Fire and rescue authorities in England recorded 11,286 breaches of Article 14 on emergency routes and exits in the year ending March 2026, the most breached provision of the Fire Safety Order. Article 10 breaches rose 110% over six years and Article 19 rose 89%. This page sets out all ten, with what each requires and what evidence closes it.
The ten most breached articles of the Fire Safety Order, and what closes each one
Article 14 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, covering emergency routes and exits, was the most frequently breached provision in England in the year ending March 2026, with 11,286 breaches recorded during fire safety audits. That accounted for 13% of all recorded breaches. Article 17 on maintenance was second with 9,727 and Article 9 on risk assessment was third with 9,271. Breach counts rose for nine of the ten most cited articles.
Where a fire safety audit records an unsatisfactory outcome, the fire and rescue authority identifies the specific articles the premises has failed. The table below is what English inspectors actually recorded, and it is a better guide to where to spend your next compliance pound than any general checklist.
The ten articles, ranked by breaches recorded in England
| Article | What it covers | Breaches, year ending March 2026 | One-year change | Six-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Emergency routes and exits | 11,286 | Up 9.3% | Up 39% |
| 17 | Maintenance | 9,727 | Up 12% | Up 52% |
| 9 | Risk assessment | 9,271 | Up 9.3% | Up 38% |
| 8 | Duty to take general fire precautions | 8,792 | Up 16% | Up 43% |
| 15 | Procedures for serious and imminent danger and for danger areas | 7,955 | Down 0.7% | Up 59% |
| 13 | Fire fighting and fire detection | 7,262 | Up 12% | Up 30% |
| 11 | Fire safety arrangements | 5,240 | Up 25% | Up 67% |
| 21 | Training | 4,445 | Up 3.9% | Up 35% |
| 19 | Provision of information to employees | 3,954 | Up 13% | Up 89% |
| 10 | Principles of prevention to be applied | 3,348 | Up 30% | Up 110% |
Article 15 was the only article in the top ten to record a fall.
The three findings in this table that the sector is not discussing
- Article 10 breaches rose 110% over six years and 30% in one year. Article 10 is about applying the principles of prevention, meaning avoiding risks at source and combating them at source rather than managing around them. It is the most conceptual article in the top ten and it is now the fastest growing.
- Article 19 breaches rose 89% over six years. Article 19 concerns the information given to employees about the risks identified and the protective measures. It is a communication duty, and it is failing at nearly double the rate it was six years ago.
- Article 11 rose 25% in a single year, the fastest one-year rise in the table. Article 11 is about management arrangements rather than physical fire precautions. A building can have compliant hardware and still fail Article 11.
Taken together, the three fastest-growing failures are all documentation and management failures, not hardware failures. The physical articles, 13 and 14, are growing more slowly than the paperwork articles.
What each article requires and what evidence closes it
Article 14: emergency routes and exits
Requires routes and exits to be kept clear and to lead as directly as possible to a place of safety, with the number, distribution and dimensions appropriate to the use, equipment and occupancy, and with emergency doors opening in the direction of escape and not being locked in a way that prevents easy and immediate opening.
What closes it: a dated walk-through record of every escape route in every building, with photographs, carried out at a stated frequency and signed by a named person. Blocked routes are the single most common recorded failure in England, and they are the cheapest to find and fix.
Article 17: maintenance
Requires the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of the premises to be subject to a suitable system of maintenance and to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
What closes it: service records at the correct interval for every installed system, with commissioning certification referenced to the applicable British Standard. See emergency lighting testing frequency under BS 5266 and fire door inspection requirements.
Article 9: risk assessment
Requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions needed, with the significant findings recorded where five or more people are employed.
What closes it: a current fire risk assessment by a competent person, covering the whole premises, with a stated review date. Our fire risk assessment requirements guide sets out who may carry one out, and our fire risk assessment cost guide sets out the variables that move the price.
Article 8: duty to take general fire precautions
Requires the responsible person to take such general fire precautions as will ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of employees, and in relation to relevant persons who are not employees, to take such general fire precautions as may reasonably be required to ensure the premises are safe.
What closes it: evidence that the precautions identified by the Article 9 assessment have actually been implemented, with dates. Article 8 failures are usually the gap between what an assessment recommended and what was done.
Article 15: procedures for serious and imminent danger
Requires procedures to be established and given effect for the event of serious and imminent danger, including the nomination of a sufficient number of competent persons to implement evacuation, and the restriction of access to danger areas.
What closes it: a written evacuation strategy appropriate to the building and the occupancy, the names of the nominated competent persons, and dated records of drills. In a care home or a hospital this includes personal emergency evacuation plans that match the current resident or patient profile. See the care home statutory compliance checklist.
Article 13: fire fighting and fire detection
Requires the premises to be equipped with appropriate fire fighting equipment and with detectors and alarms as necessary, with non-automatic equipment easily accessible, simple to use and indicated by signs, and with competent persons nominated to implement fire fighting measures.
What closes it: a detection and alarm system of the correct category for the building with service records at the correct interval, extinguisher servicing records, and evidence that the nominated persons have been trained.
Article 11: fire safety arrangements
Requires appropriate arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures, recorded where five or more people are employed.
What closes it: one written document naming who holds each fire safety task, at what frequency, and where the record is kept, plus evidence that the arrangements were reviewed after any material change. This is the fastest growing failure in England, up 25% in a single year. Care home operators can see the full set of arrangements expected of them in our care home statutory compliance checklist.
Article 21: training
Requires employees to be provided with adequate fire safety training at the time of first employment and on being exposed to new or increased risks, repeated periodically where appropriate.
What closes it: a training matrix showing every employee, the date of induction training, the date of the most recent refresher, and the content covered. An undated register is not evidence of training.
Article 19: provision of information to employees
Requires the responsible person to provide employees with comprehensible and relevant information on the risks identified by the risk assessment, the preventive and protective measures, the identities of the nominated competent persons, and the notified risks arising from shared premises.
What closes it: written evidence that the significant findings of the fire risk assessment were actually communicated to staff, and to whom, with a date. Holding the assessment is not the same as having provided the information in it. Breaches here rose 89% over six years.
Article 10: principles of prevention to be applied
Requires the responsible person, where implementing preventive and protective measures, to do so on the basis of the principles specified in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Order.
What closes it: evidence that the measures chosen followed the hierarchy in Schedule 1, meaning risks avoided at source where possible rather than managed with procedural controls. In practice this means showing why a control was selected, not only that a control exists. Breaches here rose 110% over six years, the fastest growth in the table.
The pattern worth acting on
Six of the ten articles in this table are satisfied by a document rather than by an installation. Articles 9, 10, 11, 15, 19 and 21 are all evidence duties. Articles 8, 13, 14 and 17 have a physical component.
The documentation articles are growing faster than the physical ones. Article 10 is up 110% over six years, Article 19 is up 89% and Article 11 is up 67%, against Article 13 up 30% and Article 14 up 39%. An operator who has spent on hardware and not on records is exposed to the faster-growing half of the risk.
The national picture behind these figures, including the 27% rise in prohibition notices, is in our analysis of the 2026 fire safety enforcement statistics. Building-type specific findings are in why purpose-built flats fail fire safety audits. If your evidence gap is in contractor competence, our contractor vetting and accreditation guide sets out what each accreditation actually proves.
Frequently asked
What is the most breached article of the Fire Safety Order?
Article 14, covering emergency routes and exits. Fire and rescue authorities in England recorded 11,286 Article 14 breaches during fire safety audits in the year ending March 2026, accounting for 13% of all recorded breaches. That was an increase of 9.3% on the previous year and an increase of 39% over six years. Article 17 on maintenance was second with 9,727 breaches.
What is Article 11 of the Fire Safety Order?
Article 11 requires the responsible person to make and give effect to appropriate arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures, recorded where five or more people are employed. It is the management systems article. Breaches rose 25% in England in a single year to 5,240, the fastest one-year rise of any article in the top ten.
Which fire safety failures are increasing fastest in England?
Documentation and management failures. Article 10 on the principles of prevention rose 110% over six years to 3,348 breaches. Article 19 on the provision of information to employees rose 89% to 3,954. Article 11 on fire safety arrangements rose 67% to 5,240. All three grew faster than the physical articles, with Article 13 up 30% and Article 14 up 39% over the same period.
Do I have to record my fire risk assessment?
Article 9 requires the significant findings of the risk assessment to be recorded where five or more people are employed, along with any group of persons identified as being especially at risk. Separate duties under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, in force from 1 October 2023, extended recording requirements in relation to regulated residential premises. Recording is the practical default in any commercial setting.
What is the difference between Article 8 and Article 9?
Article 9 is the duty to assess the risk and identify the general fire precautions needed. Article 8 is the duty to actually take those general fire precautions. A premises can hold a compliant assessment under Article 9 and still breach Article 8 by never implementing what the assessment recommended. Fire and rescue authorities recorded 9,271 Article 9 breaches and 8,792 Article 8 breaches in England in the year ending March 2026.
How many fire safety breaches are recorded in England each year?
Article 14 alone accounted for 11,286 recorded breaches in the year ending March 2026, which the release states was 13% of all breaches. The ten most cited articles together accounted for 71,280 recorded breaches. Fire and rescue authorities recorded 20,286 unsatisfactory audits out of 50,195 carried out, and a single unsatisfactory audit can cite more than one article.
Sources & further reading
