Fire Warden Legal Requirements: A Guide

In order to fulfil your legal responsibilities for fire safety in the workplace, it is essential for your company to appoint an appropriate number of fire wardens to oversee all aspects of fire risk assessment and prevention.

Ensuring that everyone on site knows what to do in case of a fire, and the steps that must be taken to prevent fires, is a key legal requirement for every business owner. Having a designated responsible person to implement these measures is therefore essential.

In this guide, the experts at SafetyBuyer will explore your fire warden legal requirements as a business, and explain what fire marshals will be expected to do to fulfil their roles.

Fire warden duties and responsibilities

A fire warden is responsible for coordinating a workplace's fire safety policies and plans, meaning that everyone is aware of the specific hazards involved in their work, and that a clear plan of action has been established in the event of a fire at work.

These responsibilities include:

• Carrying out regular fire safety risk assessments of the premises concerned
• Coordinating fire drills for the workplace and reviewing their results
• Making sure the workplace has the necessary fire safety equipment in the event of a fire, including fire extinguishers and fire blankets
• Checking that fire alarms and emergency lighting are kept in good working order
• Planning evacuation procedures and escape routes in case of fire, and ensuring that emergency exits are properly signposted and free of obstructions
• Ensuring that any evacuation procedures account for all staff members, via methods such headcounts and registers, checking bathrooms and assisting people with disabilities to access the emergency exits
• Obtaining fire safety signs and emergency exit signs, so that everyone knows what to do and how to find fire extinguishers in case of an emergency
• Regularly updating fire safety plans and evacuation procedures in line with current fire safety regulations and workplace circumstances
• Providing guidance, training and fire safety inductions for all staff members to ensure that everyone on site knows the processes

This is not necessarily a comprehensive list, as the specific responsibilities of fire marshals will depend on the circumstances of the workplace, and the level of fire risk present on the site.

Is it a legal requirement to have a fire warden?

Having a fire warden on site is a legal requirement in all parts of the UK. In England and Wales, this is stipulated in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, while in Scotland this legal requirement is laid out in the Fire Scotland Act (2005) and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations (2006). For Northern Ireland, the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) (2010) apply.

If you fail to appoint an appropriate number of fire wardens as laid out by fire safety legislation, your business could be hit with legal penalties, ranging from fines and mandatory enforcement notices through to restrictions and criminal punishment for the most serious offences.

Who is ultimately legally responsible for fire safety?

Every workplace will have a designated Responsible Person on site who is ultimately legally responsible for all aspects of fire safety, from carrying out or arranging regular fire risk assessments, to making sure that everyone knows what to do if a fire starts.

A Responsible Person is not necessarily the same as a fire warden. The Responsible Person is usually the employer, or the person with the most direct control of over the premises, and will ultimately be the person who is legally culpable for anything that might happen.

The Responsible Person will also be responsible for appointing competent fire wardens to perform the necessary safety measures and coordinate risk assessments and evacuation procedures.

Take a look at the official government guidance on fire safety responsibilities to find out more.

How many fire wardens does my site need?

The appropriate number of fire wardens needed on site will depend on several factors, including the size of your organisation and the number of fire safety risks present on site.

As a general rule, you should have a designated fire marshal on site who is able to attend to fire safety risks or potential incidents involving staff within a couple of minutes of an incident arising, without this meaning that other parts of the building or workforce are left unattended.

To identify the number of fire wardens that you will need to achieve this, you should consider the following:

• The level of fire safety risk associated with your organisation's work, including whether you are regularly working with hazardous or combustible materials, chemicals or equipment, or in close proximity to potentially dangerous heat sources or sources of ignition
• Your overall number of employees and their shift patterns, as every single shift or working day will need to be covered by an adequate number of trained fire wardens
• The number of staff members or visitors on site who may be considered high risk - for example, people with disabilities or mobility issues, or children and the elderly
• The size of your workplace or worksite, and its layout - for example, is the area split across multiple floors or zones that would each require their own individual fire warden?

You will need to carry out a detailed fire safety risk assessment to determine how many fire wardens are needed. In a low-risk workplace with only one floor, it may be acceptable to have one fire warden for 50 members of staff, whereas a high-risk workplace might need fire wardens for every 15 staff members, or one for every floor of a multi-storey office space.

Is it necessary for these staff members to receive official fire warden training?

In order for fire wardens to carry out their responsibilities in a competent way, it is necessary to provide fire warden training that provides them with all of the experience and knowledge they will need to carry out their fire risk prevention and protection duties.

Anyone who completes an official fire warden training course will receive a certificate of attendance, which is recognised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will be legally recognised for three years, even if they change jobs. This essential fire safety training needs to be refreshed every few years, to ensure that fire wardens are aware of any changes in fire safety legislation and regulatory reform.

These fire warden courses can be delivered in-house, with online and classroom-based options also available, and will help to ensure that you always have a competent person on site to handle any risks that might arise.

Find out more

To ensure that your on-site fire wardens have everything they need to meet their legal responsibilities, browse our complete range of fire safety equipment at SafetyBuyer.

You can also call us on 0800 043 1061 if you have any questions about any aspect of your fire safety measures on site.