Fire safety checklist for pubs and restaurants

Fire safety in a pub or restaurant is mostly about boring routines done every day: fire exits unbolted before opening, nothing stacked in the corridor, the alarm tested on the same morning each week. The fire risk assessment tells you what to do; the checklist makes sure it happens.

Below: the legal duty in each UK nation, then daily, weekly, monthly and annual checklists you can copy, and a fire log template.

The legal duty

In England and Wales, the responsible person must:

• carry out a fire risk assessment and review it regularly
• tell staff about the risks identified
• put in place and maintain appropriate fire safety measures
• plan for an emergency
• give staff information, fire safety instruction and training

If more than one person has responsibility (a tenant and a pub company landlord, say), you must work together. You could be fined or go to prison if you don't follow fire safety regulations.

The fire risk assessment in five steps

GOV.UK's five steps:

1. Identify the fire hazards: ignition sources (fryers, grills, electrics, smoking areas, candles), fuel (cooking oil, packaging, linen, waste) and oxygen.
2. Identify people at risk: staff, customers, people sleeping on the premises, and anyone who may need help to escape, such as older people, young children and disabled people.
3. Evaluate, remove or reduce the risks.
4. Record your findings, prepare an emergency plan and provide training.
5. Review and update regularly, and after any significant change, like a new kitchen, a refit or a function room upstairs.

It must consider escape routes and exits, fire detection and warning, firefighting equipment, removing or safely storing dangerous substances, an evacuation plan, the needs of vulnerable people, information for staff and others, and staff training.

You can do it yourself using the government's guides (the Home Office guide for small and medium places of assembly covers pubs). If you don't have the expertise or time, appoint a competent person. Your fire and rescue authority can advise but can't do it for you.

Fire safety checklist: what to check and how often

These frequencies come from the Home Office guide for small and medium places of assembly. It says they're not prescriptive: set the right periods in your own fire risk assessment. We've also added GOV.UK's regular checks on fire exits and signs, plus a few practical items for pub kitchens and bars, such as grease build-up and waste on escape routes.

Daily (before opening)

Weekly

Monthly

Every six months

Annually

Fire log template

GOV.UK says you must record faults in systems and equipment, and the Home Office guide recommends keeping a log book of all maintenance and testing. Copy this:

Training and drills

GOV.UK says you should:

• train new staff when they start work
• tell all employees about any new fire risks
• carry out at least one fire drill a year and record the results, keeping them as part of your fire safety and evacuation plan

In hospitality, with high staff turnover and part-timers who might not be in on drill day, once a year rarely reaches everyone. Many venues run short drills more often or walk new starters through the evacuation plan on their first shift. Every member of staff should know:

• how to raise the alarm
• where the fire exits and assembly point are
• who checks the toilets, cellar and function room
• how to help customers who need assistance
• where the gas isolation is and who can turn it off
• never to use water on a fat fire

Kitchen-specific points

The kitchen is where most pub and restaurant fires start. The Home Office guide says cooking and catering equipment should be installed, used, maintained and protected in line with the manufacturer's instructions. In practice:

• keep fryers, ranges and grills clean of grease build-up
• keep extraction canopies and filters clean, on the schedule your fire risk assessment sets
• never leave fryers unattended while on
• keep a fire blanket and the right extinguishers for kitchen fires by the cooking line, and train staff to use them
• have gas appliances inspected by a competent person; HSE says annual inspections are a reasonable minimum
• store cooking oil safely

Common fire safety failings

Or let ShiftComplete run it for you

A fire safety checklist works only if it's done on the right day and you can prove it. ShiftComplete puts it on your team's phones:

• Checklists that differ by weekday: daily fire exit and escape route checks at opening, the alarm test on Monday, emergency lighting on the first of the month as a priority task. Every tick is named and timestamped, with optional or required photo evidence (a photo of a clear fire exit is quick proof).
• Maintenance: log a failed emergency light or a fire door that won't close, with a photo, and track it until it's resolved.
• Incidents: record any fire, false alarm or near miss with severity, status and resolution notes.
• Risk assessments: keep your fire risk assessment in the app, ready to print.
• Reports and audit log: weekly rollup and a full audit log with CSV export for your landlord, insurer or fire officer.

It helps you keep the records; the responsible person is still responsible for fire safety. £1.49 per staff member per month, free for 60 days, no card needed.