If you own, manage, or have any degree of control over a non-domestic building, there is a good chance you are legally defined as a Responsible Person – whether you know it or not.
It is one of the most important concepts in UK fire safety legislation, and one of the most commonly misunderstood.
Here’s what it means, who it applies to, and what it requires you to do.
Where Does the Term Come From?
The term Responsible Person comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the RRO, which is the primary piece of fire safety legislation governing non-domestic premises in England and Wales.
The RRO places a range of legal duties on the Responsible Person, and non-compliance can result in enforcement action, prosecution, substantial fines, and in serious cases, imprisonment.
Who is the Responsible Person?
The Responsible Person is defined in Article 3 of the RRO.
In a workplace, it is the employer – the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying out a trade, business, or undertaking.
In any other non-domestic premises, it is the person who has control of the premises, or the owner where no other person has control.
In practice this means the Responsible Person could be an employer operating from a commercial premises, a building owner or freeholder, a landlord of a commercial or mixed-use property, a managing agent or block management company responsible for the common parts of a residential building, a right to manage company, a licensee such as a pub or hotel operator, or a facilities manager with day-to-day control of a building.
Crucially, there can be more than one Responsible Person for a single premises.
Where a building is occupied by multiple employers, or where ownership and management are split between different parties, each of them may hold Responsible Person duties for their respective areas.
In these situations, all Responsible Persons are expected to cooperate and coordinate with each other to ensure the building as a whole meets its fire safety obligations.
What Are the Duties of a Responsible Person?
The core duty of the Responsible Person is to take all general fire precautions necessary to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of all relevant persons on or in the vicinity of the premises.
This breaks down into a number of specific legal obligations.
The first and most fundamental is the fire risk assessment.
The Responsible Person must carry out or arrange for a competent person to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the premises.
This assessment must identify fire hazards, evaluate the risks those hazards pose to people, and determine what measures are needed to remove or reduce those risks to an acceptable level.
For premises with five or more employees, the significant findings must be recorded in writing.
Beyond the fire risk assessment, the Responsible Person must ensure that appropriate fire safety measures are implemented and maintained.
This includes fire detection and warning systems, firefighting equipment, emergency lighting, escape routes and fire exits, fire doors and passive fire protection measures, and clear signage throughout the building.
The Responsible Person must also ensure that relevant persons – employees, contractors, and in some cases visitors and members of the public – are provided with adequate information, instruction, and training on fire safety procedures.
This includes ensuring staff know what to do in the event of a fire, how to raise the alarm, and how to evacuate safely.
Has Anything Changed Recently?
Yes — and significantly. The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified and extended the scope of the RRO, explicitly bringing the structure, external walls, and flat entrance doors of multi-occupied residential buildings within the Responsible Person’s duties.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 then introduced additional specific obligations for responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings, including requirements around fire door inspections, the provision of fire safety information to residents, and – for buildings over 18 metres – more extensive duties around building safety documentation and engagement with residents.
If you are responsible for a block of flats or a mixed-use building with residential accommodation, it is particularly important to ensure you are up to date with these more recent legislative developments.
What Happens if You Don’t Meet Your Duties?
The consequences of failing to meet your obligations as a Responsible Person are serious.
The local Fire and Rescue Service has powers to inspect premises, issue enforcement notices, serve prohibition notices restricting the use of all or part of a building, and prosecute individuals and organisations for breaches of the RRO.
Courts have shown a willingness to impose substantial fines and custodial sentences where non-compliance has put lives at risk – as several high-profile prosecutions in recent years have demonstrated.
Ignorance of the law is not a defence. If you have control over a premises and haven’t taken steps to fulfil your duties as a Responsible Person, you are already at risk.
Not Sure if You’re the Responsible Person?
If you have any degree of control over a non-domestic building — or over the common parts of a residential building — the safest assumption is that you have Responsible Person duties.
The starting point is always a fire risk assessment, and if you don’t have one in place, or if your existing assessment hasn’t been reviewed recently, now is the time to act.
At ESI: Fire Safety, we work with employers, landlords, building owners, and managing agents to ensure they understand and meet their obligations under the RRO.
From fire risk assessments and fire door inspections through to staff training and ongoing compliance support, we provide the expertise you need to protect the people in your building – and yourself.
