How Often Should a Fire Risk Assessment Be Reviewed?

The short answer

The law sets no fixed interval. It says the responsible person must review the assessment regularly, and straight away if there is reason to think it is no longer valid or if the premises change significantly. In practice most organisations review at least once a year, and taller blocks, care homes and complex premises more often.

On this page

Ask ten fire safety people how often an assessment should be reviewed and most will say “once a year”. That is a sound habit, but it is not what the law says, and treating it as the rule can leave you exposed in the eleven months in between.

What the law says

In England and Wales the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to review the fire risk assessment regularly, so that it stays up to date, and in particular to review it when:

there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid, or
there has been a significant change in the matters it relates to, including the premises, the work or the people.

Scotland’s law works the same way. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service tells duty holders that reviews “should be carried out regularly” to make sure the assessment remains valid, and that a specialist may be needed after significant changes.

There is no number in either. The interval is yours to judge, and you need to be able to explain why the one you chose was reasonable for your building.

Changes that should trigger a review straight away

These are the moments when an assessment most often goes out of date without anyone noticing:

Building work. New partitions, a knocked-through wall, a new kitchen, a loft conversion or new services through compartment walls can all change escape routes and fire separation.
A change of use. Storage becoming a workshop, an office floor becoming a training room, a shop adding seating, or a house becoming an HMO.
More people, or different people. A jump in staff numbers, a night shift, residents or guests who need help to get out, or a new tenant in a shared building.
New processes or materials. Hot work, battery charging, flammable liquids, or a large delivery of combustible stock.
A fire or a near miss. Even a small one tells you something the assessment did not.
A visit or letter from the fire service, an insurer’s survey, or a licence application.
A change of responsible person. In England, since October 2023, the outgoing responsible person must pass on fire safety information to the incoming one. Use the handover as a review point.

Sensible intervals by premises

Because the law leaves it open, most responsible persons set a routine interval and then review early whenever one of the triggers above happens. These intervals are common practice, not legal requirements:

Premises	Routine review	Fresh assessment
Small, simple office or shop, no changes	Once a year	Every few years, or after changes
Restaurant, pub, workshop or warehouse	Once a year	Every two to three years
Block of flats, common parts	Once a year	Every few years; sooner for taller blocks
HMO	At each change of tenants, and yearly	Every few years
Care home, hotel, hostel, school	Once a year at least	Often every one to two years

A review means looking again at the existing assessment, checking the findings still hold, ticking off completed actions and recording that you did it. A fresh assessment starts again with a full site visit. If the premises have changed a lot, a review is not enough.

Who should do the review?

The responsible person can review the assessment themselves if they are competent to do so, which for a small, simple premises may be realistic. For anything with sleeping risk, several storeys, shared escape routes or processes, ask the original assessor or another competent assessor.

Reviews usually cost less than a new assessment. One council fire safety team’s 2024 fee list priced re-inspections at half the normal fee. See our fee guide for full assessment fees.

Recording the review

In England, since 1 October 2023, every responsible person must record all the findings of the fire risk assessment and the name of anyone who carried it out or reviewed it. A review is part of that record. Keep:

the date of the review and who did it, with their organisation;
what was checked and what changed;
actions closed since the last review, with evidence;
new actions, with priorities and dates;
the date of the next review.

Fire and rescue services ask to see this. Failing to provide your assessment when an inspector asks for it can now lead to an unlimited fine.

A simple routine

Put the review date in the diary on the day the report arrives.
Keep a short log of anything that might be a trigger: building work, new tenants, new stock, an alarm activation.
Check the log every quarter. If anything on it is significant, review early.
At the routine review, walk the building with the report in hand and update it.
Every few years, or after major change, book a fresh assessment.

If your assessment is more than a year old and the building has changed, it is time for a fresh look: compare fire risk assessment quotes for your premises. We can find a competent assessor who covers your area.

How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?