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Analysis Reveals State of England’s Fire Safety Measures

Data analysis from fire safety experts, CE Safety, reveals the extent to which fire safety regulations are taken seriously in workplaces and public buildings in England.
Humberside scored the worst for fire safety in its buildings for several reasons, with only 8% of buildings being found satisfactory against regulations.
Leicestershire had the best fire safety across the country, with one of the lowest rates of no fire alarms being found at the scene of an incident.

Stringent checks, trained staff, and well-maintained premises can not only save lives, but are also required by fire safety law. With this in mind, how well are the UK’s regions in putting fire safety regulations into practice?

New research from fire safety experts, CE Safety, has uncovered how robust fire safety systems are across non-domestic buildings across England using 2024/25 from both FOI requests and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The research ranked each fire and rescue service (FRS) area to revealing the best and worst places for fire safety, looking at factors such as:

The total number of fire safety audits conducted in relation to the number of premises.
The percentage of satisfactory and unsatisfactory fire safety audits
The number of fire service staff qualified to carry out fire safety audits per population.
The number of accidental non-dwelling fires per population.
The percentage of non-dwelling fires where no fire alarm was present.

The results vary wildly across the country, with the highest fire and rescue service recording 92% satisfactory checks in its area (Cheshire), however, Humberside only recorded 8% when audited.

Top five worst-ranking regions for fire safety

The analysis uncovered several regions where fire safety standards are falling short. Factoring in inspection results, fire incidents and the availability of fire detection systems, the following areas were identified as the worst performing for fire safety across England.

Humberside

Humberside scored the worst for fire safety in its buildings for several reasons, including:

Lowest audit satisfactory ratings (8%) with most premise types reaching huge unsatisfactory ratings, for example 95% of hotels failed inspections and 94.5% of shops.
More than half of recorded fires were in buildings that didn’t have a fire alarm.

In addition, an FOI revealed that building owners in this area were given more than £8k in prosecution fines over the last two financial years.

Lancashire

Lancashire fell short with just 12% of satisfactory audits, the second lowest in the country. It also had a high number of fires in non-residential buildings per population, at 328 fires.

Additionally, it was found that Four prosecutions across 2024/25 and 2023/24 totalled £142,500 in fines for building owners.

Devon and Somerset

This region only recorded 0.59% of audits and just 28% of these were considered satisfactory.

Cleveland

Cleveland had the least number of fire alarms found at the scene of an incident, with 69.5% of non-dwelling fires having no fire alarm.

Cumbria

With only 39% of audits returning as satisfactory and a high rate of accidental fires per population (a total of 102 fires) this region comes in at number five for poor performance.

England’s top fire safety hotspots:

At the other end of the ranking, several regions stood out for their strong fire safety performance. Taking into account inspection results, audit coverage and fire incident data, the following areas ranked among the safest in England.

Leicestershire

Ranking in the top spot, Leicestershire was the most consistent across a majority of factors, including: 85% of satisfactory audits, a higher than average number of audits carried out (4.9% with the average sitting at 3.06%) and a lower rate of missing fire alarms (30%).

Durham

Durham ranked second best overall, scoring particularly well with the number of audits that have taken place there (11.3%) as well as having the highest rate of qualified fire staff to carry out formal audits per population, at 86 members of staff.

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire came out third, with 8.5% of buildings audited and 81% of those gaining a satisfactory pass.

Cheshire

Cheshire received the most satisfactory passes of buildings that were checked, with a 92% pass rate, the highest in England.

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire achieved 88% of satisfactory audits and lower than average accidental building fires (203 fires with the average at 205).

ENDS

Methodology & Sources:

This study analysed publicly available data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), alongside information obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) across England.

To assess building fire safety across England, a data index was created comparing Fire and Rescue Service regions using five key indicators that measure both fire risk levels and enforcement activity.

The factors included:

Fire safety audit coverage: The total number of fire safety audits conducted relative to the number of known premises within each FRS area.
Audit outcomes: The percentage of fire safety audits resulting in a satisfactory rating.
Inspection capacity: The number of fire service staff qualified to carry out fire safety audits per population.
Fire incident rate: The number of accidental non-dwelling fires per population.
Fire detection risk: The percentage of non-dwelling fires where no fire alarm was present.

Each Fire and Rescue Service region was assessed across these indicators to provide a comparative view of building fire safety and enforcement capacity across England.

About CE Safety:

With over 20 years’ experience in the health and safety industry, the team at CE Safety provide best practice, expert training and consultancy. Whilst this experience is invaluable, we recognise that – in this industry – it’s essential to keep abreast of new developments, legislation and changes. That’s why we continue to learn every day and pass this knowledge on to our clients, ensuring that they receive the most up-to-date information and training.

With an experienced team of consultants and staff, we aim to provide excellence in our field, exceeding client expectations. This approach has resulted in longstanding relationships with many of our clients – of which there are varied industries and sizes; from manufacturing, hotel and pub chains, property and construction to retail, NHS trusts, councils, universities and colleges.

For more information please visit: https://cesafety.co.uk/