Fire safety for schools
Fire risk assessment for schools and trusts
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 every school must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, recorded in full and kept under review. Most schools have one. Far fewer can show that its actions were closed. SchoolSafe Systems gives you an independent read of where you actually stand, and a plan that finishes the job.
South West-based, working with schools, academy trusts, independent schools and early years settings across the UK.
The problem is rarely the document
In fifteen years of working with schools, I have very rarely walked into one with no fire risk assessment at all. What I find instead is a perfectly competent assessment, commissioned in good faith, with a list of significant findings that nobody was given the time, budget or authority to close.
Two years on, the school has a new assessment, a new list, and several of the same items on it. Each one has been paid for twice and neither has made the building safer.
The second pattern is drift. The assessment described the school as it was on the day of the visit. Since then a store became a small-group room, a contractor ran cable through a compartment wall, a modular classroom arrived, and the pupil who needed a personal emergency evacuation plan moved to a first-floor form room.
None of that is negligence. It is what a live building does. It is also exactly what a proper review is for.
What you get
An independent fire risk assessment review
A structured review of your existing assessment against the building as it stands, and of the arrangements that sit around it:
- Whether the assessment matches the building as it stands today, including modular classrooms and altered rooms
- Escape routes, travel distances, final exits and external assembly arrangements
- Compartmentation and fire doors — the area that most often deteriorates quietly
- Detection, alarm zoning, emergency lighting and their testing records
- Ignition and fuel sources: kitchens, DT, science, kilns, battery charging, waste and storage
- Evacuation strategy, roll call, reunification and personal emergency evacuation plans
- Fire warden cover, staff training records and drill history
- Contractor control, hot works permits and management of change during building works
- Lettings, out-of-hours use, boarding and sleeping accommodation where applicable
- The action log — what was raised, what closed, what evidence exists and what is overdue
You receive a written report rated red, amber or green, an action plan with owners, priorities and realistic dates, and a one-page summary written so a governor with no technical background can read it and ask the right questions.
Signs your fire risk assessment needs attention
- The assessment is more than a year old and nobody has recorded a review
- Actions are marked "in progress" with no date and no owner
- The plans in the assessment show rooms that have since changed use
- You have had a fire and rescue service audit and are unsure how to prioritise the findings
- Building works have happened since the assessment and compartmentation was never re-checked
- The person who held all of this has left, or is about to
- Governors are being told fire safety is fine but have not seen evidence
Any one of these is worth a conversation. All of them together usually means the school is relying on a document rather than a system — which is the position that unravels during a fire and rescue service audit.
Where independent review stops and assessment begins
SchoolSafe Systems reviews your fire risk assessment and the arrangements around it, prioritises the actions, and supports you in commissioning a competent fire risk assessor where a full reassessment is needed. That split is deliberate: the person telling you whether your assessment is adequate should not be the person selling you the replacement.
It also means the advice you get on scope, competence and cost is genuinely independent — including when the honest answer is that your existing assessment is sound and the money is better spent closing the actions in it.
Fire safety questions schools ask
Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement for schools?
- Yes. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the fire risks. Since the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, it must be recorded in full and the fire safety information shared with staff.
Who is the responsible person in a school?
- The employer: the local authority for community and voluntary-controlled schools, the trust board for academies, and the proprietor or governing body for independent schools. Anyone else with control of the premises — a PFI provider, landlord or shared-site operator — also holds duties and must cooperate.
How often should a school fire risk assessment be reviewed?
- The Order requires regular review rather than a fixed interval. Schools typically carry out a documented review at least annually, a full reassessment by a competent assessor every three to five years depending on the building, and an immediate review after building works, a change of use, a fire or a fire and rescue service audit.
Do you carry out the fire risk assessment itself?
- SchoolSafe Systems provides independent review of your existing fire risk assessment, prioritisation of its actions, and support commissioning a competent fire risk assessor where a full reassessment is needed. That separation is deliberate — the person reviewing whether the assessment is adequate should not be the person selling the reassessment.
We have had a fire and rescue service visit and been given actions. Can you help?
- Yes. Post-audit support is one of the most common reasons schools get in touch. The work is to translate the findings into a costed, sequenced plan with owners and dates, deal with anything urgent first, and give leaders and governors a clear line of sight on progress.
How much does fire risk assessment support cost?
- Scope and price are agreed in writing before any work starts, based on the size and complexity of the site and whether you need a one-off review or ongoing support. There are no hourly surprises.
Why schools choose SchoolSafe Systems
Every engagement is delivered personally by Paul Shehean — 25+ years in health and safety and more than 15 years working directly with schools, from village primaries to multi-academy trusts, independent boarding schools and special schools. Advice is education-specific rather than a commercial template with the word "school" pasted over it.
Reports are proportionate and readable, pricing is fixed and agreed in writing before work begins, and support is available remotely or on site across the UK.
Arrange a Fire Safety Compliance Review
An independent review of your fire risk assessment, evacuation arrangements and open fire authority actions — with a prioritised plan you can work through.