Whether you assess your own property or read a professional’s report, the structure is the same. The five step fire risk assessment is the framework used across UK fire safety, and understanding it helps every Berkshire owner see what a thorough assessment actually covers.
The five step fire risk assessment in full
The All-Wales guidance sets out the five steps clearly, and the same structure underpins the English approach. They are:
- Identify the fire hazards
- Identify the people at risk
- Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk
- Record, plan, inform, instruct and train
- Review
Step one: identify the hazards
A fire needs three things: heat, fuel and oxygen, often called the fire triangle. You look for ignition sources such as log burners, cookers, portable heaters and electrical faults, and the fuel that could feed a fire, from soft furnishings and bedding to stored firewood and rubbish awaiting collection.
Step two: identify the people at risk
This is the step owners rush. The guidance is explicit that you must consider everyone likely to use the premises, including older people, very young children and disabled people, and how they will escape. Guests are unfamiliar with your property, which makes this harder than it would be in a private home. Anyone sleeping is especially at risk, which is why detection that wakes them matters so much.
Step three: evaluate and reduce
Having found the hazards and the people, you reduce the risk: remove what you can, and protect against the rest with alarms, sound doors and clear escape routes. The aim is to break the fire triangle and to give people time and a clear way out if a fire does start.
Steps four and five: record and review
You then record your findings, which since 2023 must be done in full, and inform guests through a welcome pack and clear procedures. Finally you review regularly, at least annually and after any significant change. The government’s free five-step checklist walks you through all of this in order.
Where the steps get technical
Steps one and three are where owners often run out of depth, because judging compartmentation, travel distances and detector coverage takes training. The official guidance accepts owners can assess simple premises themselves, but recommends a competent assessor where you are not confident. You can read more about doing your own assessment and what makes one suitable and sufficient. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service can also offer general guidance.
Why the order of the steps matters
The five steps run in sequence for a reason. You find the hazards first, then work out who is at risk, because the people using a holiday property shape the measures you need. A let that takes families with young children, or guests with mobility needs, calls for different planning from one aimed at couples. Only then do you reduce the risks, record what you found, and set a date to review. The All-Wales guidance frames step three as remove, reduce and protect, in that priority: design the hazard out where you can, cut it down where you cannot, and protect people from what is left. Working through them in order is what makes the result suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law.
If any single step feels beyond you, that is the point to bring in help, because a gap in one step quietly undermines the whole assessment and the protection it is meant to provide.
Get the right advice for your property
Want help working through the five steps properly? For advice tailored to your property from a competent professional, speak to Jamie at ESI: Fire Safety on 01276 300 351.
