What Is a Fire Marshal? Duties, Law and Hiring

What a fire marshal is and what they do

A fire marshal is a person nominated to help put a building’s fire procedures into effect. The Fire Safety Order applies in England and Wales. Of the guidance cited in this article, the Home Office guide for offices and shops and the government guide to open-air events cover England and Wales; the Home Office guidance for England cited on training, records and faulty equipment, and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, apply to England only. The Home Office guide for offices and shops lists ‘fire marshals or wardens’ together as staff with a supervisory role in a fire (Home Office (GOV.UK)), and Home Office guidance describes fire wardens as people who shepherd occupants out of the premises and check that the areas they are responsible for have been evacuated (Home Office (GOV.UK)). The guidance uses the two terms interchangeably.

The legal duty does not sit with the marshal. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the ‘responsible person’ must appoint one or more competent persons to assist with the preventive and protective measures (legislation.gov.uk). Home Office guidance gives fire wardens as an example of employees appointed with special responsibilities in the event of fire (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

A marshal is one way of providing that competent help day to day.

What the law requires: the responsible person and competent persons

The Articles cited here refer to competent persons rather than fire marshals. They place duties on the responsible person and require them to get competent help. Three provisions matter most when you are deciding who will act as marshal.

• Article 18(1): the responsible person must appoint one or more competent persons to assist them with the preventive and protective measures (legislation.gov.uk).
• Article 18(5): a person is competent if they have sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to assist properly with those measures (legislation.gov.uk).
• Article 13(3)(b): where necessary, the responsible person must nominate competent persons to implement fire-fighting measures, and make sure their number, training and equipment are adequate for the size and specific hazards of the premises (legislation.gov.uk).

The Home Office guide for offices and shops (England and Wales) says the responsible person must consult employees, or their elected representatives, about nominating people to carry out particular fire safety roles (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Home Office guidance for England also says that in staffed premises you must nominate a sufficient number of competent people to implement the fire procedures (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

Competent persons are appointed to assist the responsible person, who must make sure that their number, the time available to them and the means at their disposal are adequate (legislation.gov.uk).

How many fire marshals you need: there is no fixed ratio

Article 18(3) requires that the number of people appointed, the time available to them and the means at their disposal are adequate for the size of the premises, the risks people are exposed to and how those risks are spread through the building (legislation.gov.uk). Article 13(3)(b) makes the same point for fire-fighting nominees, tying their number to the size and specific hazards of the premises (legislation.gov.uk).

Article 18(3) sets no fixed number or ratio (legislation.gov.uk). You may see ratios quoted elsewhere, but neither Article 18(3) nor the guidance cited here sets one.

Questions that help you reach a defensible number include:

• How many separate floors, wings or zones need to be checked and cleared?
• Will someone always be on site to cover each area, allowing for shifts, leave and absence?
• Are there higher-risk areas, such as plant rooms, kitchens or storage, that need closer attention?
• Do any occupants need help to evacuate?
• Do marshals have enough time away from their normal work to do the checks properly?

That last point is easy to overlook. Article 18(3) is about time and means as well as headcount (legislation.gov.uk). Five named marshals who are never free to do the checks may not meet the test.

Fire marshal duties before, during and after an evacuation

The clearest way to set out a marshal’s responsibilities is as a sequence. The table below shows each task and where it comes from. Who carries out each task is for the responsible person to decide in the fire procedure. The routine checks are suggested examples from the Home Office guide for offices and shops, not fixed legal intervals, and the guide says other testing regimes may be appropriate (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

Before: routine checks and readiness

Much fire safety work happens before anything goes wrong. The Home Office guide for offices and shops suggests a simple rhythm of checks; your fire procedure sets who carries them out, which may include your marshals.

Each day, the alarm panel should be checked to confirm the system is working and fully operational (Home Office (GOV.UK)). The guide’s daily checks also include removing bolts, padlocks and security devices from fire exits, making sure doors on escape routes swing freely and close fully, and checking escape routes are clear of obstructions and combustible materials (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Each week, the detection and warning systems and the manual warning devices should be tested, in line with the manufacturer’s or installer’s guidance, and fire extinguishers and hose reels checked to confirm they are correctly located and in apparent working order (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Monthly, fire doors should be checked to confirm they are in good working order and closing correctly, with frames and seals intact (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

Fire drills have no laid-down frequency. The guidance says they are likely to be needed at least annually and often more frequently, for example every six months (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

The guide’s examples are not prescriptive, and other testing regimes may be appropriate (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

During: evacuation, sweeping areas and meeting the fire service

When the alarm sounds, the marshal’s job is to shepherd occupants out and check that the areas they are responsible for have been evacuated (Home Office (GOV.UK)). That means a methodical sweep of their zone, including toilets, meeting rooms and stores, not just a glance down the corridor.

Everyone should reach an assembly point at a place of total safety (Home Office (GOV.UK)). The offices and shops guide says a roll call should be carried out as soon as possible at the assembly point and/or reports received from wardens designated to ‘sweep’ the premises, noting anyone unaccounted for (HM Government (Fire safety risk assessment: offices and shops)). In a real evacuation, that information needs to be passed to the fire and rescue service on arrival (HM Government (Fire safety risk assessment: offices and shops)).

The fire procedures must include arrangements for summoning the fire and rescue service, and it should also be established who will meet them on arrival (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Name that person in advance.

On construction sites, HSE says escape routes should give access to a safe place where people can assemble and be accounted for, and on a small site the pavement outside may be adequate (Health and Safety Executive).

Visitors and contractors

The Home Office guide says the responsible person must give clear and relevant information and instructions about fire to staff and to the employers of other people working in the premises, such as contractors (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Other relevant persons, such as visitors, should be given information about the fire safety arrangements as soon as possible (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Even so, visitors and contractors may not know the building, so marshals should expect to guide them to the exits and the assembly point.

After: re-entry and handing back

The procedure must make sure nobody re-enters the building until the fire and rescue service, or those in charge of the building, says they may (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Decide in advance who will keep people out until re-entry is authorised, and brief them.

Once re-entry is authorised, marshals should pass what they observed to the responsible person. The guidance sets out no separate incident or false-alarm reporting procedure. After a fire or near miss, it says the assessment may be inadequate and you should re-assess, and that identifying the cause and reviewing the assessment is good practice (Home Office (GOV.UK)). What marshals saw feeds that review.

Records

Article 11(2) requires the responsible person to record the arrangements for the planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures (legislation.gov.uk), and Home Office guidance says you must keep a record of the fire safety arrangements for your premises (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

The guide also says keeping a log book of all maintenance and testing is of benefit, and its training checklist asks whether a record of training sessions is being maintained (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

Should a fire marshal tackle a fire?

Only if your fire strategy says so and they are trained for it.

Government guidance says people with no training should not be expected to attempt to extinguish a fire (Home Office (GOV.UK)). If your fire strategy expects certain people, such as fire marshals, to take a more active role with fire-fighting equipment, they should be given more comprehensive training (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

On construction sites, HSE says nominated people should be trained in how to use extinguishers (Health and Safety Executive). More generally, Article 13(3)(b) requires the number, training and equipment of fire-fighting nominees to be adequate for the size and specific hazards of the premises (legislation.gov.uk).

The practical point for you is to make an explicit decision in the fire strategy. Either your marshals evacuate only, or they evacuate and use equipment where it is safe to do so. Then train them to match that decision. A marshal who has never handled an extinguisher should not be improvising with one.

Fire marshal training and how often to refresh it

Competence under Article 18(5) means sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to assist properly (legislation.gov.uk).

Home Office guidance says staff with a supervisory role in a fire, including fire marshals or wardens, should be given details of the fire risk assessment and receive additional training (Home Office (GOV.UK)). In other words, marshals need more than the general fire awareness every employee receives.

On how long training takes: neither the Fire Safety Order nor Home Office guidance sets a course length. The Order requires training to be provided in a manner appropriate to the risk identified by the risk assessment (legislation.gov.uk), and Home Office guidance requires it to be suitable and sufficient without prescribing a length or syllabus (Home Office (GOV.UK)). The level of training depends on the role set in your fire strategy, with more comprehensive training where marshals will play a more hands-on part, but no duration is set (Home Office (GOV.UK)). The building-specific briefing on your fire risk assessment is part of it (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Ask any training provider for the course content and duration. Training should cover:

• details of your fire risk assessment
• the evacuation procedures for everyone to reach an assembly point at a place of total safety
• more comprehensive training in using fire-fighting equipment, where the fire strategy expects marshals to take a more active role (Home Office (GOV.UK))
• on construction sites, how to use extinguishers (Health and Safety Executive)

On refreshers, Article 21(2) says training must be repeated periodically where appropriate, but sets no interval (legislation.gov.uk). Home Office guidance says there is no specific frequency in legislation, but recognised practice is no less than annually, or where equipment changes (Home Office (GOV.UK)). It also says the appropriate frequency should be considered as part of your fire risk assessment (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

Useful triggers to review training include a change of fire alarm system, a refit that alters escape routes, a new tenant on a shared floor or a drill that exposed gaps.

Who is responsible in shared and multi-occupied buildings

Where two or more responsible persons share premises, Article 22 requires each of them to co-operate and co-ordinate with the others (legislation.gov.uk). Home Office guidance says that in a multi-occupancy office building there is a need for a coherent, single fire procedure that all occupants are aware of and should adopt (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

For your marshals, that means working to the single agreed procedure, not a tenant-by-tenant version. Each tenant’s marshals should know where their zone ends, who sweeps the shared areas and who reports to whom at the assembly point. If you manage a multi-let office, building-level office security officers can help hold that single procedure together across tenants, alongside each tenant’s own nominees.

Blocks of flats and common parts

In a block of flats, the responsible person is the person having control of the premises, typically the freeholder or landlord, though it may be a residential management company or right to manage company (Home Office (GOV.UK)). Where premises are not a workplace, such as the common parts of an HMO, the responsible person is the person in control in connection with their trade, business or other undertaking, which could also be the owner (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

The Order applies to the common parts, which include plant rooms, communal rooms and doors between a dwelling and the common parts (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

For housing associations and managing agents, that puts the focus on the shared spaces. Where a block has on-site staff, concierge security can support routine checks of communal areas within the procedure set by the responsible person.

Fire marshals on construction sites

On a construction site, HSE says that, for Fire Safety Order purposes, the main or principal contractor in control of the site will usually be the responsible person (Health and Safety Executive).

HSE expects nominated people on site to be trained in how to use extinguishers (Health and Safety Executive). Escape routes should give access to a safe place where people can assemble and be accounted for (Health and Safety Executive). On a live site, where routes change as the build progresses, marshals need to know the current routes, not last month’s.

Hot work, meaning work that generates heat, sparks or flame, is a particular risk. HSE lists maintaining a careful watch throughout the work as one of the precautions (Health and Safety Executive). Fire cover of this kind often sits alongside wider construction site security arrangements.

Fire marshals and stewards at events

Events use different language. The government guide to fire safety at open-air events, which applies to England and Wales, talks about ‘stewards’ rather than marshals.

The guide says organisers should ensure there are a sufficient number of competent and adequately trained stewards to cover an emergency, and it gives no fixed number (Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)). It expects exits and gateways to be unlocked and staffed by stewards throughout the event (Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)). Its pre-event checks include confirming that staff, volunteers and stewards with designated responsibilities are available (Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)).

The principle is the same as in a building. There is no fixed number, and the guide expects exits and gateways to be unlocked and staffed by stewards throughout the event (Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK)). If you are planning an event, fire stewarding is usually arranged as part of wider event security and stewarding.

Train your own staff or hire marshals? A decision aid

Many organisations train their own staff, and for a stable, single-occupier office that may be all you need. Hired marshals make more sense when your own people cannot meet the tests in the law. Work through these questions:

• Time and means: do your nominated staff have adequate time and means to carry out the role, across every shift and allowing for absence (legislation.gov.uk)?
• Numbers and training: does your fire risk assessment call for more people, or more comprehensive training, than you currently have (Home Office (GOV.UK))?
• Fire-fighting role: if marshals are expected to use equipment, are their number, training and equipment adequate for the size and hazards of the premises (legislation.gov.uk)?
• Temporary activities: is there hot work or another temporary activity that needs a careful watch throughout (Health and Safety Executive)?
• Events: do you have an event where exits and gateways must be staffed throughout (Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK))?
• Shared buildings: does a multi-occupied building need cover that fits one coherent fire procedure across all occupants (Home Office (GOV.UK))?

These questions are a prompt for the responsible person’s judgement, not a legal test. If they point to gaps in your own cover, external cover may be worth considering. Hired officers can supplement your own nominees rather than replace them. Either way, the responsible person still sets the procedure and the numbers.

When the fire alarm is out of action

The daily panel check exists to confirm the alarm is working (Home Office (GOV.UK)). When it is not, Home Office guidance (England) says that where essential fire safety equipment is faulty or out of service, the risk must be assessed immediately and the remedial actions needed to mitigate it identified (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

As this article’s recommendation, a simple sequence is:

1. Tell the responsible person straight away.
2. Have the risk assessed immediately and remedial actions identified (Home Office (GOV.UK)).
3. Record the interim measures and who is covering them.
4. In high-rise residential buildings in scope of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, inform the local fire and rescue service if the fault cannot be fixed within 24 hours (Home Office (GOV.UK)).

In residential buildings, waking watch measures are one interim response. In England, the government’s Interim Measures Alarm Fund pays for fire alarm installation to replace or reduce the need for waking watch measures (GOV.UK). Take advice from your fire risk assessor on what interim cover your building needs.

What fire marshal cover costs

Hired marshal rates and any extra pay for staff marshals are not set by the Fire Safety Order or published in the guidance cited here. Cost depends on the hours, shifts and site, so describe what you need in the quote form linked below.

Arranging fire marshal cover in London

Albiz Security has provided security in London since 1987. We supply SIA-licensed security officers for marshal and fire watch duties for commercial organisations, construction sites, local authorities, housing associations, industrial estates and retail outlets.

The legal duty stays with the responsible person, and the number of marshals should be adequate for the size of the premises and the risks (legislation.gov.uk). What external officers can provide is SIA-licensed cover that works to your procedure, on the shifts and in the areas you need.

To discuss fire marshal and fire watch cover in London, email info@albiz.co.uk, call 020 8305 1122 or use the quote form.