Office Premises Health, Safety and Welfare Management
Office Premises in Brief
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 set the basic standards
- DSE, lighting, temperature, welfare facilities and cleanliness all need managing
- Fire risk assessment under the RRO 2005 covers the building itself
Managing Office Premises
Taking on office premises for the first time - whether you own the building, lease it from a landlord or are moving out of home working into a shared or dedicated space - comes with a set of health and safety responsibilities. Most are simple and inexpensive to put in place once you know what is needed. This guide covers the essentials.
Managing office premises is not a separate compliance exercise sitting alongside running the business - it is part of how the organisation operates. The same arrangements that keep people safe satisfy UK H&S law, and where an organisation runs a management system to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, the premises sit inside that system as infrastructure. What follows applies to any office whether or not an ISO standard is involved.
Fire Safety in Office Premises
Fire safety is the first thing to get right. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person - which in a workplace is typically the employer - must carry out a fire risk assessment and put appropriate fire safety measures in place.
A fire risk assessment is the starting point. For a small low-risk office it does not need to be complicated or involve an external consultant. The UK government publishes free guidance and a simple online tool for offices with a simple layout. The assessment should identify ignition sources, consider who is at risk, and set out the measures in place to reduce the risk and allow safe evacuation.
If your premises already have a fire alarm, make sure you know how it works and where the call points are. Weekly testing of one call point is standard practice and should be logged. The alarm should be serviced at least annually by a competent engineer. If you have just moved in, ask the landlord or previous occupier for the service history and find out when the next service is due.
If there is no fire alarm, small single-floor offices with a simple layout and a short clear escape route may not need a full system - but only if the fire risk assessment concludes that another means of raising the alarm is adequate and explains why. If there is any doubt, fitting a basic smoke detector is inexpensive and sensible.
A fire action notice is a simple sign explaining what to do if someone discovers a fire or hears the alarm. Display it prominently near the main exit and at each fire call point, and include the assembly point location on it.
Most offices need at least one fire extinguisher. A CO2 extinguisher suits office environments where electrical equipment is present. Extinguishers must be serviced annually, and a simple log of each one on site - type, location, last service date - is easy to maintain and useful evidence.
Keep escape routes clear at all times. Fire exit doors must be openable from the inside without a key, and fire exit corridors are not to be used for storage. Identify an assembly point away from the building where everyone goes during an evacuation, and make sure everyone who uses the premises knows where it is.
First Aid in the Office
Under the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, employers must provide adequate first aid equipment and personnel. For a small low-risk office this typically means:
A first aid kit in an accessible and clearly marked location, stocked with the standard contents for a low-risk workplace. The contents should be checked periodically and anything out of date or used replaced.
A nominated first aider or appointed person. An appointed person does not need formal first aid training but is responsible for calling the emergency services and managing the first aid kit. A qualified first aider holds a recognised First Aid at Work certificate. For small offices an appointed person is the minimum - as numbers grow a qualified first aider becomes more appropriate.
Post the location of the first aid kit and the name of the first aider or appointed person where people can see them.
Health and Safety Law Poster for the Office
Employers must either display the Health and Safety Law poster in a prominent location or give each employee the equivalent pocket card. The poster tells employees what they need to know about H&S law and is available from the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and from most office suppliers.
General Requirements for Office Premises
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 set minimum standards for workplace conditions - adequate ventilation, suitable temperature and lighting, sufficient space, clean working areas, and appropriate toilet and washing facilities. Most modern office buildings meet these as standard, but it is worth confirming when you first move in rather than assuming.
Landlord Responsibilities for Office Premises
If you rent your office space, some health and safety responsibilities are shared between you and the landlord depending on the lease. As a general guide, the landlord is typically responsible for the building structure, common areas, the main fire alarm in multi-tenanted buildings, fire safety in common parts, and the building's fixed electrical and gas installations.
As the tenant, you are responsible for your own demise (the space you occupy) - including your own fire risk assessment, your equipment, your first aid arrangements and your own risk assessments for the activities carried out there.
When you move in, ask the landlord for the fire risk assessment for the building and common areas, the asbestos register if the building was built before 2000, the fire alarm and emergency lighting service records, and the most recent fixed wiring inspection report. A responsible landlord should have all of this to hand.
The single most important thing when you first take on premises is getting fire safety in place before anyone starts working there. Fire action notice, working extinguisher, clear escape route, everyone knowing the assembly point - that takes an hour to sort and it is the foundation everything else builds on.
The risk assessment, the inspection regime, the first aid arrangements - those can follow in the first few weeks. But fire safety needs to be right from day one.
When we took on additional office space a couple of years back, the bit that caught us out was the split with the landlord. The lease had a schedule of what they maintained and what we did, but it was easy to read without really digesting. We ended up doing a walk-round with the facilities manager on our first week, listing every fire door, extinguisher, alarm panel and emergency light, and agreeing who was checking what. That hour saved us months of ambiguity.
The other thing I'd say is keep the monthly check simple. F-Q26 is one side of paper - takes fifteen minutes. If it is complicated, it will not get done.
A lot of folk moving into their first office make this more complicated than it needs to be. For a small office the requirements are genuinely manageable - a fire risk assessment, a first aid kit, a few signs, a working extinguisher and a monthly premises check. Start simple, get the basics right, and build from there.
Practical Compliance Guidance
The alphaZ document suite includes an office safety policy procedure, guidance document and premises inspection forms to support ongoing management. Section 3.2 of IMS1 covers the management of equipment and premises and should be updated to reflect the specific arrangements in place for your office.
The documents below are a good starting point for setting up office premises.
| alphaZ document | How to use it |
|---|---|
| ISO 9001/14001/45001 Management System Toolkit | The complete toolkit for implementing an ISO-compliant integrated management system. Includes the IMS1 manual, all policies, procedures, registers and audit checklists. |
| PP-7-08 Office Safety Policy Procedure | Documents the organisation's arrangements for office safety - covering fire safety, first aid, housekeeping and general H&S requirements. |
| GG-7-08 Office Safety Guidance | Guidance document on office safety requirements. A useful reference when setting up arrangements in a new office. |
| F-Q26 Premises Monthly Checklist | Use for monthly premises inspections - covers fire safety, signage, first aid, electrical equipment and general premises condition. |
| F-ENV5 Fire Safety Inspection | Use to record fire safety checks - extinguishers, exits, fire action notices and alarm testing. |
| F-HS38 Fire Extinguisher Register | Use to maintain a record of all fire extinguishers on site including type, location and service dates. |
| F-Q107 Premises Safety Compliance Checklist | A more detailed annual compliance checklist covering the broader range of premises safety requirements. |
Note - all the above files can be downloaded with an alphaZ subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
UK Legislation for Office Premises
The following UK legislation is directly relevant to managing office premises. Organisations outside the UK should identify the equivalent legislation applicable in their jurisdiction.
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
