Do you need a fire risk assessment on a construction site?

Pro Site Docs · Guide

The short answer is yes — but which law applies depends on where the work is, and that changes what the assessment has to cover and who is responsible for it.

On a construction site

CDM 2015 requires suitable and sufficient steps to prevent risk from fire, and requires emergency procedures, routes and exits to be provided and kept usable. In practice that means assessing the fire risk on your site and controlling it: ignition sources, the materials you are storing, temporary electrics, hot works, escape routes as the building changes shape, alarm arrangements and how you would account for everybody.

In an occupied building

Refurbishment and fit-out work inside a building that is still in use brings the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 into play alongside CDM. The building already has a responsible person with an existing fire risk assessment — and your work is very likely to invalidate parts of it. Blocked escape routes, disabled detection, propped fire doors and hot works in a compartment that is still occupied are the classic failures. Your job is to talk to the responsible person, agree what changes, and get their assessment updated rather than working around it.

What a site fire risk assessment covers

• Ignition sources — hot works, temporary electrics, plant, smoking areas
• Fuel — packaging, timber, insulation, flammable liquids and gas cylinders, and how they are stored
• People — who is on site, lone workers, anyone who would need help to escape
• Escape — routes, signage, lighting, and how they change as the build progresses
• Detection and warning — how the alarm is raised across the whole site
• Firefighting — extinguisher provision, access for the fire service, water supply
• Emergency plan — assembly point, roll call, who calls it

Review it when the site changes

A fire risk assessment written at mobilisation stops describing the site almost immediately. Every time escape routes change, a compartment is opened up, or you start storing something new, the assessment needs revisiting — and the change needs briefing to everyone on site, not just filing.

Get the documents ready-made

Our Fire Safety Pack covers site fire risk assessment, hot works permits and emergency planning, or take single documents.

General guidance only. This article explains how the rules generally work in UK construction. It is not advice for your specific site, task or project, and it is not legal advice. Your own risk assessment, method statement and arrangements must be prepared and checked by a competent person for the actual work being done.