Fire Safety Training for Employees: UK Legal Requirements

Fire safety training is a legal requirement for UK employers. In England and Wales, article 21 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires adequate training when staff start and when their risks change, covering the precautions and actions to take on your own premises, repeated periodically and given in working hours. Scotland and Northern Ireland have almost identical rules, and fire and rescue services check them: in the year to March 2026 they recorded 4,445 breaches of the training duty during audits in England.

This guide explains what the law says in each nation, how fire services check it, who needs what, what to cover, what works online and how often to train.

Is fire safety training a legal requirement?

Yes, in every part of the UK. In England and Wales the duty sits with the “responsible person” for the premises, which for a workplace is usually the employer.

Nation	Law	Who must train staff
England and Wales	Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 21	The responsible person
Scotland	Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, regulation 20	Employers with duties under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005
Northern Ireland	Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010, regulation 20	Employers

The wording is close to identical in all three. Training must be given when someone is first employed, and again when they face new or increased risks because they move to a new job or take on new responsibilities, or because new equipment, technology or ways of working are introduced. It must:

• include instruction and training on the precautions and actions each person should take to keep themselves and others safe on the premises
• be repeated periodically where appropriate
• be adapted to take account of new or changed risks
• be provided in a way that suits the risks identified in your fire risk assessment
• take place during working hours.

In England and Wales, article 40 also stops employers charging employees for anything done to meet the Order. The government’s guidance on fire safety in the workplace puts it simply: train new staff when they start work and tell all employees about any new fire risks.

How do fire services check fire safety training?

Fire and rescue authorities enforce the law through audits. In the year to March 2026, authorities in England carried out 50,195 fire safety audits, and 40% had an unsatisfactory outcome. They recorded 4,445 breaches of article 21, the training duty, 35% more than six years earlier, which puts training among the ten most frequently breached articles (fire prevention and protection statistics).

Government guidance for offices and shops says training should be verifiable, and that enforcing authorities may want to examine records as evidence that adequate training has been given. Keep a record of who was trained, on what and when, alongside your fire drill results.

Where a failure to meet the fire safety duties puts people at risk of death or serious injury, it is a criminal offence. On conviction in the Crown Court the penalty is an unlimited fine, up to two years in prison, or both (article 32).

Who needs fire safety training?

Everyone who works on the premises needs to know what to do, but the depth depends on the role. London Fire Brigade says all staff should be trained, including part-time and zero hours staff, security and cleaning staff and contractors.

Who	What they need
All staff, including part-time, temporary and night shift staff	Your emergency plan, how to raise the alarm, what to do when they hear it, the escape routes and assembly point, why fire doors stay closed and good housekeeping.
New starters	The same on their first day, including being shown the escape routes.
Fire marshals or wardens	The fire safety strategy for the building, searching and clearing areas safely, helping people who need assistance, using extinguishers where it is safe and briefing the fire and rescue service.
Managers, supervisors and duty managers	The findings of the fire risk assessment, their role in an evacuation and the training and drill records they keep.
Staff who help disabled people to evacuate	The personal emergency escape plans they support, any evacuation equipment and how to explain escape options calmly.
Contractors and agency workers	Your emergency plan and escape routes before they start work.

Government guidance on means of escape for disabled people explains how to plan personal emergency escape plans (PEEPs) for anyone who needs help to leave. A training needs analysis helps you set the depth of training for each group.

What should fire safety training cover?

The government’s guidance for offices and shops lists what staff training should include. The core is:

• what to do on discovering a fire and how to raise the alarm
• what to do on hearing the alarm
• how to alert visitors and members of the public and direct them to exits
• who calls the fire and rescue service
• the evacuation procedure and the route to the assembly point
• the escape routes, especially those not in regular use, and how to open emergency exit doors
• where firefighting equipment is kept and, where appropriate, how to use it
• why fire doors must be kept closed
• why lifts must not be used, unless one is designated for evacuating disabled people
• how to stop machines and isolate power, where relevant
• the safe storage and use of flammable substances, and good housekeeping.

The same guidance says training should include physically walking the escape routes, and London Fire Brigade adds reporting near misses and false alarms.

Most of that list is specific to your building. A generic fire awareness course can explain how fires start, but it cannot show people your escape routes, alarm or assembly point, and the law asks for training on your own premises.

Venues and events for 200 or more people will also need procedures for a suspected terrorist attack once the Martyn’s Law duties start. Our guide to Martyn’s Law training explains what staff will need to know.

Fire marshal and fire warden training

Article 15 of the Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person to nominate enough competent people to carry out the evacuation procedures. Article 13 does the same for any firefighting measures. Someone is competent when they have sufficient training and experience or knowledge to do the job properly. The law sets no fixed number of fire marshals, so your fire risk assessment decides how many you need for each floor and shift.

Government guidance describes the fire marshal role as helping people to leave, checking the premises are clear, using firefighting equipment if it is safe, liaising with the fire and rescue service and shutting down dangerous equipment. Their training should cover the fire safety strategy for the building, how people behave in fires, how to search safely, how to help disabled people escape and extra practice with firefighting equipment. London Fire Brigade recommends refresher training every six months for fire marshals and other staff with fire safety roles.

Can fire safety training be done online?

Yes, for much of it. The law asks for adequate training suited to the risks and does not say how to deliver it. E-learning works well for fire awareness and your own procedures: new starters can complete it on their first day, and you get a record of who completed what, which is the evidence fire services look for.

Some parts have to happen on site. Walking the escape routes, fire drills and hands-on extinguisher practice for fire marshals cannot be done on a screen, and government guidance says to carry out at least one fire drill a year and record the results. Combine an online module with a walk of the routes at induction and practical sessions for marshals. Our guide to online health and safety training covers where online training counts.

How often should fire safety training be done?

The law says training must be repeated periodically where appropriate and updated when risks change, without setting an interval. Guidance fills the gap:

• Government guidance for offices and shops: induction training for all staff, refresher sessions at pre-determined intervals, and fire drills at least once a year or as your fire risk assessment requires.
• London Fire Brigade: refresher training at least once a year for all staff, more often where turnover is high, where staff look after guests, residents or patients, or where the fire risk is high, and every six months for fire marshals and other staff with fire safety roles.

We suggest training on day one, an annual online refresher for everyone, practical refreshers for fire marshals every six months and an update whenever your layout, procedures or fire risk assessment change.

For the other training UK employers must provide, see our guide to mandatory training for employees in the UK, or build a list for your own organisation with the free mandatory training checker.

How Capytech helps

FastTrack turns your fire risk assessment, emergency plan and photos of your own escape routes, alarm call points and assembly point into an interactive custom e-learning module with a knowledge check, built from your documents in days. When your layout or procedures change, updates are turned round in 48 hours, so the training keeps up with the building.

The Capytech course library has around 9,000 short courses, including titles on fire prevention, fire extinguishers and responding to a fire. They cover the general principles, so we pair them with a short module on your own premises.

The Capytech LMS keeps the records fire services ask to see: who completed which training and when, by site. Its compliance matrix shows who is valid, due or overdue, and certificates carry renewal dates so refreshers happen on time. For practical fire marshal sessions, the training management system handles bookings and registers, and marking attendance completes each person’s record.

Frequently asked questions