Short answer
Responsibility follows employment and control
For a workplace, the employer is the responsible person where the workplace is under its control. Where premises are not a workplace, the responsible person is generally the person who has control in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking, or the owner where the person in control has no such connection.
The responsible person is frequently a company, charity, public body or other organisation rather than the employee who deals with the practical administration.
Common arrangements
Who is usually responsible in different premises?
The exact answer depends on contracts and actual control. These examples are starting points, not a substitute for establishing the real arrangement.
Workplace
The employer for the workplace and activities it controls.
Rented commercial unit
The tenant employer for its workplace; the landlord or manager for shared areas and systems it controls.
Block of flats
The freeholder, housing provider, management company, right-to-manage company or agent, depending on control and appointment.
HMO or shared housing
The landlord, licence holder or manager may hold overlapping fire-safety and housing duties.
Public, charity or faith premises
The organisation, trustees, governing body or operator with control.
Construction site
Usually the main or principal contractor controlling site fire safety, with other interfaces coordinated.
Residential context
Landlords, freeholders and residential buildings
The Fire Safety Order generally does not apply inside a private domestic dwelling, but it applies to common parts of buildings containing domestic premises. The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarifies relevant scope for structure, external walls and flat entrance doors in buildings containing two or more domestic premises.
Separate housing, licensing and alarm duties can apply inside rented homes and HMOs. The correct approach is to coordinate the regimes, not assume one replaces another.
Delegation
You can appoint help, but cannot outsource accountability
A responsible person may appoint a competent assessor or advisers to assist. They may also allocate day-to-day tasks to employees, agents or contractors. The responsible person remains responsible for ensuring the assessment is suitable and sufficient and for acting on it.
A competent report should make its scope and limitations clear. The responsible person should provide accurate information, review the findings, resolve questions and monitor the action plan.
- Choose competence appropriate to the premises
- Confirm the areas, systems and activities included
- Give the assessor access to relevant people and records
- Review assumptions, limitations and recommendations
- Assign and verify every action rather than filing the report
Continuity
Changes of responsibility and enforcement
When responsibility changes, the outgoing responsible person must provide relevant fire-safety information to the incoming person. This can include assessments, action records, system information and cooperation details.
Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Order for most premises. Notices and prosecution can be directed at dutyholders, and individuals may also face liability in relevant circumstances. Uncertainty about responsibility should be resolved before it creates a management gap.