What The Service Involves
An office fire risk assessment examines how staff, visitors and contractors would be warned and leave safely if a fire started. It considers the office layout, work activities, people present and the reliability of the precautions available to them.
A routine desk-based business can still have difficult escape conditions. Meeting rooms, access-controlled doors, kitchens, server cupboards and upper-floor suites can create issues that do not appear on an old floor plan. We use the actual arrangement of the premises as the starting point.
What Needs Particular Attention
In a shared office building, establish whether the tenant alarm links to the wider system and who receives fault reports. A landlord assessment of common areas may leave occupier activities outside its scope. Your own arrangements must work with the building emergency plan.
Hybrid working can change how many trained staff are available without changing the maximum number of visitors at an event. Discuss busy days, lone working and arrangements for people who need assistance. A plan that assumes a particular colleague is always present can fail when staffing changes.
Converted offices may have irregular circulation, secondary staircases or previous alterations. The assessor should look at escape route continuity and visible fire separation. Where drawings and observed conditions disagree, the report should explain what remains uncertain and whether further evidence is needed.
The Legal And Practical Framework
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 provides the main workplace fire safety framework for Leicester. The responsible person must assess risks and maintain appropriate precautions. Employing someone to help does not remove the duty to manage findings and coordinate with others who control parts of the premises.
Agree a scope that reflects the premises and the question being investigated. A report should make its evidence and limitations understandable, including any areas not inspected. Keep the document with the building’s fire safety records and connect recommended work to a named person or role.
Guidance: Workplace fire safety responsibilities.
How The Work Progresses
First, explain the property, the service needed and any known concerns. The scope should identify the areas included and the information required before attendance.
Next, arrange access and provide the records needed for the agreed inspection or review. The assessor should discuss relevant activities with someone familiar with the building and record limitations where evidence is unavailable.
Finally, use the findings to allocate actions, commission any necessary specialist work and retain completion evidence. If the report leaves a question open, establish who will obtain the missing information and how the conclusion will be updated.
Preparing For The Visit
Have the latest office layout ready, including meeting-room capacities and any desk changes. Provide the landlord contact, the previous report, alarm tests, emergency lighting records and staff induction arrangements.
Arrange access to storage rooms and small service cupboards as well as occupied office areas. Tell the assessor about locked exits, out-of-hours access and employees or regular visitors who may need help during an evacuation. Share functional needs without sending unnecessary medical details.
What Affects The Cost
Office assessment costs reflect the number of floors, the complexity of escape routes, shared facilities and the quality of existing records. Several small suites across different buildings are a different commission from one open-plan office.
Agree whether the assessment covers tenant areas, common areas or both. Ask whether a follow-up conversation about findings is included. Alarm engineering, emergency lighting design and evacuation equipment training may need separate appointments and should not be assumed to form part of the assessment.
Common Questions
Does A Small Office Need A Fire Risk Assessment?
A small office needs a fire risk assessment where the Fire Safety Order applies, even with a small staff team. The work should be proportionate to the risks and the premises. Record the assessment and fire safety arrangements in full, and review them when changes could affect the safety of people using the office.
Will The Office Need To Close For The Visit?
An office assessment can often take place during normal business activity, subject to access and confidentiality requirements. Agree how the assessor will enter meeting rooms, locked cupboards and shared spaces. If particular areas cannot be inspected during the day, those limitations need to be resolved or clearly recorded in the agreed report.
Related Support
For the wider assessment process, see our fire risk assessment Leicester guide.
Commercial Fire Risk Assessment →Warehouse Fire Risk Assessment →Fire Door Inspection →Fire Safety Audit →Fire Risk Assessment Review →