New UK Fire Safety Standards 2025
At NYES, we understand the importance of creating a safe learning environment for students, staff, and visitors. Our Health and Safety team is competent and highly qualified, with extensive training in applying relevant fire safety legislation and best practices to school settings. While senior leaders in educational settings may not be qualified or trained in fire risk assessments, they are still responsible for the safety of everyone who uses the site. This is where our expertise comes in.
The Head Teacher as the Responsible Person, or senior managers within the educational setting, may be criminally liable, if there is not a suitable Fire Risk Assessment in place and completed by a competent person. Competence should be assessed by a third party, professional body, or through a structured framework (e.g. Tiered Fire Risk Assessment Registers). A fire risk assessment will also need to be reviewed regularly depending on the risk. Your competent Fire Risk Assessor can advise on how frequently such an assessment should be updated.
New Fire Safety Standards
To help navigate the challenges in evaluating competence when it comes to fire risk assessment, the new British Standard, BS 8674: Built Environment – Framework for Competence of Individual Fire Risk Assessors – Code of Practice was published on 15th August 2025. This standard has been developed, with the collaboration of those working across the sector, to recognise the need to improve the competence, consistency and accountability of those commissioning and delivering fire risk assessments and is part of approach to improving building and fire safety systems arising from the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.
BS 8674 sets out criteria for three core levels of competence in fire risk assessment, which are known as Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced. This is to ensure those delivering fire risk assessments have the competence to deliver these and reflects the skill set required to understand the complexity and risks of the building or way it operates.
Under the new fire safety regulations 2025 most schools will be described as “moderate fire risk premises” requiring a fire risk assessor with an “Intermediate” competence. Whilst this is a new standard, our team of fire risk assessors either already work at this level or are being trained, supervised or mentored to achieve the level of competence required.
How NYES can help ensure your school is protected
NYES Health and Safety Service is dedicated to supporting schools. We have a team of dedicated and fully qualified advisors who will work closely with you to ensure you receive a fully compliant fire risk assessment. These advisors are members of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers and registered on Fire Risk Assessors Register.
Our advisors are equipped to conduct comprehensive fire risk assessments across a wide range of educational institutions, including primary and secondary schools, colleges and those schools with vulnerable pupils and those who have residential accommodation. Each assessment will undergo internal verification by a fully qualified assessment validator, ensuring the highest standards of quality and compliance are consistently upheld.
NYES Health and Safety Fire Risk Assessments
Our fire risk assessments are designed to help schools achieve compliance and ensure the safety of all occupants. Here’s what our service provides:
- Everyone on our team is a competent fire risk assessor as required under the British Standard, BS 8674: Built Environment – Framework for Competence of Individual Fire Risk Assessors – Code of Practice.
- Everyone on our team is a member of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM). We are committed to professional development, best practices, and improvement.
- As part of IFSM membership each advisor submits a number of fire risk assessments to the IFSM. This external evaluation ensures the risk assessments have the highest standards of compliance and safety.
- The team is part of the Tiered Fire Risk Assessors Register (TFRAR), which is a comprehensive register organised by IFSM. The register classifies assessors into three tiers based on competency. Our team is either already on the register or working towards inclusion.
- Each fire risk assessment is internally verified to ensure that each FRA we send out meets industry standards. This also fosters continuous improvements in our FRAs.
With you every step of the way
Further information about the service is available here.
When you’re ready to discuss this further, please email nyes@northyorks.gov.uk or call 01609 533222. We’d love to hear from you.