Fire risk assessment checklist for small premises

Every village hall, church, club and community building in England and Wales has to have a fire risk assessment, and since 2023 it has to be written down whatever the size of the building. For a small, simple building the committee can do it themselves, if they walk the building with the right questions and record what they find. This is that walk, as a checklist, following the five steps in the government guidance.

The checklist is not the assessment. The assessment is the written record of what you found, what you decided to do about it, who is responsible and when it will be reviewed. Walk the building with the checklist, then write that up.

Who it is for

Small and medium places of assembly: village and community halls, churches and chapels, scout huts, sports and social clubs, small theatres and meeting rooms, holding up to about 300 people. It is written for the responsible person, which in a hall is usually the management committee or trustees and in a church is usually the PCC or equivalent, with one named person who does the work. Larger buildings, buildings where people sleep, and anything with a complicated layout are where a professional assessor is worth paying for.

The five steps

1. Identify the fire hazards. Where could a fire start, and what would feed it: sources of ignition, fuel and oxygen.
2. Identify the people at risk. Everyone who uses the building, and particularly those who would find it hard to get out.
3. Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect. How likely is a fire, what would happen, and what you have in place: detection, warning, escape routes, lighting, extinguishers.
4. Record, plan, inform, instruct and train. Write it down, make an emergency plan, tell the people who use the building, drill it.
5. Review. Regularly, and whenever something changes.

The checklist below is organised the same way. Walk the building with it, including the store rooms, the boiler room, the loft hatch and the outside. Tick what is in place. Anything not ticked is a finding, and goes in the assessment with what you will do about it, who will do it, and by when.

1. Fire hazards: where a fire could start

• Electrical: fixed wiring inspected in the last five years, portable appliances tested, no overloaded sockets or trailing extension leads, no damaged plugs or cables
• Heating: boiler serviced, portable heaters kept clear of anything that burns, nothing stored in the boiler room
• Cooking: kitchen equipment clean, extraction clear of grease, a fire blanket by the cooker
• Smoking and naked flames: a no-smoking policy, candles and tea lights not permitted or strictly controlled, no fireworks or smoke machines without written permission
• Storage: combustible material (paper, chairs, decorations, cleaning products) stored away from heat sources and escape routes
• Arson: bins kept away from the building, outside areas lit, the building secured when empty
• Contractors and hirers: told the rules on hot work, heaters, decorations and naked flames before they start

2. People at risk: who is in the building

• Who uses the building, when, and how many at once; the most people present at any time
• People unfamiliar with the layout: hirers, visitors, audiences
• People who would need help to leave: wheelchair users, people with limited mobility or hearing, young children, older people
• Anyone working alone or in a part of the building where the alarm might not be heard
• Sleeping risk: nobody sleeps in the building, or if they do, how they would be woken

3. Means of escape: getting out

• At least two ways out of every occupied room where the numbers or the risk call for it
• Every exit opens easily from inside without a key while the building is in use; push bars where fitted work
• Escape routes kept clear: no furniture, deliveries, bins or stored items on the route or outside the doors
• Exit signs visible from every part of each room, and lit or photoluminescent where the route would be dark
• Emergency lighting fitted on escape routes and tested monthly; a full-duration test once a year
• Fire doors close fully on their own, are not wedged open, and have intact seals and strips
• External routes from exits to the assembly point are passable: gates unlocked, no parked cars, no stored material
• A travel distance to a safe place that is reasonable for the people and the risk (the guidance gives figures)

4. Detection and warning: knowing there is a fire

• A way of warning everyone in the building at once: a fire alarm system, or, in a very small single-room building, a shouted warning or a hand bell that can be heard throughout
• The alarm can be heard in every room, including toilets, kitchen and any upstairs room, with the doors shut
• Call points by each exit; the alarm is tested weekly from a different call point and the test is logged
• Smoke or heat detectors where a fire could start unseen: store rooms, boiler room, kitchen, loft spaces
• The alarm serviced by a competent person every six months, with the certificate kept

5. Fighting the fire: first aid firefighting

• Extinguishers of the right type for the risk (water or foam for general areas, CO2 for electrical, a fire blanket in the kitchen), on brackets or stands by exits
• Extinguishers checked monthly (in place, pin and seal intact, gauge in the green) and serviced yearly
• Nobody is expected to fight a fire; extinguishers are for clearing a route to an exit

6. Managing it: plan, record, inform, train, review

• A written fire emergency plan: what happens when the alarm sounds, who does what, the assembly point, who calls 999
• The fire action notice on the wall by each exit, matching the plan, with the assembly point named
• Everyone who runs the building knows the plan; hirers are given it before the event
• A fire drill at least once a year, recorded, with what went wrong and what was done
• Weekly alarm tests, monthly lighting and extinguisher checks and the annual services all logged, and the certificates kept
• A named responsible person, and a named deputy for when they are away
• This assessment reviewed every year, and after any change to the building, its use, or a fire or near miss
• The assessment, the plan and the records kept together where a fire officer or insurer can see them

Writing it up

The written assessment needs, for each heading above: what you found, whether it is acceptable, and if not, the action, the person and the date. Then the general details: the building, its use, the most people present at once, the responsible person, the date of the assessment and the date of the next review. A simple table does it. Keep it with the fire logbook (the alarm test log, lighting and extinguisher checks, drill records and service certificates), because the assessment says those things happen and the logbook is the proof.

The templates for the logbook are on the tools page, and the test frequencies page explains what each check is and how often.

Common questions

Does a village hall or church need a fire risk assessment?

Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to every non-domestic premises in England and Wales, including village halls, churches, clubs and community buildings, and requires the responsible person to carry out and keep a fire risk assessment. Since October 2023 the full assessment must be recorded in writing, however small the premises and whether or not anyone is employed.

Can we do it ourselves?

For a small, simple building the law expects the responsible person to do it or to have it done by someone competent, and the government guides are written so that a committee can. A larger or more complex building, one where people sleep, or one with a history of problems is where a professional assessor earns their fee. If you do it yourselves, use the guide for your kind of building, be honest about what you find, and write it down.

Which government guide should we use?

The Home Office guide for small and medium places of assembly covers village halls, community centres, churches, clubs and similar buildings holding up to 300 people. There are separate guides for larger places of assembly, offices and shops, educational premises, sleeping accommodation and others. Each has a checklist at the back; this page follows the same five-step method.

How often should it be reviewed?

There is no fixed interval in the Order; it says the assessment must be reviewed regularly and whenever there is reason to think it is no longer valid, or after a significant change. Once a year, and after any building work, change of use, new hirer type or fire incident, is the usual practice and what an insurer expects.

What does the fire service look for?

That an assessment exists, is current, is specific to the building, and that the things it says are done are actually done: the alarm test log, the drill record, the lighting and extinguisher checks, the certificates. A good assessment with no records behind it is the most common finding.

Is this checklist the assessment?

No. The assessment is the written record of what you found, what the risks are, what you decided to do and when it was reviewed. The checklist is the walk-round that feeds it. Use it to look, then write up what you found against each heading.

A walk-round checklist based on the five-step method in the Home Office fire safety risk assessment guides. It is not a fire risk assessment, not legal advice, and does not replace the guide for your kind of building or the judgement of a competent person. The Venue Record is independent and is not connected to, endorsed by or approved by any fire and rescue authority or government body.