GPAtlasWhat it covers
How fire starts and spreads, why smoke is so dangerous, and the fire hazards found in a GP practice, including medical oxygen and lithium batteries. Your part in the practice fire risk assessment, the fire plan and the law. What to do on finding a fire or hearing the alarm, how patients are evacuated, and when an extinguisher or fire blanket may be used.
Who it is for
Everyone who works in the practice: reception and administration, practice managers, cleaners, healthcare assistants, nurses, pharmacists, GPs, trainees and locums.
By the end you will be able to
- Explain how fire starts and spreads, and why smoke and toxic fumes are so dangerous.
- Recognise fire hazards in a GP practice, including medical oxygen, and help prevent fire.
- Know the practice fire risk assessment findings, the fire plan, and your legal duties.
- Raise the alarm and act at once on finding fire or smoke, or hearing the alarm.
- Evacuate with patients by the escape routes, report at the assembly point, and never re-enter.
- Know extinguisher and fire blanket types, their uses and safety limits, and when to leave.
Modules
- How fire starts and spreads
- Preventing fire every day
- The law and your fire plan
- When fire breaks out
- Extinguishers and fire blankets
The Home Office guide for healthcare premises says staff should have refresher training at least once every 12 months. Your fire risk assessment may ask for more. This course follows the law in England and Wales and covers the knowledge only. It does not replace site-specific instruction, walking your escape routes, practical training and fire drills.
Content mapped to the learning outcomes of the Core Skills Training Framework (England) v1.1: Fire Safety, Level 1. Law named: Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 3 (the responsible person).
Sources
- Core Skills Training Framework (England) Statutory/Mandatory Subject Guide v1.1, June 2021 (Skills for Health), Fire Safety: Key Learning Outcomes and refresher guidance (archived copy)
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 3: meaning of responsible person
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 8: duty to take general fire precautions
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 9: risk assessment (record required, as amended from 1 October 2023)
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 13: fire-fighting and fire detection
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 14: emergency routes and exits
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 15: procedures for serious and imminent danger
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 21: training
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 22: co-operation and co-ordination between responsible persons
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 23: general duties of employees at work
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 32: offences
- Fire Safety Act 2021, section 1: premises to which the Fire Safety Order applies
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (contents)
- Check your fire safety responsibilities under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (Home Office, updated 25 October 2023)
- A guide for persons with duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (as amended) and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (Home Office, article 50 guidance, September 2023)
- Fire safety: guidance for those with legal duties (Home Office collection, updated 4 October 2023)
- Fire safety in the workplace (GOV.UK): responsibilities, risk assessments, evacuation plans, equipment, drills and training, enforcement
- Fire safety risk assessment: healthcare premises (Home Office, 2006)
- Fire safety risk assessment: offices and shops (Home Office, accessible version)
- Health Technical Memorandum 05-01: Managing healthcare fire safety (NHS England, published 11 February 2026)
- Introduction to fire safety (Health and Safety Executive)
- Oxygen use in the workplace: fire and explosion hazards, INDG459 (Health and Safety Executive)
- GP mythbuster 1: Emergency care in general practice, oxygen storage (Care Quality Commission, updated 25 February 2026)
- GP mythbuster 70: Mandatory training considerations in general practice (Care Quality Commission, updated 3 September 2024)
- Fire safety in the home, accessible version (GOV.UK): what to do if there is a fire, and if clothes catch fire
- Buy Safe, Be Safe: avoid e-bike and e-scooter fires (Office for Product Safety and Standards, 24 October 2024)
- Automatic fire alarms policy (London Fire Brigade): no daytime attendance at most workplace automatic alarms without a 999 call
- Fire extinguishers (Avon Fire and Rescue Service): colour codes, with yellow wet chemical extinguishers for cooking oil and fat fires only
- Burns and scalds (NHS website): hold the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes
GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.