Fire Safety Insights

BS 8674:2025 — What the New Competency Framework Actually Means for Your Practice

BS 8674 landed in August 2025. It's not legislation — but it's quickly becoming the benchmark that clients, insurers, and enforcement officers measure you against. If you carry out fire risk assessments commercially, this standard is about you. Here's what it actually changes.

Jasper Bartlett

16 April 2026

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Mandatory FRA Certification Is Coming — What the MHCLG Consultation Means for You

Legislation

26 May 2026•7 min read

Mandatory FRA Certification Is Coming — What the MHCLG Consultation Means for You

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is consulting on the biggest structural change to the fire risk assessor profession in the FSO's history.

The Golden Thread: Why It Matters for Fire Risk Assessors, Not Just Building Owners

Legislation

3 September 2026•5 min read

The Golden Thread: Why It Matters for Fire Risk Assessors, Not Just Building Owners

The golden thread is a Building Safety Act duty for building owners — but it's becoming the standard fire risk assessors are expected to support. Here's how.

Templates

6 April 2026•13 min read

From PAS 79-2 to BS 9792: What Actually Changed and What You Need to Do Differently

BS 9792 replaces PAS 79-2 for housing FRAs. We break down every structural change — pro forma, documentation, evacuation, PCFRAs — and what assessors must update.

Legislation

25 March 2026•8 min read

BAFE SP205 Version 6 Is Here: What It Means for Your Assessment Workflow

The updated scheme takes effect on 31 March 2026. Most of the commentary so far has been aimed at duty holders. This article is for the firms actually delivering fire risk assessments.

Customer Stories

25 August 2026•4 min read

Lee & Karen Brown from Absolute HFS

"It's changed our lives. We used to work 12 hour days. Now, write ups take half the time so we have a life after five o'clock again."

Legislation

1 June 2026•7 min read

Approved Document B Is Being Rewritten — What Fire Risk Assessors Should Watch For

The Building Safety Regulator has opened a 14-week consultation on substantial changes to Approved Document B, the statutory guidance underpinning Part B of the Building Regulations. This is what to watch.

Risk Assessment

8 April 2026•5 min read

Residential PEEPs Are Here — A Practical Guide for Fire Risk Assessors

Fire risk assessors: the Residential PEEPs regulations are now live. Here's what to check during housing FRAs and how to support your RP clients.

Risk Assessment

23 April 2026•7 min read

What Makes a Fire Risk Assessment "Suitable and Sufficient" — and Can a Tick-Box Report Get You There?

If your fire risk assessment software works by having you tick boxes and select from dropdown menus, here's a question worth sitting with: could the report it produces actually withstand scrutiny from an enforcing authority?

Technology

25 June 2026•6 min read

The Best Software for Fire Risk Assessments in the UK: An Honest Guide

As a fire safety consultant you'll use a few different tools to run your business. But the one that matters most is what you use to write your reports — so that's how we've judged the platforms below. How well does each one actually help you write an assessment?

Templates

30 July 2026•4 min read

Solar Panels, Batteries and EV Charging: Updating Your FRA Template

On 8 July, a fire destroyed the Springwood unit at Malton and Norton District Hospital in North Yorkshire. Fifteen patients were evacuated and nobody was hurt. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service found that the fire most likely started at one of the solar panels on the roof.

Technology

18 May 2026•8 min read

Quality vs. Efficiency in Fire Risk Assessment: Why You Don't Have to Choose

Checkbox fire risk assessments are a quality problem the industry can't ignore. Here's how AI-assisted reporting frees assessors to do better work.

Customer Stories

10 August 2026•4 min read

Alan Hards from FireRiskAssessments.com

"What used to take 4 hours in our old system now takes one and a half, maybe two hours with FireCheckr"