For years, the phrase “competent person” has been doing a lot of heavy lifting in fire safety legislation. Those responsible for buildings, whether employers, landlords or managing agents, have been legally required to ensure fire risk assessments are carried out by someone “competent.” But what that really meant has often been open to interpretation.
It’s left the industry with uneven expectations. Some fire risk assessors are highly trained professionals with years of experience and structured development. Others, frankly, have found themselves in the role with little more than a few courses and a willingness to get stuck in.
Now, that’s starting to change.
BS 8674 is a new British Standard due to be published in August 2025. Its purpose is simple but important: to provide a clear, national framework that defines the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours expected of individual fire risk assessors.
Rather than relying on vague definitions of competence, BS 8674 outlines a structured approach. It sets out three defined levels - Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced - giving both assessors and dutyholders a much better way to gauge what’s appropriate for a particular building or situation.
This has the potential to raise the bar across the board, while giving assessors a way to chart their own professional development in a more transparent, credible way.
The standard doesn’t assume that all buildings, or all assessments, are equal. The new framework is designed to reflect that.
- Foundation Level is for those working on lower-risk premises - such as small offices or shops - and still developing their experience under supervision.
- Intermediate Level recognises assessors who can work independently in more complex or multi-use environments.
- Advanced Level is for those handling high-risk or specialist buildings - such as high-rise residential, hospitals, or premises with vulnerable occupants - where a deeper understanding and a broader set of skills are needed.
This approach acknowledges that competence isn’t binary. It’s not a question of being either “qualified” or “not.” It’s about matching the assessor’s ability to the nature and complexity of the building they’re assessing.
If you're a fire risk assessor, BS 8674 is a useful tool to reflect on your own practice. It gives structure to something that’s often been quite woolly. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in the field for years, it sets out what’s expected at each stage - technically, professionally, and ethically.
If you’re someone who appoints assessors - whether as a building owner, facilities manager or employer - it gives you a clearer way to make informed choices. You can ask better questions. You can be more confident that the person doing the work has the right level of experience and understanding for the job.
And for residents and occupants, while they might never read (or have even heard of!) BS 8674, the hope is that it leads to better outcomes - assessments carried out by people who know what they’re doing, within their limits, and who aren’t afraid to say when something is beyond them.
One of the most important principles in the standard is this: don’t exceed your competence. That sounds obvious, but in practice, it’s a principle that hasn’t always been followed - sometimes due to pressure, sometimes due to overconfidence, and sometimes simply because there’s been no real framework for saying, “this is too complex for me.”
BS 8674 aims to change that. It reinforces the idea that competence includes not just technical skill, but judgement, ethics, communication, and a willingness to keep learning.
BS 8674 is still going through the approval process and, when adopted, it won’t be a legal requirement, but it will almost certainly become the go-to reference for assessing professional competence in this area. Insurers, accreditation bodies, and possibly even enforcement agencies will likely use it as a benchmark.
This is a good time for assessors to get familiar with it - and, if needed, to plan how to work towards the level of competence that matches the buildings you are planning to assess.
Our Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment has been designed with this very standard in mind. Whether you're just starting out or looking to formalise your experience, the course helps you build the knowledge, skills and judgement expected of fire risk assessors in today's world.
You’ll learn how to carry out structured, legally compliant assessments - and how to recognise your own limits, a key part of the new framework.
