Veterinary Practice Fire Safety Compliance: Meeting the Regulatory Standard

The legal basis

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) is the primary legislation governing fire safety in most non-domestic premises in England and Wales. It applies to veterinary practices. The government's fire safety risk assessment guide for animal premises and stables was published specifically under Article 50 of the RRFSO to help premises like veterinary practices meet their duties.

The RRFSO places obligations on the "responsible person" — in a vet practice, this is typically the owner or the practice manager with delegated authority for premises management. The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment, implement the necessary precautions, maintain them, and review the assessment regularly.

What a fire risk assessment must cover

Article 9 of the RRFSO requires the responsible person to make "a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed." Relevant persons means everyone who might be in or near the premises: employees, clients in the waiting room, clients in examination rooms, contractors, and any other visitors.

For a veterinary practice, a thorough fire risk assessment covers:

Ignition sources — medical equipment, autoclaves, X-ray processors, boilers, electrical installations, and any areas where flammable materials are stored or used (anaesthetic gas, chemical cleaning agents, alcohol-based disinfectants).

Fuel sources — paper records, cardboard, bedding material, drugs and chemicals, soft furnishings in waiting areas.

Oxygen supply — medical oxygen stored and piped in most practices; anaesthetic gas systems. Oxygen enrichment dramatically accelerates fire spread and must be addressed in the risk assessment explicitly.

People at risk — identify who might be present, including any individuals who might need assistance to evacuate (physically impaired clients, sedated animals that occupy staff who would otherwise be evacuating). Staff working in isolated areas (prep room, isolation ward) need specific evacuation routes and communication.

Existing control measures — assess what is already in place: detection and warning systems (smoke/heat detectors, alarms), firefighting equipment (extinguisher types and locations), emergency lighting, fire exits and their condition, signage, and staff training records.

The assessment must identify what additional measures are needed and set out a plan to implement them.

Who can conduct the assessment

The RRFSO does not require a qualified fire safety professional to conduct the assessment for most premises — the responsible person may carry it out, provided they are "competent" (meaning they have sufficient knowledge and experience). In practice, many smaller vet practices use a template-based approach alongside a brief audit of their premises.

The animal premises guidance covers specific considerations that do not appear in the generic small-premises guides — in particular, the presence of flammable anaesthetic agents, medical oxygen, and the challenge of evacuating animals.

If your premises are complex (multiple levels, large footprint, in-patient wards for post-operative animals), it is worth engaging a fire safety professional for the initial assessment at minimum.

Recording and reviewing the assessment

The RRFSO requires the assessment to be recorded in writing when the employer has five or more employees. Most veterinary practices have at least five employees, so a written record is almost always required. The record must capture "the significant findings of the assessment, including the measures which have been or will be taken."

The assessment must be reviewed — Article 9 specifies this when circumstances have significantly changed. In practice, review at least annually is standard. Triggers for an earlier review include: building alterations, new equipment with ignition or fuel potential (a new anaesthetic machine, new chemical storage), changes to the layout of escape routes, or any fire incident or near-miss.

Where fire safety sits in the H&S framework

Fire safety sits within the same compliance framework as your general health and safety obligations. An HSE inspection will not typically cover fire safety in depth — fire safety inspection is led by the Fire and Rescue Service under the RRFSO — but the H&S inspection will check that fire safety is included in your risk assessment documentation.

For a practice preparing for an HSE inspection, fire safety should appear as a hazard category within the risk assessment covering your premises, with the assessment noting the control measures in place, the date of the last fire risk assessment review, and who the responsible person is.

COSHH assessments and the fire risk assessment overlap in one important area: flammable chemicals used in the practice (alcohol, certain disinfectants, anaesthetic agents) need to be addressed in both documents — the COSHH assessment covers their health hazard to staff, while the fire risk assessment covers their contribution to fire risk. See veterinary COSHH assessments for the COSHH side of this.

Evacuation procedures

The fire risk assessment leads to an emergency plan, and the emergency plan includes evacuation procedures. For a veterinary practice, this means:

• Clearly marked and unobstructed fire exits (the most common finding when fire authorities visit)
• Designated assembly point visible to staff and clients
• Named fire wardens per shift, with current training
• A protocol for in-patient animals — practices typically maintain a written-off "do not delay evacuation for animals" policy because attempting to remove sedated or large animals creates the conditions for staff casualty

The emergency plan must be communicated to all staff, and fire drills must be conducted periodically. Training records should show that all current employees have received fire safety training and participated in a drill within the last 12 months. Those records belong in the same staff training records system as CPD and clinical training.

Annual review prompt

Each year, when reviewing fire safety:

• Re-walk the premises against the existing risk assessment; note anything that has changed
• Check all fire extinguishers are within service date (typically 12-month service intervals for CO2 and water; 5-year service for powder)
• Test the alarm system (weekly test of call points is standard; annual engineer inspection)
• Confirm all fire exits are clearly signed, unobstructed, and that the door hardware works
• Update staff training records to reflect the most recent fire safety training and drill date
• Date and sign the reviewed risk assessment document

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Sources:

• Article 9, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — legislation.gov.uk
• Fire safety risk assessment: animal premises and stables — gov.uk