Before you begin
How to use this restaurant FRA checklist
This checklist is a preparation and review aid for restaurants, cafés, takeaways and similar food premises in England. Work through it using the actual layout, equipment, occupancy and management arrangements—not an idealised quiet period.
The responsible person must ensure that the fire risk assessment is suitable and sufficient, record it in full and act on the findings. Ticking every line does not demonstrate compliance if important risks have been misunderstood, excluded or left unresolved.
Checklist 01
Confirm scope, use and responsibility
Start by defining what is being assessed and who controls it. Restaurants in mixed-use or multi-occupied buildings often share escape routes, alarms, service risers or structural fire precautions with a landlord and other occupiers.
- Identify the employer, operator, owner and every other responsible person
- Record the restaurant’s current use, opening hours and busiest credible occupancy
- Include dining, bar, kitchen, preparation, wash-up, stores, cellars, staff, plant and external areas
- Include basements, upper floors, yards, bin stores, delivery routes and customer toilets
- Identify flats, offices or other premises above, below or beside the restaurant
- Record shared stairs, final exits, alarms, utilities and landlord-controlled systems
- Check whether the existing FRA reflects the present operator, menu, layout and equipment
- Record inaccessible areas, assumptions and information still required
Checklist 02
Check cooking, extraction and fuel hazards
Follow the path from each heat source through the canopy, filters, ductwork and discharge point. Grease, hidden duct routes and penetrations through fire-resisting construction can allow a kitchen fire to spread well beyond the appliance.
- List fryers, ranges, ovens, grills, salamanders, microwaves and other heat-producing equipment
- Identify gas, electricity, LPG, charcoal, wood or other fuels and their safe isolation points
- Check safe separation from packaging, oils, cloths, décor and combustible storage
- Review canopy, filter and duct cleaning arrangements against use and grease accumulation
- Confirm that cleaning evidence identifies the system, extent, date and work completed
- Check whether ducts pass through walls, floors, ceilings or concealed spaces
- Record suppression systems where fitted, including design scope, servicing and staff understanding
- For solid-fuel appliances, consider carbon monoxide, ventilation, ash and safe fuel storage
- Review hot-work controls for maintenance, roofing or extraction work
Checklist 03
Test escape, capacity and warning arrangements
Assess the premises in its busiest credible layout. Tables, high chairs, queues, delivery collections, external seating, entertainment and stored furniture can change both capacity and the routes people can actually use.
- Establish the maximum credible number of customers, staff, contractors and delivery workers
- Check travel distances, route widths, stairways, final exits and external dispersal
- Keep gangways and exits clear in every permitted table or event layout
- Ensure exit security permits immediate escape whenever the premises is occupied
- Consider basements, inner rooms, upper floors, single stairs and shared escape routes
- Check alarm coverage and audibility in kitchens, toilets, stores, plant and noisy areas
- Confirm signs and emergency lighting support unfamiliar customers to reach safety
- Plan assistance for disabled people and anyone who may not respond without help
- Make sure staff know how to call 999, direct customers and prevent re-entry
Checklist 04
Review protection, fire doors and daily management
Physical precautions and operating discipline must work together. A suitable door or alarm is not reliable protection if defects remain open, opening checks are missed or nobody present knows what to do.
- Check kitchen separation, ceilings, walls, floors, risers and service penetrations for evidence of fire spread routes
- Check that fire doors close fully, are not wedged and have no obvious damage or unsuitable gaps
- Confirm alarm, emergency-lighting and firefighting-equipment testing and defect follow-up
- Provide extinguishers suitable for the actual hazards and train relevant staff in safe limitations
- Never use water on burning cooking oil or fat
- Control waste, cardboard, linen, laundry, deliveries and external combustible storage
- Manage batteries and charging equipment used for deliveries or business operations
- Provide induction and role-specific training for permanent, temporary and agency staff
- Use opening and closing checks for exits, doors, alarms, cooking equipment, isolation and waste
- Record drills, false alarms, defects, incidents, near misses and completed remedial work
Competence threshold
When should a restaurant obtain professional help?
The responsible person may complete the assessment only if competent for the premises and risks. Complexity, uncertainty and the potential consequences should drive the decision—not simply the size of the dining room.
Complex escape
Basements, upper floors, inner rooms, a single route, shared stairs or uncertain capacity need careful judgement.
Mixed-use construction
Flats above, shared systems, hidden voids or uncertain compartmentation require coordination and may need specialist investigation.
Higher-hazard cooking
Extensive frying, LPG, charcoal, tandoors, wood-fired appliances or unclear extraction routes can exceed a basic in-house assessment.
Significant change
A fit-out, new extraction, changed use, altered layout or increased occupancy is a strong review trigger.
Previous warning
A fire, near miss, enforcement contact, insurer concern or unresolved high-priority action calls for prompt competent review.
Missing evidence
Unknown fire-door, alarm, electrical, gas, extraction or fire-stopping condition may need specialist inspection as well as the FRA.
Prepare the instruction
What to have ready for a restaurant assessor
Missing information should not stop an assessment, but identifying gaps before the visit helps the assessor test uncertainty and price the work accurately.
- Current and previous FRAs, action plans and completion evidence
- Floor plans, fire strategy and relevant alteration or building-control information
- Maximum occupancy and example dining, standing or event layouts
- Alarm, emergency-lighting, fire-door and extinguisher records
- Gas, electrical, extraction, suppression and solid-fuel records where relevant
- Training, drills, opening checks and emergency arrangements
- Premises licence, relevant conditions and landlord contact details
- Details of fires, flare-ups, false alarms, near misses and planned changes