The words fire safety is written in. Assessments, duties, doors, compartments and escape routes — what each term actually means, what it obliges someone to do, and what goes wrong with it in a real building.
Assessment & duties
Fire risk assessment
A fire risk assessment is a structured review of a building that identifies fire hazards, who is at risk, and what must change to reduce that risk.
Responsible person
The responsible person is the individual or organisation carrying the legal duty for fire safety in a building — typically the employer, owner or occupier who controls the premises..
Competent person
A competent person is someone with the training, experience and knowledge to carry out a fire safety task properly.
Remedial action
A remedial action is a specific piece of work required to close a fire safety defect — raised from an assessment, an inspection or a check, assigned to someone, and evidenced when complete..
Fire safety training
Fire safety training is the instruction given to people at work so they know the fire risks where they are, what the alarm sounds like, how to raise it, and what to do when it goes off..
Fire risk assessment action plan
The action plan is the part of a fire risk assessment that lists what must be done, by whom and by when.
Fire risk assessment review
A review is a reconsideration of an existing fire risk assessment to check it is still valid.
Fire safety log book
A fire safety log book is the record of everything done to keep a building fire safe — alarm tests, equipment checks, drills, training, defects and their closure.
Hot works permit
A hot works permit is a written authorisation for work producing heat, sparks or flame — welding, grinding, soldering, torch-on roofing — issued for set conditions and signed back after a watch period..
Arson risk
Arson risk is the risk of a fire being started deliberately.
Passive fire protection
Fire door
A fire door is a door assembly designed to hold back fire and smoke for a rated period, keeping escape routes usable.
Compartmentation
Compartmentation is the division of a building into fire-resisting sections so that a fire is contained where it starts, protecting escape routes and limiting spread for a period..
Fire stopping
Fire stopping is the sealing of gaps and service penetrations through fire-resisting walls and floors, using tested systems, so the barrier performs for its rated period..
Fire resistance rating
A fire resistance rating is the period, in minutes, for which an element of a building has been tested to hold back fire.
FD30
FD30 describes a fire door assembly rated to resist fire for thirty minutes; FD60 is the equivalent at sixty.
Intumescent strip
An intumescent strip is a seal fitted into the edge of a fire door or its frame that expands when heated, closing the gap around the door and holding back fire and smoke..
Self-closing device
A self-closing device is the closer fitted to a fire door that returns it fully into its frame after use.
Fire door frame
A fire door frame is the lining the door leaf hangs in, fixed to the surrounding structure.
Fire door hinge
A fire door hinge is a hinge rated for use on a fire door assembly.
Threshold gap
The threshold gap is the clearance between the bottom of a fire door leaf and the floor.
Vision panel
A vision panel is a glazed opening in a fire door.
Fire door signage
Fire door signage is the marking on a fire door telling people how it must be left — most commonly Fire door keep shut, or Fire door keep locked where the door protects a store or riser..
Cold smoke seal
A cold smoke seal is a brush or fin seal around a fire door that resists the passage of smoke before there is enough heat to activate an intumescent strip.
Compartment wall
A compartment wall is a fire-resisting wall that divides a building into separate compartments.
Service penetration
A service penetration is any point where a pipe, cable, duct or tray passes through a fire-resisting wall or floor.
Compartmentation breach
A compartmentation breach is a hole or unsealed penetration through a fire-resisting wall or floor that lets fire and smoke pass.
Ceiling void
A ceiling void is the concealed space between a suspended ceiling and the structural floor above.
Cavity barrier
A cavity barrier is a construction fitted inside a concealed space to stop fire and smoke spreading through it.
Fire damper
A fire damper is a device fitted where a duct passes through a fire-resisting wall or floor.
Means of escape
Means of escape
Means of escape is the route and arrangements by which people can leave a building safely in a fire, from wherever they may be to a place of safety outside it..
Escape route
An escape route is the protected path people follow to leave a building in a fire — from the room they are in, through corridors and stairways, to a final exit..
Final exit
A final exit is the door at the end of an escape route where people leave the building into a place of safety in the open air, clear of the building and of any risk from it..
Emergency lighting
Emergency lighting is lighting that operates automatically when the normal supply fails, illuminating escape routes and exits for long enough to let people leave the building safely..
Personal emergency evacuation plan
A personal emergency evacuation plan, or PEEP, is an individual plan setting out how a named person who cannot evacuate unaided will leave the building in a fire, and who is responsible for helping them..
Travel distance
Travel distance is how far someone has to walk from anywhere in a building to reach a protected escape route or a final exit.
Protected route
A protected route is a part of an escape route enclosed in fire-resisting construction, so that people inside it are shielded from a fire elsewhere in the building while they leave..
Protected stairway
A protected stairway is a stair enclosed in fire-resisting construction, forming a protected route from the floors it serves down to a final exit.
Place of safety
A place of safety is where people are safe from the effects of the fire and free to disperse — normally open air, clear of the building and of anything falling from it..
Fire exit sign
A fire exit sign marks an escape route and the direction to follow along it.
Detection & alarm
Fire alarm system
A fire alarm system detects fire and warns occupants through detectors, call points, sounders and a control panel.
Automatic fire detector
An automatic fire detector senses a fire and signals the control panel without anyone acting.
Smoke detector
A smoke detector senses the particles a fire produces before there is much heat.
Heat detector
A heat detector responds to a rise in temperature rather than to smoke.
Manual call point
A manual call point is the break-glass unit a person operates to raise the alarm.
Sounder
A sounder is the device that produces the audible alarm signal.
Fire alarm control panel
The fire alarm control panel is the unit that monitors the detection devices, signals the alarm, and shows where a signal came from.
Alarm zone
An alarm zone is a defined area of a building that the fire alarm panel reports as a single location.
Interface unit
An interface unit connects the fire alarm system to other building plant, so that an alarm can release door holders, recall lifts, shut down ventilation or trigger smoke control..
Unwanted fire signal
An unwanted fire signal is an alarm activation where there is no fire.
Standards & legislation
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is the principal fire safety legislation for non-domestic premises in England and Wales.
Premises information box
A premises information box is a secure box at a building holding information the fire and rescue service needs on arrival — building plans, the evacuation strategy, and details of people who may need assistance..
Fire Safety Act 2021
The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors of buildings containing two or more domestic premises..
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 place specific duties on responsible persons for multi-occupied residential buildings in England, including information for residents and, for taller buildings, information for the fire and rescue service..
Building Safety Act 2022
The Building Safety Act 2022 created a regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings in England, introducing new duty holders, a safety case regime and the Building Safety Regulator..
Higher-risk building
A higher-risk building is a building that meets the criteria in the Building Safety Act regime, bringing it within the Building Safety Regulator's remit and the additional duties that come with it..
Golden thread
The golden thread is the requirement to create, keep and hand on accurate information about a higher-risk building's design, construction and management, in a form that stays usable over the building's life..
Evacuation & procedures
Assembly point
An assembly point is the designated place people go after evacuating, so that they are clear of the building and can be accounted for.
Evacuation strategy
An evacuation strategy is the plan for how people leave a building in a fire — all at once, floor by floor, or by staying put until told otherwise.
Stay put policy
A stay put policy is an evacuation strategy for some residential buildings in which residents not directly affected by a fire remain in their flats, because the construction is designed to contain the fire where it starts..
Simultaneous evacuation
Simultaneous evacuation is a strategy in which everyone in a building leaves at the same time on the alarm.
Waking watch
A waking watch is a temporary measure in which trained people patrol a building continuously to detect a fire and raise the alarm, used where a building's fire safety measures are not adequate on their own..
Fire marshal
A fire marshal, or fire warden, is a member of staff with defined duties in an evacuation — sweeping an area, assisting people who need help, and reporting to whoever is coordinating at the assembly point..
Fire drill
A fire drill is a practised evacuation, carried out to test whether the procedure works and to give occupants the experience of using it.
Active fire protection
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher is a portable device for tackling a small fire in its early stages.
Sprinkler system
A sprinkler system is a network of pipework and heat-activated heads that discharges water onto a fire automatically.
Dry riser
A dry riser is a vertical pipe in a building, empty in normal conditions, that firefighters charge with water from a pumping appliance at ground level and use at outlets on upper floors..
Wet riser
A wet riser is a vertical pipe kept permanently charged with water and fed by pumps, providing water at outlets on upper floors.
Smoke control system
A smoke control system removes or holds back smoke so that escape routes stay usable and firefighters can approach a fire.
Automatic opening vent
An automatic opening vent is a window, louvre or roof vent that opens automatically on a fire signal to let smoke out of a stair, lobby or corridor..
A–Z
- Alarm zone
- Arson risk
- Assembly point
- Automatic fire detector
- Automatic opening vent
- Building Safety Act 2022
- Cavity barrier
- Ceiling void
- Cold smoke seal
- Compartment wall
- Compartmentation
- Compartmentation breach
- Competent person
- Dry riser
- Emergency lighting
- Escape route
- Evacuation strategy
- FD30
- Final exit
- Fire alarm control panel
- Fire alarm system
- Fire damper
- Fire door
- Fire door frame
- Fire door hinge
- Fire door signage
- Fire drill
- Fire exit sign
- Fire extinguisher
- Fire marshal
- Fire resistance rating
- Fire risk assessment
- Fire risk assessment action plan
- Fire risk assessment review
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
- Fire Safety Act 2021
- Fire safety log book
- Fire safety training
- Fire stopping
- Golden thread
- Heat detector
- Higher-risk building
- Hot works permit
- Interface unit
- Intumescent strip
- Manual call point
- Means of escape
- Personal emergency evacuation plan
- Place of safety
- Premises information box
- Protected route
- Protected stairway
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- Remedial action
- Responsible person
- Self-closing device
- Service penetration
- Simultaneous evacuation
- Smoke control system
- Smoke detector
- Sounder
- Sprinkler system
- Stay put policy
- Threshold gap
- Travel distance
- Unwanted fire signal
- Vision panel
- Waking watch
- Wet riser
More terms are being added. These pages explain what the words mean; they are not a substitute for an assessment by a competent person.