Who is the 'responsible person' under the Fire Safety Order?
“Responsible person” is one of the most important — and most misunderstood — terms in UK fire safety. It’s the legal hook on which most duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the “Fire Safety Order”) hang. If you don’t know who it is for a given building, you can’t be sure the duties are being met.
What the Fire Safety Order says
The term is defined in Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order. In broad terms, the responsible person is:
- In a workplace — the employer, where the workplace is to any extent under their control.
- In other premises — the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade, business or other undertaking, or, failing that, the owner.
So it’s about control. Whoever has meaningful control over the premises (or the relevant part of it) is likely to be the responsible person.
Workplaces vs residential buildings
In a single-occupier workplace this is usually straightforward: the employer is the responsible person.
In multi-occupied residential buildings it’s more nuanced. The Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts — hallways, stairwells, plant rooms — not the interiors of individual flats. The responsible person for those common parts is typically the freeholder or managing agent who controls them. There may be more than one responsible person in a building, and there may be other duty holders who have some degree of control and therefore some responsibility.
What the responsible person must do
The responsible person’s core duties include:
- Carrying out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and reviewing it regularly.
- Putting in place and maintaining appropriate general fire precautions.
- Providing information, instruction and training to relevant people.
- Cooperating and coordinating with any other responsible persons where duties are shared.
Where the assessment identifies that competence is needed, the responsible person should appoint a competent person to help.
Responsible person vs the assessor
A common point of confusion: the responsible person carries the legal duty, but they don’t have to personally be a fire-safety expert. They can appoint a competent fire risk assessor to carry out or support the assessment. The assessor provides the expertise; the responsible person remains legally accountable for acting on it.
The bottom line
Identifying the responsible person is step zero of any fire risk assessment. Establish who has control of the premises (or the relevant part), confirm whether responsibility is shared, and make sure the duties — assessment, precautions, information, cooperation — are clearly owned.
This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Always refer to the current legislation and take advice from a competent professional for your specific circumstances.
