A hotel, guest house or B&B is the one kind of venue where the people at risk are asleep. That single fact raises the fire safety standard above a shop or a hall, adds a legal interval to the gas safety check, and brings in water safety because guests use showers and taps that may have stood idle. This guide lists the records an owner or general manager is expected to produce, who does each, and how often, from the fire logbook to the legionella scheme.
The fire risk assessment for sleeping accommodation is the document the fire service asks for first, and the test logs behind it are what they read second. An assessment that says the bedroom doors are checked monthly, with no monthly record, is a finding.
Why sleeping accommodation is different
Someone asleep in an unfamiliar room does not smell smoke, cannot see the exit signs, and wakes slowly and confused. The Fire Safety Order's standard is the same everywhere, to reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, but what is reasonable where people sleep is more: automatic detection in every bedroom and corridor, linked so the whole building hears it; fire doors to every bedroom and onto the stairs, self-closing, with intact seals; a protected staircase; emergency lighting on every route; a fire action notice and a floor plan in every room; and staff on duty through the night who know the plan. The Home Office guide for sleeping accommodation sets it out; there is a shorter guide for small B&Bs and guest houses that is proportionate to a family house with three letting rooms.
The responsible person is the employer, in practice the general manager, and for a leased or managed hotel the owner as well for the parts they control. Two things in the record show that the duty is being discharged: that the assessment is current and specific to the building, and that the checks it relies on are logged, by name, on the dates it says.
Fire safety records
The logbook for a hotel is longer than for most buildings. Weekly alarm test from a different call point each time; the alarm serviced every six months by the contractor; monthly emergency lighting flick test and a yearly full-duration test; a monthly check of every fire door (closes fully from any angle, seals intact, gaps right, no wedges), which in a 40-bedroom hotel is 50 doors and a morning's work; escape routes and final exits walked daily; extinguishers checked monthly and serviced yearly.
Drills twice a year at least, and one of them should assume night conditions: the night porter alone, the alarm at three in the morning, who sweeps which floor. Training is recorded by name, on induction and yearly, and night staff, agency staff and housekeeping are the ones most often found missing from the register. Keep the fire safety information in each bedroom on the housekeeping inspection list; it goes missing.
Gas, electrics and the lift
Where paying guests sleep, the gas rules carry a legal interval: every gas appliance and flue checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer at least every twelve months, with the record kept for two years. It covers the central heating boiler, the kitchen range, gas fires in guest lounges and any gas water heater. Carbon monoxide alarms where there are gas or solid fuel appliances in sleeping rooms are expected.
Fixed wiring needs a periodic inspection and report, typically every five years; the report sets the next date. Portable appliances in guest rooms, kettles, hairdryers, irons, minibar fridges, are a large register and a frequent inspection finding; most hotels test them yearly. A passenger lift is lifting equipment under LOLER and needs a thorough examination every six months by a competent person, usually the insurer's engineer, with the report kept and any defects acted on by the date it gives.
Water safety
Hot water tanks, long pipe runs, showers in every room and rooms that stand empty midweek are the conditions legionella bacteria like. The HSE's Approved Code of Practice L8 asks for a written risk assessment by a competent person, a written scheme of control, and the monitoring it sets: usually monthly temperature checks at the calorifier and at sentinel taps (hot above 50°C within a minute, cold below 20°C within two), quarterly dismantling and descaling of shower heads, and flushing of outlets in rooms that have been unoccupied for a week. The records are a logbook like the fire one, and inspectors treat them the same way. A spa pool or swimming pool adds its own testing regime several times a day.
Kitchen, licence and the rest
If you serve food the restaurant records apply in full: the food safety management system and daily diary, allergen information, pest control, extraction cleaning to TR19 with the report kept. The restaurants and cafés guide has that list. The premises licence conditions, the employer's liability certificate, the accident book and RIDDOR reports, and the health and safety policy once you employ five or more people complete the set. If 200 or more people could be in the public areas at once, including staff, Martyn's Law applies and the four public protection procedures join the record.
Every record, at a glance
| Record | How often | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Fire risk assessment, written, to the sleeping accommodation guide | Yearly, and after any refurbishment or change of use | Competent assessor, usually professional |
| Fire alarm test from a call point, logged | Weekly | Duty manager or maintenance |
| Fire alarm serviced, with certificate | Every 6 months | Alarm contractor |
| Emergency lighting flick test, logged | Monthly; full-duration test yearly | Maintenance; yearly by an electrician |
| Fire doors to bedrooms and stairs checked (closing, seals, gaps) | Monthly, every door, logged | Maintenance |
| Escape routes and final exits walked | Daily | Duty manager |
| Fire extinguishers checked | Monthly visual; serviced yearly | Maintenance; yearly by a contractor |
| Fire drill, including a night-time scenario | At least twice a year, covering every shift | Responsible person |
| Staff fire training including night staff, recorded by name | On induction and at least yearly | General manager |
| Fire safety information in every bedroom | Checked on every room inspection | Housekeeping |
| Gas safety check, every appliance and flue, record kept 2 years | Every 12 months | Gas Safe registered engineer |
| Fixed wiring inspected (EICR) | Typically every 5 years | Qualified electrician |
| Portable appliance testing (kettles, hairdryers, room fridges, kitchen) | Risk-based; guest-room items often yearly | Competent person or contractor |
| Legionella risk assessment and scheme of control | Reviewed every 2 years or on change | Competent person |
| Water temperature monitoring at sentinel outlets | Monthly | Maintenance |
| Shower heads descaled; unused rooms flushed | Quarterly; weekly for rooms standing empty | Housekeeping or maintenance |
| Passenger lift thorough examination (LOLER) | Every 6 months | Insurer's engineer or contractor |
| Kitchen extraction cleaned, with report (TR19) | Every 3, 6 or 12 months by hours of use | Specialist contractor |
| Food safety management system and daily diary | Daily | Head chef |
| Pool and spa water testing (if any) | Several times a day, logged | Trained staff |
| Premises licence conditions; licence summary displayed | Keep current; reviewed yearly | Designated premises supervisor |
| Accident book and RIDDOR reports | As they happen | Duty manager |
| Employer's liability insurance certificate displayed | Yearly renewal | Owner |
Intervals are the legal minimum where one exists (gas, LOLER), otherwise the usual practice or the standard that applies. Your fire risk assessment, your legionella scheme and your contractors' reports may set shorter ones, and they take precedence.
Keeping them
Every entry needs a date and a name. The fire logbook lives at reception or in the duty office where the night manager can find it, and the fire service will ask to see it on the spot. The legionella logbook lives with maintenance. The certificates (gas, electrical, lift, alarm, extinguishers, extraction) are filed the day they arrive. Keep gas records for two years at least, fire and water records for three, accident records for three, and the certificates until the next one replaces them, with the old ones kept for the history. Most of all, keep a copy of everything in one place, because the fire officer, the environmental health officer and the insurer each want to see the whole picture, and the general manager who can show it in one sitting has a short inspection.
Common questions
- Does a small B&B need a fire risk assessment?
- Yes. If you take paying guests, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the premises, however small, and since October 2023 the assessment must be recorded in writing. The Home Office published a guide specifically for small bed and breakfast, guest house and self-catering premises; its standards are proportionate to a family-run house, but they are not optional.
- What is different about fire safety where people sleep?
- People asleep do not smell smoke, cannot see the exit signs and take longer to react, in a building they do not know. So the standards are higher: detection in every bedroom and on every escape route, linked so the whole building hears it; fire doors to bedrooms that close on their own; emergency lighting on the routes; a protected staircase; and staff, including night staff, who know what to do. The sleeping accommodation guide is the longest of the government fire guides for that reason.
- How often does a hotel need a gas safety check?
- Every gas appliance and flue in a building where paying guests sleep must have a safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer at least every twelve months, and the record kept for two years. That is a legal interval, not a recommendation, and it applies to the boiler and the kitchen alike.
- Do we need a legionella risk assessment?
- If the building has stored hot or cold water, showers, a spa pool or outlets that stand unused between guests, yes. The HSE's Approved Code of Practice L8 asks for a written risk assessment by a competent person, a scheme of control, and the monitoring records it calls for: usually monthly temperature checks at sentinel outlets, quarterly descaling of shower heads and flushing of rooms that have stood empty.
- Does Martyn's Law apply to hotels?
- Hotels are a listed use. Guest bedrooms are private and excluded; the lobby, bar, restaurant, function suite and spa are not, and the count is everyone who could be in those public areas at once, plus staff. A 60-bedroom hotel with a 200-seat function room clears the standard tier threshold comfortably. The pubs, restaurants and hotels guide works through the number.
- Who is the responsible person in a hotel?
- The employer, which is the operating company, and in practice the general manager. In a leased or managed hotel the owner also has duties for the parts they control. Name one person who keeps the record and one deputy, and make sure the night manager knows they are in charge of the building between midnight and six.
Fifty fire doors, twelve months of gas, three logbooks. One record.
The Venue Record keeps the assessment, the scheme and every certificate dated and on file, reminds the right person before each door check, water test, service and inspection falls due, logs each one from a phone with a second person's approval, and files the engineer's certificate the day they leave. When the fire officer asks, the whole record is one link.
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A plain-English summary of the records a hotel, guest house or B&B is usually expected to keep in England and Wales, written for owners and managers. It is not legal advice and does not replace the guidance for your premises, the conditions on your licence, 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, local authority or government body.