Responsible person fire safety duties: what you must do

The question of who is the responsible person comes up constantly in Reading. Fire safety law places the duty on whoever controls the premises. That might be an employer, a landlord or a managing agent. The exact answer depends on the building and the arrangement in place.

In a leasehold block, the freeholder usually holds the duty for shared parts such as corridors, stairwells and plant rooms. If a managing agent runs the building day to day, they can share that responsibility. The written agreement between the two parties determines where the legal obligation sits. This is a common source of confusion around managing agent fire safety responsibility in blocks across the town.

For a shop let to a tenant, the tenant is normally the responsible person for the space they occupy. The landlord retains the duty for any communal areas or the external structure. A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement for both parties within their respective zones. Landlord fire safety duties in Reading therefore depend entirely on the terms of the lease and which parts of the building each party controls.

More than one person can hold the duty for the same building at the same time. In a mixed-use property in Reading, with shops on the ground floor and flats above, several parties carry obligations simultaneously. Each is responsible for the areas they control and must cooperate with the others.

This means the shop owner, the residential landlord and whoever manages the shared staircase all have separate roles. They are expected to communicate about hazards that cross boundaries. A blocked exit in the shop affects the residents upstairs, so the law requires them to coordinate. Fire safety law in a leasehold block operates on this principle of shared but defined control.

If nobody takes charge, the duty does not disappear. It falls to whoever has the most control over the premises. When there is genuine uncertainty, the specialist firm carrying out the assessment will map the boundaries and clarify who is expected to act.

The responsible person must hold certain fire safety records to keep on file. The central document is the written fire risk assessment. Alongside it sit records of emergency lighting tests, fire alarm servicing, staff training certificates and drill logs. Any compartmentation survey reports or fire door inspection certificates belong in the same folder.

These documents should be kept for the life of the building or until they are replaced by a newer version. Training records must be retained while the trained staff remain employed, and ideally for a period after they leave. Previous assessments should not be discarded when a new one is completed, because they show a history of compliance.

When Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service inspects a premises in Reading, officers ask to see these files. They check whether the assessment is current, whether recommended actions were completed and whether maintenance logs match the schedule set out in the report. Missing paperwork is treated as evidence that the duty has not been met.

A written fire risk assessment is required if you employ five or more people, if the premises needs a licence, or if an enforcing authority has asked for one. But even a small business in Reading with fewer than five staff still carries the duty to assess fire risk. The only difference is that the findings do not legally have to be written down, though keeping a record remains sensible practice.

If an inspection takes place and no written assessment exists where one is required, the fire and rescue service can issue an enforcement notice. This sets a deadline to produce the document and fix any problems it should have identified. Failure to comply can lead to prosecution. Details on responding to a notice are covered in the guidance on fire safety enforcement letters in Reading.

The inspector will also look at the physical state of the building. Blocked routes, missing signage and faulty doors compound the problem of absent paperwork. The specialist firm conducting the work produces a report that satisfies this requirement.

A fire risk assessment does not last forever. The responsible person must review it regularly to ensure it stays current. There is no fixed expiry date in law, but the standard expectation is a review every twelve months, or sooner if something changes.

Changes that trigger an earlier review include alterations to the building layout, new equipment, a change in the type of occupants or a near-miss incident. If a shop in Reading starts storing flammable materials, the previous assessment no longer reflects the actual risk. Similarly, if a block of flats installs a new alarm system, the evacuation plan needs updating to match.

The specialist firm that carried out the original assessment will note a recommended review date in the report. Meeting that date is the responsibility of the person who controls the premises. Guidance on how often a fire risk assessment needs reviewing explains the timelines in more detail. Keeping the document current is the core of the ongoing duty.