Fire Safety & Compliance Management
Fire Safety Done Properly. Not Just Done.
Comprehensive fire safety support - from risk assessments and door inspections to emergency planning and compliance audits - delivered by qualified professionals who understand the detail.
What We Do
Fire safety is one of the most heavily regulated areas of workplace health and safety - and one of the areas where the gap between having documentation in place and being genuinely compliant is widest. A fire risk assessment that hasn't been reviewed since the business moved premises, fire doors wedged open because they're inconvenient, an evacuation plan nobody has practised - these are not unusual situations, and they carry very real consequences.
At Harlequins, we provide end-to-end fire safety support aligned with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - the primary legislation governing fire safety in non-domestic premises across England and Wales. Our approach is thorough, practical, and focused on making your premises genuinely safer — not just compliant on paper.
Why it matters
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places a legal duty on the Responsible Person - typically the employer, owner, or occupier of a premises - to ensure that a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is carried out and kept up to date, and that appropriate fire safety measures are in place and maintained.
Failure to meet these duties can result in enforcement notices, prohibition of premises, unlimited fines, and in serious cases, prosecution and imprisonment. Beyond the legal consequences, the human cost of a fire in a poorly managed premises is devastating and irreversible.
The fire service, HSE, and CQC all scrutinise fire safety arrangements - particularly in higher-risk settings such as healthcare, hospitality, and residential care. Getting this right is not optional.
Services we provide
Fire Risk Assessment (FRA): A thorough, premises-specific fire risk assessment carried out by a qualified assessor - identifying fire hazards, evaluating the risk to people, and setting out a prioritised action plan. Our FRAs are written to be practical working documents, not filed-and-forgotten paperwork.
Fire Door Inspections: Detailed inspection of fire doors and associated hardware across your premises - checking integrity, self-closing mechanisms, seals, signage, and compliance with current standards. Fire doors are a critical passive fire protection measure and a common area of failure during inspections.
Fire Safety Audits: An independent audit of your overall fire safety management arrangements - including documentation, staff awareness, maintenance records, testing regimes, and evacuation procedures.
Local Fire Strategy Development: For both low-medium risk and complex premises buildings, we support the development of a site-specific fire strategy - providing a clear framework for how fire risk is managed across the whole building.
Fire Drill & Evacuation Support: Planning, facilitation, and debrief of fire drills and evacuation exercises - ensuring your procedures work in practice, not just in theory, and that your staff know exactly what to do.
Fire Safety Awareness Training: Practical training for fire wardens and general staff - covering fire prevention, detection, evacuation procedures, and the use of fire-fighting equipment.
Our approach
Every fire safety engagement begins with a thorough understanding of your premises - its layout, occupancy, use, and any specific vulnerabilities. We visit your site, walk the building, and assess risk in the context of how it is actually used.
Our fire risk assessments and audit reports are written in clear, plain language - with findings graded by priority so you know immediately what needs urgent attention and what can be planned over time. We don't produce reports that require a specialist to interpret.
Where we identify significant issues, we work with you to develop a realistic, costed improvement plan - and we can support you through the process of implementing it, not just hand over a report and leave.
Additional Support
Fire safety sits within your broader health and safety framework. We also offer:
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Full health and safety audits incorporating fire safety arrangements
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Retained Competent Person support covering ongoing fire safety obligations
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Staff training beyond fire safety — first aid, manual handling, and more
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Safety management systems and documentation including fire safety procedures
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Incident investigation support where fire or evacuation-related events have occurred
