By FRA scope
A re-assessment triggered by a change to the building or its fire safety arrangements that materially affects risk. Cladding work, fire door replacement, change of occupancy profile, fire safety equipment changes: any of these can trigger a significant change review under BS 9792:2025 and Article 11 of the Fire Safety Order.
Common triggers
How the trigger is recorded
The audit trail records what triggered the re-assessment: the date the change was identified, who flagged it, what the change was, and the basis for treating it as significant. This documentation is part of the FRA programme's defence under enforcement or safety case scrutiny: it shows the dutyholder used judgement rather than ignoring a change.
In FRA Flow, the trigger is captured at the start of the new assessment as a structured field. The output report references the trigger in the building description section and the significant findings section explains how the change has affected the risk position.
Resetting the periodic clock
The new assessment becomes the current baseline and the next periodic review runs from its issue date. The previous periodic clock no longer applies. For a building on annual review, this means the next annual is 12 months from the significant change review issue date, not 12 months from the previous annual.
In FRA Flow, the next-review-date field updates automatically when the significant change review is issued. The portfolio dashboard reflects the new schedule across the team.
Common pitfalls
In FRA Flow
A significant change review is initiated by starting a new assessment with the trigger recorded explicitly. The previous baseline's findings, evidence, and action plan are carried forward as input. The assessor reviews each open finding for current status and records new findings driven by the change. The output report is a current baseline with a clear audit trail back to the trigger and the previous baseline.
FAQ
BS 9792 expects judgement rather than a list. Cladding remediation, fire door replacement, occupancy profile changes, fire safety equipment upgrades, change of Responsible Person, and any work that opens up compartmentation are common triggers. The dutyholder and the competent assessor agree what counts in marginal cases.
Article 11 of the FSO says "without delay". In practice, this usually means within weeks of the change being identified, not months. Where the change creates immediate risk, the action plan can include interim compensatory measures while the full re-assessment is being commissioned.
Generally yes, particularly where the change has affected the building's physical fire safety features. For a change of Responsible Person without physical building changes, a desk-based review may be appropriate. The competent assessor judges what is needed.
In principle yes, but in practice many changes have building-wide implications (e.g., a fire alarm system upgrade affects every flat). The competent assessor decides the appropriate scope. Limited-scope significant change reviews are explicit about what was and was not re-evaluated.
Yes. Triggers are captured at the property level when a significant change review is initiated. The audit trail surfaces them in the portfolio view and in subsequent assessments' building description sections.
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