Fire Marshals — What Trade Businesses Need to Know About Fire Wardens and Their Duties (2026)

What Is a Fire Marshal?

A fire marshal — the terms "fire marshal" and "fire warden" are used interchangeably in the UK — is a designated, trained person who helps an employer carry out their fire safety duties. They are not firefighters, and their job is not to fight fires beyond the very smallest. Their role is prevention and orderly evacuation: spotting hazards before they cause a fire, keeping escape routes usable, and making sure everyone gets out safely if the alarm sounds.

In a small trade business the fire marshal might be the owner or a senior fitter. In a larger operation with a busy workshop, a trade counter and an office, you may have several marshals covering different areas and shifts. The principle is the same regardless of size: someone competent has been appointed, trained and made responsible for fire safety on the ground.

The Law: Who Is Responsible for Fire Safety?

In England and Wales, fire safety in business premises is governed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — usually shortened to the Fire Safety Order or the RRFSO. The Order places the legal duty on the "Responsible Person", which for most trade businesses means the employer or business owner.

As the Responsible Person you must:

• Carry out a fire risk assessment of your premises and keep it up to date
• Put in place and maintain appropriate fire precautions — alarms, extinguishers, signage, escape routes, emergency lighting
• Appoint a "sufficient number of competent persons" to assist with fire safety measures and emergency evacuation

That last duty is where fire marshals come in. The "competent persons" the Order requires you to appoint are, in practice, your fire marshals. The law does not use the exact phrase "fire marshal", but appointing trained marshals is the standard way businesses meet the requirement.

The rules differ slightly across the UK. In Scotland, fire safety is covered by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. In Northern Ireland it is the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010. The duties are broadly equivalent — a risk assessment, suitable precautions, and competent people to help — so the practical approach in this guide applies UK-wide.

What Does a Fire Marshal Actually Do?

A fire marshal's duties fall into two groups: the routine, day-to-day prevention work, and the things they do in an emergency. Both matter, but the day-to-day work is where most fires are actually prevented.

Day-to-Day Duties

These are the regular checks and habits that keep the premises safe. On trade premises — a workshop, a fabrication shop, a builder's yard — there is far more to watch than in a typical office:

• Checking that fire exits and escape routes are clear — not blocked by stock, pallets, deliveries or parked vans
• Making sure fire doors are not wedged or propped open — a wedged fire door is one of the most common and dangerous failings on trade premises
• Confirming fire extinguishers are in place, unobstructed and in date, and that the right types are positioned for the risks nearby
• Identifying fire hazards — a particular concern in trades that handle flammable liquids and solvents, gas cylinders, combustible dust (wood, MDF, flour, metal), packaging waste, and hot works such as welding, grinding, soldering and cutting
• Checking that alarm call points and signage are visible and that emergency lighting works
• Reporting faults and near-misses so they get fixed before they become incidents

Emergency Duties

When the alarm sounds — or a marshal discovers a fire — their role shifts to getting people out safely. Their responsibilities in an emergency include:

• Raising the alarm and making sure it has been raised and the fire service called
• Helping with a calm and orderly evacuation, directing people to the nearest safe exit
• Sweeping their area — checking offices, toilets, stores and quiet corners to confirm no one is left behind
• Assisting anyone who needs help, following any PEEPs (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans) in place for people with mobility, sensory or other needs
• Reaching the assembly point and helping with the roll call to confirm everyone is accounted for
• Liaising with the fire service on arrival — reporting anyone missing, the location of the fire, and hazards such as gas cylinders or chemical stores
• Not tackling anything but the smallest fire: a marshal may use an extinguisher on a small, contained fire only if it is safe and they have a clear escape route behind them. Their priority is always evacuation, not firefighting

How Many Fire Marshals Do You Need?

There is no fixed legal number. The Fire Safety Order requires a "sufficient" number of competent persons, and what counts as sufficient depends on your specific premises. The factors that drive it are:

• Size and layout of the premises — a large workshop with multiple bays and a separate office and yard needs more marshals than a single unit
• Number of people on site, including staff, contractors and visitors at the trade counter
• Level of risk — premises with flammable stores, spray booths, hot works or dust hazards warrant more cover
• Shift patterns and opening hours — every shift needs marshal cover, including early starts and late finishes
• Holidays and sickness — you need enough trained people that there is always cover even when someone is off

As a rough rule of thumb that many fire risk assessors use, low-risk premises might aim for around one marshal per 20 people, while higher-risk premises — which most trade workshops are — need a higher ratio. Do not treat ratios as the law, though. The right number comes out of your fire risk assessment, not a generic figure. The key practical test is simple: is there always at least one trained marshal on site, in every part of the premises, whenever anyone is working? If the answer is ever no, you need to train more people.

Fire Marshal Training

A fire marshal must be competent, which in practice means trained. The standard route is a fire marshal (or fire warden) course, typically a half-day session run by an accredited fire safety provider, either in person or online with a practical element. Training is widely available and inexpensive relative to the risk it manages.

A typical fire marshal course covers:

• Fire science — the fire triangle (heat, fuel, oxygen), how fires start and spread, and how removing one element controls them
• Extinguisher types and safe use — which extinguisher to use on which class of fire, and the limits of what a marshal should attempt
• Evacuation procedures — raising the alarm, sweeping areas, roll call, and the marshal's role at the assembly point
• Hazard awareness — spotting risks specific to the workplace, which for a trade business means flammable stores, gas, dust and hot works
• Legal duties — an overview of the Fire Safety Order and the Responsible Person's obligations

Training is not a one-off. Fire marshal certification should be refreshed periodically — commonly every one to three years, depending on the risk level of the premises and your fire risk assessment's recommendation. Keep a record of who is trained and when their refresher is due, alongside your other compliance records.

Extinguisher Types: A Quick Primer for Marshals

Using the wrong extinguisher can make a fire worse or put the user in danger — water on an electrical fire or a chip-pan fire being the classic example. Marshals should know the main types and what they are for. The colour-coded bands on UK extinguishers identify the contents.

On most trade premises a mix of foam or water plus CO₂ near electrical equipment covers the common risks, with dry powder where flammable liquids or gas are stored. Your fire risk assessment should specify the right types and positions — marshals then check they stay in place and in date.

Quick Reference: Day-to-Day vs Emergency Duties

How Fire Marshals Fit With Risk Assessments and Drills

Fire marshals do not work in isolation. They are one part of a system that starts with your fire risk assessment and is tested through regular drills.

The fire risk assessment is the foundation. It identifies the hazards on your premises, who is at risk, and what precautions are needed — including how many marshals you need and where. Everything the marshals do flows from it, so it must be reviewed regularly and whenever something significant changes: a new spray booth, a different storage layout, more staff, or a change of use in part of the building.

Fire drills test whether the plan actually works. Running a drill at least annually — more often for higher-risk premises — lets marshals practise sweeping their areas, the roll call works in the real layout, and any problems (a blocked exit, an unfamiliar new starter, a confusing assembly point) surface in a controlled setting rather than during a real fire. Record each drill: the date, how long evacuation took, and any actions to fix.

For a trade business this all comes back to the workshop and yard context. The realistic fire scenarios in this sector — a welding spark catching nearby packaging, a solvent spill, an overloaded extension lead, a dust build-up around machinery, a poorly stored gas cylinder — are exactly the risks a competent marshal is trained to spot on their day-to-day rounds. That is why the role is not bureaucratic box-ticking. On trade premises, an alert fire marshal is one of the most effective fire-prevention measures you have.

Practical Steps for Trade Business Owners

• Have a current, written fire risk assessment for every premises you occupy
• Appoint enough trained fire marshals to cover every area, every shift, with backup for holidays and sickness
• Book accredited fire marshal training and diarise refreshers (every one to three years)
• Walk your premises with a marshal's eye: wedged fire doors, blocked exits, out-of-date extinguishers, dust and flammable stores
• Run and record at least one fire drill a year
• Put PEEPs in place for anyone who would need help to evacuate
• Keep all of it — assessment, training records, drill logs, extinguisher service dates — in one place you can produce on request