Compliance for Offices — What You Actually Need

Still required, even for a simple office. For low-complexity premises a competent manager can often carry it out using the government fire safety guide for offices and shops — but it must be done, recorded in full whatever your headcount (in England and Wales the five-employee exemption went in October 2023), and kept current. Multi-tenant buildings add a duty to cooperate with the landlord and other occupiers.

The general duty that underpins everything: assess the risks to staff and others, decide proportionate controls, record the significant findings (at 5+ employees), and review. For an office this is a manageable document, not an ordeal.

The one offices most often forget. The fixed installation must be maintained; the recommended inspection interval for commercial offices is typically five years. Easy to overlook precisely because nothing seems wrong — until it is.

IT equipment, chargers, kettles, heaters, and the growing population of leads and adaptors. Office IT sits on a long cycle (visual checks more than full testing), but extension leads and hand-held items need closer attention — and home-working equipment is a real, often-ignored grey area.

Fire awareness for all staff, a fire marshal (or one per floor), first aid sized to your headcount, and DSE awareness for screen users. Light, but not optional.

Escape routes and stairwells need to stay lit if power fails. Usually straightforward in an office, but it still needs the monthly and annual tests like anywhere else.

Appropriate cover for the premises — typically water or foam for general areas and CO2 near electrical equipment and server rooms. Annual service and monthly visual checks.

Often assumed not to apply to offices — wrongly. Any hot and cold water system carries a duty, and offices have a specific weak point: the kitchenette tap or shower that sits unused for weeks. For most offices this is a proportionate assessment plus simple flushing of little-used outlets.