What it is
An audit looks at the system around the building: policies and responsibilities, training and drills, maintenance and testing records, contractor control, and how findings actually get closed. We benchmark against the Fire Safety Order, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and recognised guidance, and report where the management system is solid, where it is paper-thin, and what to fix first. An audit is not a fire risk assessment, and the distinction matters. The fire risk assessment is the statutory examination of the building itself under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — its escape routes, hazards and the measures protecting people. The fire safety audit examines the management system around the building: whether the assessment's actions are being closed, whether checks and tests happen at the stated intervals, and whether the people named in the policy know what they are responsible for. A building can hold a competent fire risk assessment and still be poorly managed; the audit is how you find out. For portfolios, the audit's value multiplies. Applying the same criteria and scoring to every site shows which buildings are well run, where practice diverges from policy, and how consistently the organisation's arrangements are actually applied — a picture a board can act on and a regulator will recognise.
When you need it
- Boards or senior management want assurance beyond the risk assessment
- An enforcement notice, audit finding or near-miss has exposed gaps
- A portfolio needs consistent fire safety management across sites
- You are preparing for a primary authority or regulator inspection
What you receive
- An audit report scored against defined criteria
- A gap analysis with prioritised, owned actions
- Template policies and registers where yours are missing
How we do it
- Scoping and document request: policies, fire risk assessments, logbooks, training records, maintenance contracts and any previous audit or enforcement findings are gathered before the visit, so site time tests reality rather than reads paperwork.
- Site audit: records are checked against the building — test dates verified, sample fire doors and escape routes walked, staff asked what they would actually do — and the people responsible interviewed against the written policy.
- Scoring and gap analysis: each audit area is scored against defined criteria drawn from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and recognised guidance, so results are comparable between sites and over time.
- Report and action plan issued with prioritised, owned actions — and where policies or registers are missing, workable templates supplied so the gap is closed rather than merely noted.
What drives the cost
Audit cost depends on the size and complexity of each premises, the number of sites in the programme, and the condition of the records — an organisation with a maintained logbook and a clear policy audits faster than one whose documentation must be assembled from scratch. Interviews across multiple shifts or departments add time, as does drafting templates where policies are missing. We scope each commission individually and provide a fixed fee before starting.
Common questions
What is the difference between a fire safety audit and a fire risk assessment?
They answer different questions. A fire risk assessment is the statutory assessment of the premises required by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — it examines the building, its hazards and the measures protecting the people in it. An audit asks whether the system around that building actually works: are policies followed, does testing and maintenance happen, is training real, do findings get closed. A sound assessment can sit inside a weak management system, and the reverse is also true. Most organisations need both, on different cycles.
How often should we carry out a fire safety audit?
There is no fixed statutory interval — the audit is a governance tool rather than a named legal requirement. A common pattern is an annual cycle for higher-risk or complex sites and a two- to three-year cycle for simpler premises, with an additional audit after significant events: an enforcement notice, a fire or near-miss, a restructure that changes responsibilities, or a change of managing agent or maintenance contractor. For portfolios, a rolling programme that reaches every site over a defined period keeps the picture current without auditing everything at once.
What does a fire safety audit cover?
The management system end to end: the fire safety policy and how responsibilities are assigned; training and drills; testing and maintenance of alarms, emergency lighting and fire-fighting equipment; the fire risk assessment and whether its actions have been closed; record-keeping and the logbook; contractor control, including hot works; and, for multi-occupied residential buildings, the specific duties the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added. The test throughout is simple: does the paperwork describe what actually happens, and would the arrangements hold up on a bad day?
Can audits be run consistently across a portfolio?
Yes — and that is where an audit programme earns most of its value. We apply the same criteria, scoring and report format across every site, which makes results directly comparable: which buildings are well managed, where day-to-day practice has drifted from the written policy, and whether arrangements depend on the organisation or on individual site managers. The output is a portfolio-level view for the board, with site-level actions each building can own, and a baseline against which the next audit cycle measures genuine movement.
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