Fire marshal responsibilities split into two distinct halves that get conflated more often than they should. There’s the day-to-day work — checking exits, doors, equipment and signage so the building’s fire safety arrangements actually function — and there’s the emergency response when an alarm sounds. A good fire marshal does both well. A workplace that only trains for the second half tends to discover the first one mattered most.

This page goes through what UK fire marshals (also called fire wardens) are actually expected to do. We’ll cover the legal framework, the well-known "six key responsibilities" framing, the routine and emergency duties in detail, and — equally important — the things a fire marshal is not responsible for.

Are fire marshal responsibilities defined in law?

The Fire Safety Order applies in England and Wales, with separate legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It sets duties for the Responsible Person and requires appropriate competent assistance, but does not prescribe a single fire-marshal job description. Articles13,15 and18 are relevant to the arrangements.

In other words, the Order tells the responsible person what needs to happen — a fire risk assessment, an emergency plan, adequate fire safety arrangements — and lets them work out how. Fire marshals are how. The specific duties fall out of the fire risk assessment for that particular workplace.

That’s an important nuance. There isn’t a statutory job description for fire marshals. Two workplaces a mile apart can give their marshals different specific tasks, and both can be legally compliant, because the duties flow from the local risk assessment. What’s consistent across all workplaces is the broad shape of the role.

The six key fire marshal responsibilities

This guide groups duties under six practical headings. They are an organising aid, not six duties or a syllabus prescribed by law:

  1. Carrying out routine fire safety checks — exits, doors, extinguishers, alarms, signage, escape routes, housekeeping
  2. Identifying and reporting fire hazards — combustible storage, electrical issues, contractor activity, anything that raises the risk
  3. Briefing and supporting staff — fire procedure inductions, refreshers, visitor briefings
  4. Helping plan and run fire drills — taking part, observing, feeding back what didn’t work
  5. Supporting evacuation — checking accessible assigned areas only while safe, following assistance arrangements and reporting from outside
  6. Reporting and record-keeping — log book entries, incident reports, near-miss documentation

The assessment and emergency plan determine the actual duties; the numbering itself has no legal status.

Routine duties: the preventative side

Most of a fire marshal’s value is preventative, not heroic. Fires that don’t happen are easy to underestimate, but they’re the whole point of the role.

Daily and weekly checks

A fire marshal will typically be responsible for some combination of the following, depending on what the fire risk assessment specifies:

  • Fire doors and smoke doors — report damage or failed closing; do not wedge doors open. Suitable automatic hold-open arrangements may be permitted by the fire strategy.
  • Escape routes and exits — completely clear, internally and externally. Boxes piled against an emergency exit are a common offence. So is a delivery driver who’s parked across the external fire door.
  • Fire extinguishers and blankets — present, in the right location, undamaged, with safety pins intact and tags still attached. Visible inspection only — the formal annual service is a competent technician’s job.
  • Alarm call points — keep accessible and record tests under the approved maintenance procedure; weekly user testing is conventional for workplace systems.
  • Emergency lighting — working, particularly in stairwells and corridors with limited natural light.
  • Fire safety signage — visible, illuminated where required, undamaged, and still accurate (an arrow pointing at a doorway that was bricked up six months ago is a classic finding).
  • Housekeeping — combustible waste not accumulating, especially in service areas; wheelie bins not parked against the building; smoking areas tidy and ashtrays empty.

Identifying hazards as they appear

Workplaces aren’t static. New equipment gets installed. Contractors come and go. Storage habits drift. Renovations change escape routes. A good fire marshal notices when things have changed in their area and either fixes the issue (move the boxes) or escalates it (the new server room hasn’t got the same suppression as the old one).

The hazards worth flagging include:

  • Storage of combustible materials near sources of ignition
  • Flammable liquids stored without proper containment or signage
  • Contractors carrying out hot works (welding, grinding) without an appropriate permit
  • Electrical equipment with damaged cables, overloaded sockets or overdue checks under the risk-based maintenance programme; annual PAT is not a universal legal requirement
  • New occupancy patterns — for example a meeting room that’s now being used as a print storage area

Record-keeping

Fire safety logging isn’t glamorous but it’s where compliance lives or dies during an audit. Marshals typically keep entries in the fire safety log book covering alarm tests, drill observations, equipment checks, hazards spotted and resolved, and incidents (including near-misses). If a fire happens and the log book is patchy, that’s a problem. If it’s thorough and up to date, it’s substantial evidence the workplace was being managed properly.

Emergency duties: when the alarm sounds

A fire marshal’s emergency response should be predictable and well-rehearsed. The whole point of training is to make this calm and automatic when the situation around them isn’t.

The first thirty seconds

When the alarm sounds, the marshal:

  • Uses the designated identification if immediately available, without delaying escape
  • Takes only immediately available equipment specified in the plan, without detouring to collect belongings or records
  • Follows assigned duties only while conditions and escape routes remain safe

If they discover a fire, they raise the alarm and ensure 999 is called from safety under the emergency plan. Do not assume that an alarm system automatically calls the fire and rescue service.

Sweeping the assigned area

A sweep is a planned check of accessible areas while leaving. It must not delay escape or involve entering smoke, and it cannot guarantee that everyone has left.

Done properly, that means:

  • Working through the area in a defined route, marking off rooms as you check them
  • Looking in toilets, storerooms, meeting rooms, refuge points — anywhere people might not have heard the alarm or might be unable to leave on their own
  • Closing doors behind you as you exit each room (this slows the spread of fire and smoke)
  • Directing people you encounter towards the nearest safe exit, calmly but firmly
  • Not collecting belongings, not letting others collect belongings, not getting into discussions about whether it’s a drill

Abandon any sweep when conditions become unsafe. Leave by a safe route and report areas not checked and anyone unaccounted for; never extend the search or re-enter.

Helping vulnerable occupants

People with mobility issues, sensory impairments, pregnancy in late stages, or temporary injuries may not be able to evacuate the same way as everyone else. Where they’ve been identified, they’ll usually have a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) on file — a tailored procedure that might involve evacuation chairs, refuge areas, or buddy arrangements with named colleagues.

Evacuation arrangements should be agreed with the person and those managing safety. A marshal may contribute if competent and assigned to do so; the job title alone does not qualify someone to design the plan or use an evacuation chair.

A refuge is a temporary place of relative safety within an evacuation strategy, with communication and planned onward assistance. The plan must not depend on firefighters arriving to rescue people left there.

At the assembly point

Once outside, the marshal carries out a roll call. They use whatever record-keeping the workplace relies on — a signing-in book, an in/out board, a list of permanent occupants. They report any missing people or any hazards they noticed (the location of the fire if known, blocked routes, anyone seen heading towards a wrong exit) to the senior fire warden or the fire and rescue service when they arrive.

What the marshal does not do, even if it feels frustrating, is let anyone re-enter the building until the fire service has cleared it. People will try. Bags, laptops, cars in the underground car park — there’s always something. Hold the line.

What fire marshals are not responsible for

This part matters because it gets confused, sometimes during training and sometimes after a real incident.

Firefighting

Only designated, suitably trained people should consider an incipient fire with appropriate equipment and a clear escape route. Raise the alarm and arrange the999 call first; smoke, uncertainty or unsafe conditions mean withdraw. Small size alone does not establish safety.

The fire risk assessment

The formal fire risk assessment is the responsible person’s duty under the Fire Safety Order. They either do it themselves (if competent) or appoint a qualified internal or external assessor. Fire marshals are not, by virtue of their role, qualified to carry out the formal assessment.

What they can and should do is feed in. They see the building daily; they notice things the assessor will miss in a one-day visit. Good fire marshals provide observations that get folded into the next review. But they’re not signing off on the document.

Securing assets, locking valuables, rescuing equipment

Insurance, asset protection, locking the safe — none of this is the fire marshal’s job. Their focus during an evacuation is people. Trying to do anything else slows the evacuation and exposes the marshal to risk.

Fire marshal vs Responsible Person — who’s accountable?

In an employer-controlled workplace, the employer is the Responsible Person. Other owners or occupiers may hold that role in other circumstances, and people with relevant control can have duties limited to that control. Delegating tasks does not remove those duties.

This means that if a fire happens and something goes wrong, the regulator’s first conversation is with the responsible person. Were the arrangements adequate? Was the risk assessment up to date? Were enough competent people appointed and trained? Were the duties they were given reasonable for what they had been trained on?

Employees have duties to take reasonable care, cooperate and report serious dangers or deficiencies. A marshal’s legal position depends on their actions and responsibilities; it is not limited to cases described as gross negligence.

The practical implication: if you’re being asked to take on the fire marshal role, you don’t need to feel like you’re shouldering the legal burden of the entire workplace. You’re being asked to do a defined job, properly, within your training. That’s it.

Educational duties

The fire marshal role has a quiet educational dimension that’s easy to overlook. Most of it is opportunistic rather than scheduled, but it adds up.

  • New starter inductions — making sure new employees know where the exits are, where the assembly point is, what the alarm sounds like, who the marshals are. Five minutes per starter, but it matters.
  • Visitor and contractor briefings — particularly anyone working in unusual areas, anyone doing hot works, anyone in the building outside normal hours.
  • Routine reminders — politely asking the colleague who keeps wedging the kitchen fire door open to stop. Not glamorous, but exactly the kind of small intervention that prevents bigger problems.
  • Drill observation and feedback — watching real evacuations and noting what was clumsy, slow, or unclear, so the next drill is better.

Common questions

Can a fire marshal be held legally responsible if there’s a fatality?

The Responsible Person retains their duties, and employees have their own duties under article 23 of the Fire Safety Order. Liability depends on the facts and applicable law; being a marshal neither makes someone responsible for every failure nor provides immunity.

What if a fire marshal isn’t on duty when a fire breaks out?

This is exactly why you appoint deputies and have cover for shifts and absences. The fire safety arrangements should function whether your most experienced marshal is on annual leave or not. If they don’t, that’s a planning failure higher up the chain, not the missing marshal’s fault.

Do fire marshals need to do annual refresher training?

Training must remain adequate for the duties and risks and be repeated where appropriate. A provider’s certificate period is separate from the legal duty. Review needs after changes, absences and drills; see certificate renewal guidance.

Should the fire warden be the last person to leave?

Nobody should stay inside merely to be last out. Complete only safe, assigned checks while leaving, abandon the sweep if conditions deteriorate, and report incomplete areas from safety.

Are fire marshals paid extra?

There’s no legal requirement to pay a fire marshal more, and many employers don’t. Some offer an honorarium or recognise the role through job grading. Whatever the approach, be clear about expectations before someone accepts the role.

How does the role differ between offices, factories and care homes?

Duties depend on the premises. Offices need workable escape and routine checks; industrial sites may add controls for hot work and flammables; care settings need planned assistance and sufficient trained staff. Set training and practice intervals from those risks.

If you’re new to the role and want a fuller daily and emergency procedure to work from, see the fire marshal checklist. If you’re trying to work out how many marshals your workplace needs, the how many fire marshals do you need page has worked examples by sector.

Looking for accredited training to take on the role properly? Our Fire Warden Training course covers everything above. £18 per learner, RoSPA approved and CPD accredited, 60 to 90 minutes online from any device, and an instant certificate on passing. The certificate has no formal expiry — we recommend a refresh every three years. Free unlimited retakes if you don’t pass first time, and bulk discounts from 10 delegates upwards.

Sources & references

Official guidance checked on 15 October 2026. Requirements vary by UK nation and premises.

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Mark McShane
Mark McShane
Health & Safety Training Specialist, Online CPD Academy

Mark writes about workplace health & safety, fire safety and accredited online training for Fire Warden Training, part of Online CPD Academy.