FRA FAQ
The five steps are: identify fire hazards; identify people at risk; evaluate, remove or reduce the risks; record your findings and implement the actions; then review and update the assessment regularly. Every credible UK methodology, including BS 9792:2025, is built on this sequence.
Step by step
Step one looks for anything that can start a fire (electrical faults, heaters, smoking, arson opportunity), anything that can feed it (waste, storage in escape routes, combustible cladding or linings) and anything that can accelerate it. Step two asks who would be harmed: residents asleep in their flats, visitors who do not know the building, and anyone whose age, mobility or health would slow their escape. In housing, this is where a person-centred fire risk assessment may be needed for specific residents.
Step three is the judgement at the heart of the assessment: how likely is ignition, how fast would fire and smoke spread, and do the existing precautions (detection, means of escape, fire doors, compartmentation, the evacuation strategy) reduce the risk to an acceptable level? Steps four and five turn that judgement into a record: written findings with an action plan, communicated to the people who need it, and reviewed whenever the building, its occupants or the law change.
In practice
In a block of flats, the five steps are usually applied through a Type 1 fire risk assessment: a non-destructive inspection of the common parts, the flat entrance doors and a sample view of the building envelope. Since the Fire Safety Act 2021, the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors are explicitly within scope for multi-occupied residential buildings, so steps one and three now cover cladding and door integrity as well as the staircase.
Step four is where many assessments go wrong. Since Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force, the findings must be recorded in full regardless of how small the organisation is, and the record needs to show its reasoning alongside its conclusions. This is the discipline BS 9792:2025 formalises for housing: every significant finding traceable to evidence, and an action plan with owners and priorities. The blocks of flats guide walks the whole sequence with examples.
FAQ
The logic is the same but the hazards differ. The generic HSE version is covered separately under what are the 5 steps of risk assessment; a fire risk assessment applies that logic specifically to ignition, fuel, smoke spread and escape.
The significant findings, the people identified as especially at risk, and the measures taken or planned. Since October 2023 the duty to record applies in full to every responsible person, whatever the size of the premises or organisation.
Whoever does it must be competent for the building type. For simple premises that can be the responsible person; for blocks of flats it is usually a specialist. See can I do a fire risk assessment myself for where the line sits.
FRA Flow captures hazards, people at risk and evidence on site, then drafts the recorded findings and action plan for review. BS 9792-native throughout.
