Fire safety law in England and Wales is one of the most misunderstood areas of compliance for small Devon businesses. Most operators know they need a fire risk assessment. Far fewer can describe what it must contain, who is allowed to sign it, when it must be reviewed, or what changed in October 2023 when the Building Safety Act removed the last exemption from keeping a written record. This article walks through what the law actually requires in 2026, what enforcement looks like in Devon, and where local businesses most often fall short.
Quick answer: Every non-domestic premises in Devon must have a current written fire risk assessment, no matter how small the business. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022, removed the under-five-employees written-record exemption in October 2023. The assessment must be suitable and sufficient, kept on site, and reviewed whenever something material changes.
Who actually needs a fire risk assessment
Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the law usually shortened to the RRFSO, applies to every non-domestic premises in England and Wales. That is a much wider net than many Devon operators realise. It catches every workplace, every shop, every cafe and pub, every hotel and bed and breakfast, every holiday let where the let is part of a business, every care home, every hairdressing and beauty salon, every village hall, every place of worship, every school, every doctors surgery, every dental practice and every self-storage facility. It also catches the common parts of any block of flats, even though the flats themselves are domestic.
If the public, employees, customers, residents, contractors or volunteers use the space, the law applies. The only premises outside the scope of the RRFSO are private domestic dwellings used by a single household. A holiday cottage let out commercially is not a single-household private dwelling for these purposes. It is a non-domestic premises and it needs an assessment.
Who the law makes responsible
The RRFSO places the duty on the employer where there is one. Where the premises are not a workplace, or where there is no employer, the duty falls on whoever has control of the premises, which is usually the owner or occupier as defined by the operating lease or licence. In a typical Devon small business, that is the company that trades from the building. In a holiday let, it is whoever runs the letting business. In a village hall, it is the management committee. In a shared building it can be split, with each occupier responsible for their part of the premises and the landlord responsible for the common parts, shared escape routes, the structure and the building-wide fire systems.
Throughout this article we refer to that legal duty-bearer as "the person responsible for fire safety at the premises". They are the person who must commission the assessment, act on its findings, train staff, plan evacuation, maintain the fire safety equipment, keep the records and stand in front of the fire service if anything goes wrong.
What "suitable and sufficient" actually means
The RRFSO requires the assessment to be suitable and sufficient. That phrase has a specific meaning, developed through case law and codified in the official PAS 79 methodology. A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment must work through six stages in order:
- Identify the fire hazards present at the premises, including sources of ignition, sources of fuel and sources of oxygen
- Identify the people at risk, including employees, customers, visitors, vulnerable users such as the elderly or those with disabilities, lone workers, sleeping occupants and anyone unfamiliar with the building
- Evaluate the risk and decide what control measures are needed to remove or reduce it as far as reasonably practicable
- Record the significant findings in writing, including the hazards identified, the people at risk, the existing controls and the additional measures required
- Prepare an emergency plan, train staff in their duties, and provide information to anyone else using the premises
- Review the assessment regularly and after any material change
An assessment that skips any of these stages is not suitable and sufficient. A one-page tickbox printed off the internet is almost never suitable and sufficient. A template completed without a site visit is almost never suitable and sufficient. The fire service knows what a real assessment looks like, and they recognise a copy-paste job within thirty seconds of opening the document.
The October 2023 change that caught many small businesses out
For nearly two decades, the RRFSO allowed employers with fewer than five employees to keep their fire risk assessment in their head rather than on paper. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 removed that exemption with effect from 1 October 2023. Since that date every responsible business, regardless of size, must keep a written record of the fire risk assessment and a written record of its fire safety arrangements.
In practical terms that means a Devon micro-business of two or three people, a single-chair salon, a tiny back-street cafe, a sole-trader holiday let owner, all now have the same documentation burden as a hundred-bed hotel. Many of these operators are unaware of the change. A surprising number of small premises in Devon still rely on a verbal "we know what to do if there is a fire", which has not been legally adequate for over two years. The first time most of them learn about the requirement is when a fire officer arrives or when their insurer asks for a copy at renewal.
Our fire risk assessment service closes this gap for Devon micro-businesses with a fixed-fee written assessment that brings them up to compliance in a single visit.
Fire doors, what an inspector actually checks
Fire doors are the single most common failure point we find on Devon premises. They are also the single most common item that triggers an enforcement notice. A fire door is a designed engineered product. It only works when every component is correct and intact. An assessor checks each fire door against a defined set of criteria:
- The door closes fully from any angle, on its own, without binding or sticking
- The gap between the door leaf and the frame is between 2mm and 4mm on the sides and top, and no more than 8mm at the threshold
- Intumescent strips and cold smoke seals run continuously around the leaf or frame, undamaged, unpainted and not painted over
- The hinges are CE or UKCA marked fire-rated hinges, with all screws present and tight, normally three hinges per door
- The glazing, where present, is fire-rated glazing in an appropriately rated bead system, with no cracks or modifications
- The door is fitted with a working overhead or concealed closer, not a wedge, not a hook-back without a magnetic release linked to the alarm
- The door carries the correct signage, either "Fire door, keep shut" or "Fire door, keep locked shut" on both sides, plus identification of the fire rating where required
- The leaf has no unauthorised holes, screws, signs or fittings that breach its integrity
For multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres in height, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add a specific cadence. Common-area fire doors must be inspected at least every three months. Front doors to individual flats must be inspected at least every twelve months. These checks must be recorded, kept available, and made available to the fire service on request. This requirement applies to every block in Devon that meets the height threshold, including a number of small Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay developments that fall just inside the rule.
Evacuation plans and PEEPs
An evacuation plan is not just a sign on the wall pointing to the back door. It is a written document that describes, for the specific premises, how everyone gets out in an emergency. It must cover the means of giving warning, the escape routes from every part of the building, the assembly point, who calls the fire service, who checks the building is clear, who deals with visitors and contractors, and what training the staff have received.
Where any person needing assistance to evacuate uses the premises, a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan is required. PEEPs apply to permanent users such as residents in a care home or employees with mobility impairments, and to predictable temporary users such as a regular customer in a wheelchair. Generic Emergency Evacuation Plans cover unplanned visitors. A PEEP is a short document that names the individual, describes the assistance they require, identifies who provides it, and confirms the safe route and refuge if applicable. Care homes should have a PEEP for every resident, refreshed at least every twelve months and immediately on any change of mobility or cognition.
Fire wardens or marshals are the staff trained to support evacuation and to perform the building sweep. They are not a legal requirement in every premises, but where evacuation is complex, where there are sleeping occupants, where there are vulnerable users, or where there are more than a handful of staff, fire wardens are how a written plan becomes an actual evacuation rather than a paper exercise.
Emergency lighting
If the power fails during an evacuation, escape routes need their own lighting. BS 5266-1 is the British Standard that sets out the design and maintenance of emergency lighting for premises in scope of the RRFSO. The headline requirements are:
- Emergency luminaires must illuminate every escape route, every change of direction, every staircase, every final exit, every assembly point and any area where the public might be present
- The minimum duration is normally three hours of operation from full charge, although some lower-risk premises can use one hour if the design supports it. Most Devon commercial premises specify three hours
- A short function test of every luminaire, at least monthly, recording the date and result
- A full discharge test of every luminaire to its rated duration, at least annually, with the results recorded in a logbook kept on site
- Any failed luminaire must be repaired or replaced promptly, and the system must be re-tested after any change to the building layout
The logbook is the bit Devon businesses most often miss. The lights themselves are usually fine. The proof that they have been tested every month for the last twelve months is the thing the fire officer asks for, and the thing that is often not there.
Fire extinguishers
Portable fire extinguishers are covered by BS 5306-3 for service and BS 5306-8 for selection and siting. Both standards say the same thing in different words: the extinguishers must be the right type for the risk, in the right place, in the right quantity, accessible, signed, and serviced at least annually by a competent service technician with an annual maintenance label on the body.
The most common selection errors we see in Devon premises are:
- Water or foam extinguishers near electrical risk, where CO2 is required
- No wet chemical extinguisher in a commercial kitchen with cooking oil, where wet chemical is the only suitable type for hot oil fires
- Dry powder used inside an occupied office or care home, where it should be reserved for outdoor or specific industrial use because of the visibility and respiratory hazard once discharged
- A single extinguisher covering a floor area or travel distance well beyond what the standard allows
- Extinguishers stored on the floor rather than mounted at the correct height, undated, unsigned, with no servicing label
Annual servicing is not a discretionary maintenance item. It is the manufacturer-required basis on which the extinguisher remains certified to its BS rating. An unserviced or out-of-date extinguisher is treated by the fire service as no extinguisher at all.
What Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service looks at on an audit
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service runs a risk-based audit programme across the two counties. Higher-risk premises such as care homes, HMOs, sleeping accommodation and hospitality are audited more frequently. Lower-risk premises are typically audited reactively, often triggered by a complaint, an incident, a referral from another agency, or a planning application.
A typical audit covers the fire risk assessment document itself, the competence of whoever signed it, the action plan and what has been done about it, the staff training records, the fire alarm test log, the emergency lighting log, the fire door inspection records, the extinguisher service records, the evacuation plan, the PEEPs, and a walkaround inspection of the premises against what the document says.
The grading runs from informal advice at the lower end, through formal action plans, through enforcement notices that require specific works within a set period, up to prohibition or restriction notices that close part or all of the premises immediately. Prohibition is reserved for imminent risk to life: an unprotected escape route, a non-functioning alarm in sleeping accommodation, fire door failures combined with vulnerable occupants. The service publishes a register of enforcement and prohibition notices, and these are visible to insurers, lenders and the trade press.
The Devon-specific failures we see most often
Across the audits we run on Devon premises, the same patterns recur sector by sector.
Care homes. Out-of-date PEEPs are the single most common finding. A resident enters with one mobility profile, declines over six or twelve months, and the PEEP is not refreshed. Medications and oxygen cylinders are stored too close to heat sources or radiators. Fire doors to bedrooms are wedged open during the day for staff convenience without a hold-open device linked to the alarm. Night staff numbers are sometimes too low to support the written evacuation strategy. None of these are unusual. All of them attract immediate enforcement attention.
Holiday lets. The single biggest failure is battery smoke alarms. A 2026 commercial holiday let needs mains-powered interlinked smoke detection, not the battery units that suit a private dwelling. We also see fire blankets in cottage kitchens with no extinguisher, no written assessment at all because the owner believed the property was domestic, and no escape window provision from upper-floor bedrooms in older Devon stone cottages with deep window reveals.
Hospitality. Commercial kitchens are a recurring risk. Oil pan handling, deep-fat fryers without proper suppression, range-hood ductwork that has not been deep-cleaned in over twelve months, missing wet chemical extinguishers, and propane storage too close to ignition sources. Front-of-house issues centre on overloaded socket extension leads, candles on tables without proper containment, and decorative drapes hung across escape routes during seasonal events.
Salons. Hair and beauty premises store combustible products such as aerosols, peroxide, acetone and alcohol-based solutions, often close to hair dryers, heating styling tools and chemical-process workstations. We frequently find styling stations directly opposite a colour mixing area with no separation, salon stockrooms with no fire-rated door, and a single extinguisher covering far more space than the standard allows.
Offices and small retail. The most common finding here is an assessment that is more than a year old, written by someone who has since left the business, with no review and no action on the original findings. Sometimes the assessment names a fire warden who left two years ago.
When to review the assessment
The RRFSO requires a review when the assessment is no longer valid or where there has been a significant change. The triggers most Devon businesses overlook are:
- A change of use of any part of the premises, including converting storage into a treatment room or adding a kitchen to a previously cold-food site
- Any internal layout change, including new walls, removed walls, repositioned doors or relocated workstations
- A change in the number of people regularly present, particularly upward
- A change in the type of occupant, especially the introduction of vulnerable users, sleeping users, or out-of-hours users
- Any fire, near-miss or false alarm with a learning point, no matter how minor
- A change in storage, particularly the introduction or increase of combustibles or flammables
- New equipment such as additional electrical loads, gas appliances or charging stations for e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries
- Building work, even minor refurbishment, that affects compartmentation, services or escape routes
In the absence of any of those triggers, an annual review remains best practice for most commercial premises, and we recommend a six-monthly cycle for care homes, HMOs and high-occupancy hospitality. The review does not need to be a full new assessment. It can be a recorded check that nothing material has changed, signed and dated, kept with the original document.
How TestSafe Compliance can help
We provide fixed-fee written fire risk assessments for Devon businesses across every sector covered above. A typical small premises assessment includes a full site walkaround, a room-by-room risk assessment using a PAS 79 framework, a fire door register with photos and condition ratings, a written evacuation plan tailored to the building, an emergency lighting check, and an extinguisher placement and servicing review. The output is a written report with a prioritised action plan that the person responsible for fire safety at the premises can hand to a contractor or work through internally.
Full details, including a starting fee from £250 plus VAT for a single-site small premises, are on our fire safety service page. Larger sites, multi-floor premises, care homes and holiday let portfolios are quoted on scope after a free 15-minute scoping call so there are no surprises after the visit.
This article is for general information only and reflects the law as it stood on the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for advice specific to your situation. TestSafe Compliance provides audit and assessment services only. Where a specific legal question arises, seek advice from a qualified solicitor or employment law specialist.
Frequently asked questions
Does every Devon business really need a written fire risk assessment?
Yes. Since the Building Safety Act 2022 Section 156 amendments took effect in October 2023, every non-domestic premises in England and Wales must keep a written record of its fire risk assessment, regardless of how few employees it has. The previous exemption for employers with fewer than five staff has been removed entirely. That covers offices, shops, restaurants, care homes, salons, holiday lets, village halls and every other commercial or community building in Devon. If you have customers, staff, residents or volunteers using the space, the law requires a written assessment kept on site and reviewed regularly.
Who can carry out a fire risk assessment?
The law requires a competent person. Competence means the right combination of training, experience and knowledge to identify the hazards in your specific premises and to recommend proportionate controls. For a small low-risk office, the person in charge of fire safety at the premises can do it themselves provided they understand the duties. For care homes, hospitality venues, premises with sleeping accommodation, or anywhere with a vulnerable occupant profile, the law in practice expects an external competent assessor. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service will scrutinise the competence of whoever signed the document.
How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?
The law requires a review whenever the assessment is no longer valid or where there has been a significant change. In practice that means after any change of use, internal layout alteration, refurbishment, change in occupancy numbers, change in the type of people using the building, any fire incident or near miss, or any change in the way the premises are operated. Outside those triggers most commercial premises should review the assessment at least annually. Care homes, HMOs and higher-risk sites benefit from a six-monthly review cycle to catch changes earlier.
What happens if Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service find problems on an audit?
The service uses a graded response. Minor issues result in informal advice or an action plan with agreed timescales. More serious failings trigger a formal enforcement notice requiring specific works within a set period. Imminent risk to life triggers a prohibition or restriction notice that closes part or all of the premises immediately until the issue is fixed. Wilful or repeated breaches can be prosecuted, with unlimited fines and, in the most serious cases, custodial sentences for company directors. Insurance implications and reputational damage often outweigh the direct financial penalty.
How much does a fire risk assessment cost in Devon?
A competent external assessment for a small single-site premises in Devon typically starts at around £250 plus VAT for an office, shop or salon. Care homes, multi-floor buildings, hospitality venues with kitchens, holiday let portfolios and premises with sleeping accommodation are quoted on scope because the work involved is materially greater. TestSafe Compliance provides a free 15-minute scoping call before quoting so there are no surprises after the visit, and the fee covers the written assessment, fire door register, evacuation plan and emergency lighting check.