Fire Safety Audits in Lancashire: The Data
Fire safety enforcement varies more between areas of the country than most responsible persons realise, so we analysed the official data to see how Lancashire compares. We worked from two datasets published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: FIRE1202, which records the fire safety audits each fire and rescue authority carries out and their outcomes, and FIRE1204, which records the enforcement action taken and the duties cited where premises fall short, both covering the ten years to the financial year ending March 2025. We isolated Lancashire and its North West neighbours, calculated the share of audits found unsatisfactory, broke the results down by type of premises while pooling three years so the sector figures are stable, measured how much of the building stock is actually inspected, and cross-referenced the independent HMICFRS inspection grade for the service. What follows is what that analysis shows for Lancashire.
Where Lancashire stands
In the year ending March 2025, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service carried out 1,993 fire safety audits, of which 88.0 per cent were recorded as unsatisfactory. That placed Lancashire 43rd of the 44 fire and rescue authorities in England. As the audit coverage figures below show, the service inspects its highest-risk premises intensively, which is reflected in how many of its audits identify something to put right.
Within the North West, Lancashire records one of the highest unsatisfactory rates, alongside one of the most intensive inspection programmes.
These figures show how many audited premises were found compliant. Services choose which premises to audit and record their outcomes in their own way, so we set them out here to help responsible persons understand what fire safety inspection looks like in their area.
The trend over time
Lancashire’s recorded rate has risen across the period, from 62.5 per cent in 2016/17 to 88.0 per cent, and it has sat above the England average throughout.
Across the same period the England average also rose, reaching 41.8 per cent in the latest year.
Which premises fail most often
The county average covers a wide range of building types, and this is where the data becomes useful to an individual owner. Breaking the audits down by premises type, and pooling the last three years so the sector figures are stable, the likelihood of an unsatisfactory result varied considerably.
Across almost every premises type the recorded unsatisfactory rate in Lancashire was high, with hmos, hospitals and licensed premises at the top, and even the lower categories, offices and factories, above the national average for their type. Whatever your building, a Lancashire audit is a searching one, which is good reason to keep the fire risk assessment current and the fundamentals in order.
How likely your building is to be audited
The same breakdown answers a different question that owners often ask, which is how likely their type of building is to be audited at all. Lancashire audited around 2.0 per cent of its known premises during the year, and that limited resource is directed at the higher-risk end of the building stock.
Around four in five known hospitals were audited, alongside more than half of care homes, while most other premises types saw only a small fraction inspected.
If your premises is one of the more heavily audited types, it is worth understanding what to expect from an FRS fire safety audit before one is arranged.
What premises actually fail on in Lancashire
We also examined what premises in Lancashire actually fail on. The official data records the duties most often cited where Lancashire premises fell short, and two failures stand out above the rest.
The two most common failures in Lancashire are almost level, each accounting for around one in six recorded shortcomings: the protection of emergency routes and exits, and the maintenance of fire safety equipment and fire doors. Fire doors are a frequent weak point within the maintenance category, and a fire door inspection is the way to confirm they will hold back fire and smoke as they are meant to. The general duty to take fire precautions and the fire risk assessment itself follow close behind.
People and planning feature strongly too. Staff fire safety training is the seventh most common failure in Lancashire in its own right, alongside failures of emergency procedures, of fire safety arrangements, which a clear fire safety policy addresses, and of informing employees about the risks. Inspectors do check whether your staff have been trained, whether they know the evacuation procedure, and whether they understand the risks where they work.
Yes, staff training is checkedFire safety training for staff is a legal duty under article 21 of the Fire Safety Order, and in Lancashire, where audits are searching, it is among the failures inspectors record. A fire risk assessment identifies the training your staff need, and delivering it is one of the clearest ways a responsible person turns a written assessment into real protection. It is also one of the three services we provide.
What this means for businesses in Lancashire
Rated outstanding at fire regulationHMICFRS, the independent inspectorate, graded Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service outstanding at protecting the public through fire regulation in its 2023 to 2025 inspection, one of six areas in which it was judged outstanding, and praised its data-led plan for inspecting the highest-risk buildings. Audits in Lancashire are carried out by a service the inspectorate regards as among the best in the country.
What do enforcement and prohibition notices mean?If an audit finds a problem, a fire and rescue authority can act formally. An enforcement notice, served under article 30 of the Fire Safety Order, sets out the failings and requires the responsible person to put them right within a stated period. A prohibition notice, under article 31, is more serious, and is used where the risk to life is so great that the use of all or part of a building is restricted or prohibited until the danger is dealt with, sometimes with immediate effect. The most serious breaches can lead to prosecution under article 32.
If you are responsible for a building in Lancashire, we recommend you note the following. The service inspects its highest-risk premises intensively, with around four in five hospitals and more than half of care homes audited in the year, so the chance of a visit is real. Audits here are searching, with 109 enforcement notices, 8 prohibition notices and one prosecution recorded in the latest year, so a thorough approach matters. And the failures inspectors record most often fall into three areas, the fire risk assessment itself, the upkeep of fire doors and fire safety equipment, and the training and procedures your staff depend on. Those are precisely the areas we work in, and we provide independent fire risk assessments, fire door inspections and fire safety training across Lancashire, so that your premises is ready if an audit comes.
About this research and the analystsThis analysis was carried out by Fletcher Risk Management, an independent fire safety consultancy based in Chester. Our assessors are qualified to ABBE Level 4 in fire risk assessment and bring significant hands-on experience of inspecting premises across the region, and we have applied that suitably qualified and experienced judgement to interpret the official data and draw conclusions of practical use to responsible persons. The figures are our own analysis of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government fire statistics, tables FIRE1202 and FIRE1204, for the year ending March 2025, with sector figures pooled over three years and very small samples excluded, and inspection grades taken from published HMICFRS reports. Journalists who would like further comment are welcome to contact us through our contact page.
Be ready for your audit
We provide independent fire risk assessments, fire door inspections and fire safety training for businesses across Lancashire and the wider region, covering the very things inspectors check. If you would like to discuss your premises, please get in touch.
Get in touchFire Risk AssessmentsThis article is provided for general guidance and does not constitute professional advice for any specific premises. Figures are Fletcher Risk’s analysis of published MHCLG fire statistics (FIRE1202 and FIRE1204, year ending March 2025) and HMICFRS inspection reports, accurate to the source data at the time of writing. Fletcher Risk Management Limited provides Fire Risk Assessments, Fire Door Inspections and Fire Safety Training across the North West, North Wales and the West Midlands.