Fire safety is one of those business essentials that only gets attention when something goes wrong. But for UK SMEs, fire risk isn’t just about protecting people but protecting the company itself too.
Under UK law, most workplaces and non-domestic premises have a “responsible person” (often the employer, owner, landlord or facilities lead) who must manage fire safety and ensure a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is in place and recorded. In plain terms: if a fire happens, investigators won’t just ask what caused it but what had been done to prevent it, contain it, and get people out safely.
Protecting a livelihood from fire risks
A robust fire strategy is business continuity. It reduces the chance of an incident, limits damage if one occurs and shows that reasonable steps were taken to protect staff, customers and visitors. That “reasonable steps” part matters, because enforcement bodies can act when they believe fire safety duties aren’t being met. This is why passive protection (the physical measures that slow fire and smoke spread) is so important. Fire alarms help you detect a problem. Fire-resistant construction helps you survive it long enough to evacuate and limit the loss.
The financial reality of compliance
Non-compliance can be expensive long before a fire ever happens. Enforcement authorities can issue statutory notices, and failure to comply with duties under the Fire Safety Order (or with notices) can lead to criminal sanctions.
Then there’s the insurance reality. Insurers are fundamentally focused on risk management and loss prevention. Fire is one of the costliest property perils, and the industry is heavily invested in reducing major fire losses. While every policy is different, businesses should assume that documentation and evidence of maintenance will be scrutinised after an incident. That’s where certified products become more than “a building spec”. When a business invests in third-party certified fire doors and keeps a paper trail it creates clear evidence of due diligence.
Practical containment strategies
In most workplaces, the goal is simple: stop fire and smoke moving freely through the building and protect escape routes long enough for evacuation and emergency response.
Fire doors play a central role in compartmentation and a practical rule of thumb for many commercial settings is selecting doors with at least an FD30 rating (30 minutes fire resistance) and using higher ratings where your risk assessment or building design requires it. The British Safety Council notes that FD30 classifications indicate a minimum 30-minute fire resistance when tested, and FD30S adds smoke control.
Maintaining safety standards
A sensible small-business routine is to combine:
- Quick, regular in-house checks(to catch obvious issues early), and
- Periodic competent inspections(especially in high-traffic or higher-risk premises)
For the “quick checks”, focus on what tends to fail in the real world:
- Door closers: does the door close fully onto the latch every time?
- Intumescent/smoke seals: are they intact, continuous, and not painted over or torn?
- Damage and gaps: signs of warping, impact damage, or excessive gaps that compromise performance
- Bad practice: wedging open doors, disabling closers, or unapproved alterations
