FRA FAQ
There is no official list of five fire safety rules in UK law. The phrase usually means resident-level habits: keep escape routes clear, test your smoke alarms, close doors and never prop fire doors open, charge batteries safely, and know your evacuation plan. Behind each informal rule sits a statutory duty on the responsible person.
The five rules
Clear escape routes means nothing stored in communal corridors or stairs, and inside the flat a route to the front door you could follow in smoke. Testing alarms regularly matters because detection inside the flat is the first warning most residents get; a dead battery removes it. Closing doors is about fire doors doing their job: a flat entrance door with a working self-closer holds fire and smoke back from the only stair, which is why propping one open defeats the compartmentation everyone else relies on.
Safe charging earns its place on any modern list because lithium battery fires in flats have become a persistent theme in fire and rescue incident reporting, and a battery charging in a hallway blocks the escape route while it burns. Knowing the evacuation strategy means knowing whether your building is stay-put or simultaneous evacuation, what any sounders mean, and where you should end up if you have to leave.
Behind the rules
Every rule has an owner on the duty side. Escape routes stay clear because article 14 of the Fire Safety Order requires them to be kept available for safe use, enforced through inspections and a managed corridor policy. Detection exists because article 13 requires appropriate detection and warning arrangements. Fire doors close because the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings to give residents fire door information, and above 11 metres to check communal doors quarterly and flat entrance doors annually on a best-endeavours basis.
The evacuation strategy is set by the responsible person and tested by the fire risk assessment: the assessor confirms the building can support the strategy claimed for it, which is what a Type 1 assessment of the common parts examines. Residents in England must also be given fire safety instructions under the 2022 Regulations, so if you have never been told your building strategy, that is itself a gap worth raising; what should a fire risk assessment include shows where it ought to be recorded.
FAQ
From fire and rescue service home safety advice, landlord induction packs and school fire safety teaching, compressed into a memorable list. Different sources give different fives. Fire services also offer free home fire safety visits for private dwellings, covered under can I get a free fire safety check.
Landlords carry the statutory version. A landlord who controls common parts is usually the responsible person and must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, keep precautions maintained and inform residents. The underlying duty is covered under is it a legal requirement to have a fire risk assessment.
In England, responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings must give residents instructions on how to report a fire and what to do once one starts, plus information on the importance of fire doors. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 page sets out these information duties in detail.
FRA Flow captures the evidence behind every duty on this page and drafts the FRA report for a reviewer to sign. Free tier, built for UK housing.
