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First published in 2016, HTM 05-01: Managing Healthcare Fire Safety sets out recommendations and guidance for the management of fire safety in healthcare buildings and organisations and should be read in conjunction with HTM 05-02: Firecode – Guidance in support of functional provisions (Fire safety in the design of healthcare premises) and HTM 05-03: Firecode – Fire Safety in the NHS – Operational provisions.
The latest edition of HTM 05-01, published on 11 February 2026, sees significant updates to the guidance to reflect legislative and regulatory changes, such as the inclusion of the BSA 2022 as a “new piece of primary legislation governing fire and building safety”.
The Authorising Engineer (Fire) is now separated into two defined roles: the Independent Expert Adviser (Authorising Engineer) and the specialist Fire Engineer. The expert advisor role focuses on auditing fire safety systems, highlighting that such audits are usually carried out by experienced fire safety professionals who are not chartered engineers. For complex building designs or fire strategy work, where detailed fire engineering solutions are needed, technical advice can be taken from a specialist fire engineer.
As the guidance states, the new structure “matches each role to the right set of skills and competencies, making the approach more practical and proportionate”. Additionally, it looks to help healthcare organisations in bringing in the “right expertise for both oversight and technical advice, improving how fire safety is managed overall”.
Also formalised and clarified in this revision of HTM 05-01 are four distinct designations under the Authorised Person (Fire) role to cover differing specialisms: fire risk assessment, fire training, and fire projects. A new Senior Fire Safety Adviser is also introduced, who will have extensive knowledge of healthcare fire safety and who will typically coordinate a team of fire safety advisers.
Additionally, clarification is given on the terminology of a competent person and is distinguishable from how it is used in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: “Throughout the Firecode suite of guidance, the term ‘Competent Person (Fire)’ is capitalised to distinguish it as a defined role within the NHS fire safety management structure. This role refers to individuals who can provide professional services in relation to passive and active fire safety systems (such as fire alarm system installations and maintenance).”
The application and scope of HTM 05-01 are also revised to provide guidance for all healthcare organisations. While the guidance can be applied across the healthcare sector, it is most directly relevant to complex organisations such as acute trusts or mental health trusts.
As such, the way in which these principles are applied should be proportionate to the size, complexity, and risk profile of the building: “For complex organisations such as acute trusts and mental health trusts, the guidance should be applied in full, with adaptations made, where justified, by risk assessment. For smaller or non-complex organisations – such as ambulance trusts, GP practices, primary care centres, or community-based facilities – it may not be necessary to adopt every role or process described in full. Instead, organisations should implement the relevant concepts from this guidance at an appropriate scale.”
The guidance covers key areas such as statutory fire safety duties, effective fire safety management, fire safety policy, fire safety management roles and responsibilities, fire safety protocols, planning and responding to a fire emergency, and reporting and auditing.
