FRA FAQ
The five key elements, as widely used in practice, are prevention, detection and warning, means of escape, containment through compartmentation, and management and maintenance. The list is convention rather than statute; this page shows what each element physically looks like in a block of flats.
On site
Prevention in a block of flats lives in unglamorous places: secure bin stores kept away from the building line, locked electrical intake and meter cupboards, no storage or battery charging in corridors, and an arson-aware approach to access control. Detection and warning looks different from a workplace: many general-needs blocks with a stay-put strategy deliberately have no communal alarm, relying instead on detection inside each flat and automatic smoke control on the landings, a distinction the stay-put glossary entry explains.
Means of escape is the protected stair and everything that keeps it usable: self-closing flat entrance doors, fire doors on risers and stores, emergency lighting, signage where the layout demands it and nothing stored on the route. In most purpose-built blocks there is a single stair, so means of escape and containment are two sides of the same wall: the escape route only works because the construction around it holds smoke back.
Holding it together
Containment is compartmentation: fire-resisting walls and floors around each flat, fire-stopped service penetrations, and doors that close and latch. It is the element a stay-put strategy stands on, and the one most often quietly broken by decades of cable runs, botched refurbishments and missing intumescent strips. An assessor samples it in risers, ceiling voids and door reveals, because failures here are invisible from the middle of the corridor.
Management and maintenance keeps the other four true between assessments: fire door checks on the cycle the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 set for buildings over 11 metres, servicing of smoke control and emergency lighting, and records that prove it all happened. The responsible person owns this element personally; a block can be built perfectly and still drift into danger if nobody manages it.
FAQ
The numbered list is not, but every measure on it is captured by the general fire precautions the Fire Safety Order 2005 requires. If a building lacked detection, usable escape routes or maintained fire doors, enforcement would cite the Order, not the list. Treat the elements as a field checklist for statutory duties rather than a standard in themselves.
Containment. A stay-put strategy assumes each flat can hold a fire long enough for the fire service to deal with it, so compartmentation failures undermine everything else. Where containment cannot be trusted, the strategy may have to change to simultaneous evacuation, with alarm installation and interim measures following.
Through the five-step fire risk assessment method: identify hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate precautions, record findings, review. Each element supplies evidence to the evaluation step. The five steps page sets out the method a competent assessor applies to the specific building rather than a generic template.
FRA Flow captures photos and findings against every element on site, then drafts the report for a reviewer to sign. Built for UK housing, with a free tier.
