Test your fire safety knowledge with our fire safety quiz

Our fire safety awareness quiz is designed to help you to strengthen your workplace’s fire prevention strategy and to assist you in understanding The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

This simple workplace fire safety quiz will help you to discover how much – or how little – you know about the legal responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and will explain where to go to fill in the gaps in your knowledge and to raise your fire safety awareness. The answers are provided at the bottom of this blog.

Although we’ve made it multiple choice, take extra care, because there may be more than one right answer, or perhaps there are none at all…

1. Given that Wales and Scotland have their own Parliaments, which country below is not covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005?

a) England
b) Scotland
c) Wales

2. Who should prepare for a disabled person’s escape when a building needs to be evacuated in an emergency?

a) The person themselves
b) Whoever works at a neighbouring desk
c) The building’s ‘responsible person’

3. Failing to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 can result in a maximum punishment of:

a) £1,000
b) £5,000
c) Two years’ imprisonment

4. How often should fire extinguishers be serviced by a qualified engineer?

a) Annually
b) Every other year
c) Never

5. Fire safety training is required in which of the following circumstances?

a) For new starters
b) When new hazards are introduced
c) When there’s a change in the building layout

6. Employees can be required to contribute financially to which of the following fire safety equipment?

a) Fire extinguishers
b) Specialist equipment for their use (such as evacuation chairs for the disabled)
c) Personal protective clothing

7. Kitchen fires (cooking oil and fats) should never be put out with which of these fire extinguishers?

a) Water
b) CO2
c) Wet chemical

8. What colour is the label on a dry powder fire extinguisher?

a) Blue
b) Black
c) Cream

9. You have committed an offence if you have:

a) Failed to put the right fire protection measures in place
b) Supplied all the necessary fire protection equipment after a thorough fire risk assessment, but you haven’t recorded what you’ve done
c) Supplied all the necessary fire protection equipment after a thorough fire risk assessment, and recorded what you’ve done

10. The men or women with duties relating to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 are called which of the following:

a) Reliable persons
b) Competent persons
c) Responsible persons

11. Although fire exits should obviously never be locked shut, it is acceptable to store materials in passageways leading to them so long as the area given to storage is:

a) Less than 10% of the available width at any time
b) Less than 10% of the available width when employees are not on the premises
c) Less than 5% of the available width at any time

12. Which of the following doesn’t need to be considered in a fire risk assessment?

a) Missing fire extinguishers
b) Waste paper baskets
c) Material stored outside the building

13. In the event of a fire one individual has the role of checking that everyone has left the building safely. This is the fire warden. They should fulfil this responsibility by:

a) Checking all offices and meeting places before being last to leave the building
b) Ringing all available staff mobile phone numbers to ask individuals where they are
c) Waiting outside at a designated point for everyone to make themselves known, and ticking them off on a pre-prepared list

14. What should everyone be trained to do as soon as a fire alarm sounds?

a) Turn off all electrical equipment and leave the building
b) Leave the building immediately and go to their designated assembly point
c) Gather personal possessions such as bags and coats and wait in their cars until the building is safe

15. Help and advice about how to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 can be sought from:

a) The Fire Service
b) The Police
c) Fire and Safety Centre



Fire Safety Quiz


Fire Safety Quiz answers

1. Scotland; the legislation applies to England and Wales only.

2. All of them. The building’s responsible person must ensure that the right equipment, such as an evacuation chair, is available and train people in its use; the disabled person needs to know about special provision made for them, and someone nearby must be trained in the use of the evacuation chair or other specialist equipment so they can help when necessary.

3. B) or C) can both apply.

4. Annually.

5. All of them. The simple yardstick is that if anything has been done that overrides existing training, the training will need to be refreshed.

6. None of them. Employees don’t pay to help an employer comply with legislation.

7. Water fire extinguisher or a Co2 fire extinguisher. Burning oil floats on water, so you’ll probably spread the fire and make it worse. CO2 will douse the flames, but residual heat could cause re-ignition. A wet chemical fire extinguisher is the safest option; it forms a foam layer over the burning liquid, cooling the fire and starving it of oxygen.

8. Blue. Black indicates a Co2 fire extinguisher; cream, a foam fire extinguisher.

9. A) and B). A dedicated section of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 deals with offences relating to shortcomings in record-keeping.

10. B) and C) . Though they’ll all probably be reliable, that isn’t a title. The law defines ‘Responsible Person’ as the individual with ultimate responsibility for fire safety in particular premises. It’s likely to be the owner, but could just as easily be the building manager, or whoever is in charge. ‘Competent Persons’ are identified as individuals with Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 responsibilities for certain parts of the building, whose role is to support the ‘Responsible Person’.

11. None of them. Storage in areas required for emergency exits is not permitted under any circumstances.

12. They all need to be included. Missing fire extinguishers is fairly obvious; they should be replaced. Material stored outside a building could obstruct fire exits, or hinder people moving away from the building, or be a source of fuel for a fire. Waste paper baskets need thinking about because if they’re not emptied regularly, they contribute unnecessary amounts of flammable material with the potential to add fuel to a fire inside a building.

13. c) No-one should stay inside a building when a fire alarm sounds. Just like everyone else, the Fire Warden should leave all personal possessions, and exit the building taking with them anything recording who should be in the building, such as a signing-in book, in/out board or register, along with high-vis clothing (to make them stand out in a crowd) and something to write with.

14. b). Everyone has a personal responsibility for themselves, in getting out of the building, and for others, by telling the fire warden they’re safe. Failure to do so could put others in danger by searching for someone believed to be in the building when they are safely out of it.

15. A) and C). The Fire Service and the Fire and Safety Centre will help, but the Fire Service doesn’t supply a full range of equipment to help you to comply with the law. Of these three options, only the Fire and Safety Centre can do that.

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