Who Is the Responsible Person? Fire Safety Duties Explained

Published 2026-06-11 · Black Mountain Fire Safety

Almost every fire safety enforcement case begins with the same question: who was responsible? The answer is set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — and it catches far more people than many realise. If you employ staff, own a holiday let, manage an HMO, or have any degree of control over non-domestic premises, there is a good chance the answer is you.

The legal definition

Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order defines the Responsible Person as:

• In a workplace — the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under their control;
• In any other premises — the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade, business or other undertaking (whether or not for profit); or
• The owner, where the person in control does not have such an undertaking.

In practice, this means: the employer in an office or shop; the freeholder, management company or managing agent for the common parts of a block of flats; the owner of a holiday let or guest accommodation; and the landlord (and often also the managing agent) of an HMO. In many buildings there is more than one Responsible Person at the same time — a shop tenant and the building's freeholder, for example — and the Order requires them to cooperate and coordinate with each other.

It is also worth knowing that under Article 5, duties extend to any person who has control over premises to some extent — including contractors and others with contractual obligations for maintenance or safety. You cannot contract your way out of responsibility, but responsibility can certainly be shared.

What the Responsible Person must do

The core duties under the Order are:

• Carry out a fire risk assessment (Article 9) — a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which "relevant persons" are exposed, for the purpose of identifying the fire precautions needed.
• Take general fire precautions (Article 8) — to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of employees and others.
• Make fire safety arrangements (Article 11) — effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures.
• Provide firefighting equipment and fire detection (Article 13) appropriate to the premises.
• Keep emergency routes and exits clear (Article 14) — leading as directly as possible to a place of safety, with doors openable without a key.
• Maintain fire safety measures (Article 17) — in an efficient state, efficient working order and good repair.
• Provide information, instruction and training (Articles 19–21) to employees and others.

What changed in October 2023

Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Fire Safety Order from 1 October 2023, and the changes apply to every Responsible Person, in premises of every size:

• The fire risk assessment must now be recorded in full — the old threshold of five or more employees has gone.
• Your fire safety arrangements must be documented, whatever the size of your business.
• If you appoint someone to carry out or review your assessment, you must record their name (and their organisation).
• Where there are multiple Responsible Persons, you must take reasonable steps to identify each other, cooperate and share information — including when responsibility changes hands.
• In residential buildings with two or more domestic premises, residents must be given relevant fire safety information.
• Penalties for several offences were increased, with unlimited fines available.

Can you do your own fire risk assessment?

Legally, yes — the Order does not currently prohibit it. But the assessment must be suitable and sufficient, and the courts judge that objectively. For anything beyond the simplest premises, the practical and recommended route is a competent assessor. A further provision of the Building Safety Act — requiring that anyone appointed to make or review a fire risk assessment must be competent — is on the statute book and awaiting commencement, and BS 8674:2025 now sets out the competence framework that assessors are expected to meet. The direction of travel is unmistakable: demonstrable competence is becoming a legal requirement, not a nicety.

The bottom line

If you are reading this wondering whether you are a Responsible Person — you very probably are. The role cannot be delegated away, the recording duties now apply to everyone, and enforcement activity across South Wales is real and ongoing. The good news is that compliance is straightforward with the right support: a clear, defensible fire risk assessment, sensible arrangements, and a simple regime of testing and review.