact. Damaged or missing seals are a frequent finding.

Escape routes must be clear and unobstructed. No stock in corridors, no locked fire exits. The fire alarm panel should show no faults and the zone plan should be current. Emergency lighting gets tested. Extinguishers are checked for the right types and current service tags.

In the kitchen, extraction and suppression systems face scrutiny: cleaning certificates, maintenance records, and whether staff know how to activate suppression equipment. Outside, bin storage should be away from the building to reduce arson risk.

Compartmentation gets close attention if your building has multiple uses or accommodation above. These are the fire-rated walls, floors, and doors that prevent fire spreading between different parts of a building.

Premises-specific requirements

Sleeping accommodation. Hotels, B&Bs, pubs with guest rooms, holiday lets, care homes, and caravan parks all attract higher expectations. The specifics depend on the fire risk assessment for the individual premises, but common measures include interlinked detection, protected escape routes, and fire separation between sleeping and commercial areas. Premises with vulnerable or non-ambulant occupants may also need personal emergency evacuation plans. The risk assessment should drive the detail, not a generic checklist.

Commercial kitchens. Extraction ducting and suppression systems face scrutiny, including cleaning certificates and whether staff can activate suppression.

Late-night venues and basements. Expect questions about capacity management, alternative escape routes, and emergency lighting adequacy.

Events venues. Officers want documented evacuation plans specific to each event type and capacity. A single generic plan is unlikely to satisfy.

If any of these apply, your fire risk assessment needs to address the additional requirements. You may need a specialist assessor. Each premises needs its own fire risk assessment, logbook, and training records.

Staff interviews

Officers often pull aside individual staff and ask questions. Common ones: what would you do if you discovered a fire, where are the fire exits, when were you last trained, and who is the fire marshal on duty. Kitchen staff tend to get additional questions about suppression systems and which extinguisher to use on a cooking oil fire.

Staff who cannot answer are a significant concern. It suggests that training records may not reflect what is actually happening. Findings from staff interviews attach to the responsible person, not the individual worker.

Possible outcomes

Satisfactory. No issues, no further action.

Informal advice. Minor issues pointed out verbally.

Notification of Deficiencies. A non-statutory letter listing what needs fixing, with actions and deadlines.

Alteration Notice. Requires you to notify the fire authority before making specified changes to the premises.

Enforcement Notice. A statutory notice requiring changes within a set period (minimum twenty-eight days). Appealable. The typical enforcement notice cites six separate failures at once². Only 11.5% cite a single article of the Fire Safety Order. By the time an inspector writes up the fire risk assessment, they've already found blocked exits, missing alarms, and unmaintained fire doors. The problems come as a bundle.

Prohibition Notice. Issued when there is an imminent risk of serious injury. Can close your premises immediately. Some fire authorities skip straight to prohibition in the majority of cases. In West Midlands and Tyne and Wear, 77-83% of formal actions are prohibition notices; in West Yorkshire, it's closer to 24%². Same legislation, different enforcement culture. Where your premises sits matters.

Prosecution. Fines are unlimited. Custodial sentences of up to two years are possible. Prosecution is rare: 35 cases out of 51,020 audits in 2024/25¹. But when it happens, the median fine for a business is £67,500³, and prosecution costs on top can run to three to five times the fine for smaller operators⁴.

What passes audit

The 58% satisfactory rate and the 45% hotel failure rate are not driven by random misfortune. The NFCC enforcement register and published fire and rescue outcomes show a consistent pattern across satisfactory audits: a current written fire risk assessment produced by a competent assessor (the BAFE SP205 scheme is one voluntary certification route), with the findings acted on; fire doors that close fully; escape routes that are clear; staff who can answer the common questions above; and the documents on the list above available on-site and current.

The failures cluster just as consistently: assessments that had not been reviewed for years, fire doors wedged open for operational convenience, escape routes repurposed for storage, and records held off-site that could not be produced on the day.