A minor fire in a school car park in Norfolk left students without access to in-person education for more than four weeks. No injuries, no major structural damage, but weeks of disruption and stress for students, staff, and families. That’s what happens when fire affects an educational setting. The consequences go well beyond the immediate incident.
For headteachers, bursars, school business managers, and estates teams, fire safety is one of the few aspects of safeguarding that sits squarely within their control. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the legal obligation on the “responsible person” at each site. The Building Safety Act 2022 has raised the bar on building information management and safety-critical systems maintenance. And the Education Estates Strategy, published in February 2026, is driving new estate management standards with annual reporting requirements from autumn 2026 that will scrutinise how Responsible Bodies maintain their buildings, including fire safety.
Yet many education institutions are working from fire risk assessments that haven’t been reviewed in years, equipment that’s tested inconsistently, and evacuation plans that haven’t been properly practised with the students and staff who’d need to follow them. This eBook gives you a practical, comprehensive resource to address those gaps. It was developed with input from fire safety specialists and is written specifically for educational settings, not adapted from generic guidance that doesn’t account for the realities of managing fire safety in schools, colleges, and university buildings.
What’s in the eBook
Conducting a fire risk assessment that actually works. A simplified six-step approach developed with FRA specialists, covering everything from selecting a competent assessor to reviewing the final report and acting on findings. Practical steps for school leaders who need to commission, manage, and respond to fire risk assessments with confidence.
Fire safety equipment and what good maintenance looks like. Sprinkler systems, fire detection, emergency lighting, signage. What needs to be in place, how it should be installed, and why routine testing is the difference between equipment that works when it’s needed and equipment that doesn’t.
Emergency procedures and evacuation planning. How to structure your approach including a hybrid zone-based method for larger or more complex buildings, how to run effective drills that test your plan rather than just tick a box, and how to plan for students who need additional support during evacuation, including SEND pupils and young children.
Compliance and legislation explained clearly. From the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 through to Building Bulletin 100, the legal requirements are set out in plain language so you know what your institution is actually required to do and where the common gaps are.
Training requirements and fire prevention. The Fire Safety Order requires all staff to complete fire awareness training. The eBook covers what that training should include, when it needs to happen, who needs what level of understanding, and the day-to-day habits that reduce fire risk across your site.
Fire door guidance. Fire doors only work if they’re specified correctly, installed properly, and maintained consistently. Practical advice on what to look for, common problems that compromise fire door integrity, and why getting this right matters more than most people realise.
Case studies from schools and universities. How real institutions tackled fire safety challenges with the help of specialist partners, giving you practical examples of what good fire safety management looks like in educational settings similar to yours.
Who this eBook is for
This eBook is for anyone in an educational setting who holds responsibility for fire safety or contributes to keeping students and staff safe. Headteachers, bursars, and school business managers who hold the legal responsibility as the “responsible person” at their site will find a clear, practical framework to work from. Estates and facilities managers in multi-academy trusts who need consistent fire safety standards across dispersed school buildings will find an approach that works at portfolio scale. College and university estates teams managing complex, multi-building campuses with specific evacuation challenges will find practical guidance on zone-based approaches and supporting vulnerable occupants. And teachers and administrators who want to understand their day-to-day responsibilities around fire prevention, drills, and training will find straightforward advice they can act on immediately.
In Summary
Fire safety reviews don’t always happen until something forces the issue. With the Education Estates Strategy driving new estate management standards and annual reporting from autumn 2026, the scrutiny on how schools and colleges maintain their buildings is increasing. This eBook gives you a thorough, practical resource to work through at your own pace, whether you’re starting from scratch, preparing for an assessment, or checking what you already have in place. Download it, share it with your team, and if you need a compliant procurement route for fire safety works, Inprova’s Fire Safety Works framework provides access to 41 accredited contractors across every region of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
Frequently asked questions
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the “responsible person” for fire safety is the person who has control of the premises. In a maintained school, this is typically the local authority as the employer, though day-to-day responsibility is usually delegated to the headteacher. In an academy, the academy trust is the responsible person, with operational responsibility sitting with the headteacher or the trust’s estates function. In a further education college, it’s the college corporation. In a university, it’s the governing body. The responsible person has a legal duty to carry out a fire risk assessment, put in place appropriate fire safety measures, maintain firefighting equipment, ensure emergency routes and exits are kept clear, and provide staff with fire safety information and training. Getting this wrong isn’t just a compliance issue. It’s a personal legal responsibility. If a fire occurs and the investigation finds that the responsible person failed to meet their duties, the consequences can include enforcement notices, prohibition notices, and criminal prosecution. This eBook explains these responsibilities in practical terms so you understand exactly what’s required of you and your institution, regardless of whether you’re in a maintained school, an academy, a college, or a university.
There’s no single legally mandated frequency for reviewing a fire risk assessment, which is why so many schools let them drift. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the fire risk assessment to be “kept under review” and updated if there’s reason to believe it’s no longer valid. In practice, most fire safety professionals recommend a formal review at least annually, and a new assessment whenever there are significant changes to the building, its use, or its occupancy. Significant changes include building works or alterations, changes in the layout or use of rooms, increases in occupancy, changes to escape routes, the introduction of new hazards, or any fire-related incident. For multi-academy trusts managing dozens of school buildings, the challenge is maintaining a consistent review cycle across every site. It’s common for some schools in a trust to have current assessments while others are two or three years out of date. The eBook covers a practical six-step approach to fire risk assessment that helps you commission, manage, and act on assessments consistently, including how to prioritise sites where the risk of an outdated assessment is highest.
The Building Safety Act 2022 was primarily driven by the Grenfell Tower tragedy and focuses most directly on higher-risk residential buildings. However, its broader provisions around building safety information, the “golden thread” of building data, and the competence requirements for people involved in building work have implications for all building types, including educational settings. For schools, colleges, and universities, the practical impact is felt most through the Act’s reinforcement of the expectation that building owners and managers maintain comprehensive, accurate records of their building’s construction, systems, and safety features. The Act also strengthened the regulatory framework around construction products and building control, which affects any education institution commissioning building works or refurbishment. For multi-academy trusts and local authorities managing school estates, the Act sits alongside the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the new Education Estates Strategy estate management standards. Together, they create an expectation that fire safety is managed proactively with structured data, documented assessments, and evidence of action on findings, not reactively when an incident or inspection forces the issue.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to ensure that employees receive adequate fire safety training. In a school or college setting, this means all staff, not just teaching staff, should receive fire awareness training that covers the fire risks specific to their workplace, what to do if they discover a fire, how the fire alarm system works, the evacuation procedure including assembly points, and their specific responsibilities during an evacuation. Training should be provided when staff first join the school and refreshed regularly, typically annually, or whenever there are changes to the fire risk assessment, evacuation plan, or building layout. For staff with specific roles, such as fire marshals or those responsible for supporting SEND pupils during evacuation, additional training is needed. The eBook covers what each level of training should include, how to organise it practically within a school year, and how to document it so you can demonstrate compliance during inspections. For multi-academy trusts, establishing a consistent training standard across all schools prevents the inconsistency where some sites train well and others treat it as an afterthought. Fire safety training is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to reduce fire risk in your school.
Inprova’s Fire Safety Works framework provides a compliant procurement route for the full range of fire safety works that schools, colleges, and universities need. The framework covers fire detection and alarm systems, fire door supply and installation, passive fire protection, emergency lighting, fire risk assessment, cladding and external wall assessment, and whole-building fire safety remediation. Forty-one accredited contractors and suppliers are available across every region of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, with value bands that accommodate everything from a single fire door replacement to a major multi-site programme. The framework was evaluated with a 70% quality and 30% price weighting, deliberately quality-led because in fire safety the competence of the contractor matters more than the lowest price. For multi-academy trusts managing fire safety across dispersed school buildings, the framework removes the need to run separate procurements for each site or category. For schools and trusts accessing Education Estates Strategy funding for estate improvement including fire safety works, the framework provides the speed and compliance that funded programme timescales demand. Inprova’s team supports you from specification development through to contract award and ongoing management.
