Free template
A fire drill record you can print today, with the roll call count on it
GOV.UK says to hold at least one fire drill a year and record the results. Most records stop at “evacuated in four minutes, no issues”. This one also asks the question a drill is for: how long did it take to know that everybody was out, visitors and contractors included, and where did the list come from?
Prints as one A4 sheet. Free, with no form to fill in. Your fire risk assessment decides how often you use it.
What it records
Six things a drill should leave behind
A drill is a test, and a test nobody wrote down has to be run again. These are the boxes on the sheet and what each one is for.
- The timingsWhen the alarm sounded, when the last person reached the assembly point, and when the roll call was complete. The gap between the last two is the number most sites have never measured, and it is the one a drill exists to find.
- The countStaff, visitors, contractors and drivers, each as expected and accounted for. The duties in the Fire Safety Order are owed to everyone lawfully on the premises, so a drill that counts only employees has tested half the roll call.
- Where the list came fromSign in sheets, a clocking printout, or a live list on a phone, and whether it reached the assembly point without anyone going back inside. If the honest answer is that somebody fetched the book, the drill has found something.
- What the observers sawEleven things to watch for, answered yes or no. An observer with a sheet sees more than a marshal with a job to do, which is why the form has a line for their names.
- Actions, with ownersWhat was found, who is fixing it and by when. A drill record with an empty actions box is either a very good site or a drill nobody watched.
- Sign off, and the next dateThe person who ran it, the responsible person who reviewed it, and when the next one is due. The date is what turns a drill into a programme.
Fire drill record
1. The drill
Person in charge
Observers
Areas and shift covered
Scenario, if any (call point used, exit treated as blocked)
☐ Announced ☐ Unannounced ☐ Alarm monitoring company told beforehand ☐ Not monitored
2. Timings
| Alarm sounded | First person at assembly point | Last person at assembly point | Roll call complete | All clear given |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ____:____:____ | ____:____:____ | ____:____:____ | ____:____:____ | ____:____:____ |
Time to evacuate, alarm to last person: ____ min ____ s
Time to complete the roll call, last person to count complete: ____ min ____ s
3. Roll call
| Staff | Visitors | Contractors | Drivers | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expected on site | |||||
| Accounted for |
List taken from: ☐ sign in sheets ☐ clocking or access printout ☐ live list on a phone ☐ other: ______________
Did the list reach the assembly point without anyone going back inside? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Anyone unaccounted for, and where they were found: ______________________________________________
4. What the observers saw Y / N / NA against each
___ Alarm heard clearly in every area, including plant rooms, toilets and the yard
___ Everyone left promptly, without stopping to collect belongings or finish a task
___ Escape routes and final exits clear, unlocked and easy to open
___ Fire doors closed behind people, none wedged open
___ Anyone needing assistance was helped out as their personal evacuation plan says
___ Marshals swept their areas and reported to the person in charge
___ Machinery and processes made safe or shut down as the plan requires
___ Lifts not used
___ Visitors and contractors were brought out by their host or knew where to go
___ Assembly point safe, big enough and clear of fire service access
___ Nobody went back inside before the all clear
5. Actions
| What was found | Action | Owner | Due | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6. Sign off
Person in charge: ______________________________ Signed: ____________________
Reviewed by responsible person: ____________________ Signed: ____________________
Next drill due: ____ / ____ / ________
Keep with your fire risk assessment and evacuation plan. GOV.UK guidance: at least one drill a year, results recorded and kept; your fire risk assessment may require more. Template from noonelite.com/fire-drill-record-template.
Being straight with you
What a template does not do
- This form is built on published guidance, not on your building. Your fire risk assessment decides how often you drill, who takes part and what a good result looks like.
- There is no evacuation time in law or guidance to measure yourself against, and the form does not suggest one. Compare each drill with your last and with what your fire risk assessment assumed.
- We are not fire risk assessors or fire safety consultants. Whether your procedures are adequate is a judgement for your responsible person and, ideally, somebody qualified.
- A drill tests the plan on a good day. It does not test the two contractors on the roof who arrived through goods in, unless somebody makes sure the drill includes them.
- Paper roll calls fail in drills for the same reason they fail in fires: the list is inside. If that is what your drill record keeps saying, the roll call page is the one to read next.
The roll call that does not need carrying outThe roll call register and sign in sheetsAll the free templates
Sources
Check any of this yourself
- GOV.UK, fire safety in the workplace: equipment, drills and training“At least one fire drill per year and record the results”, and that the results are kept as part of the evacuation plan.
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 15Procedures for serious and imminent danger, “including safety drills”, and enough competent people to carry them out.
- HM Government, fire safety risk assessment: factories and warehousesThe guide for this kind of site, covering drills, assembly points, roll calls and the emergency plan.
General information about published guidance, not fire safety advice. Your fire risk assessment governs what happens at your site.
Before you ask
The questions people ask about fire drills
How often should a fire drill be carried out?
GOV.UK’s workplace fire safety guidance says you should carry out at least one fire drill a year and record the results. That is a floor. Your fire risk assessment may call for more: sites with shifts usually drill each shift, and sites with high staff turnover, contractors on site most weeks or a complicated building often drill every six months. The assessment, not the calendar, is what an enforcing officer will hold you to.
Is recording a fire drill a legal requirement?
Article 15 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to establish appropriate procedures, including safety drills, for serious and imminent danger. GOV.UK’s guidance on the Order goes further and says you must keep the results of drills as part of your fire safety and evacuation plan. In practice the record is also the only evidence that a drill happened, which is the first thing asked for after a fire or on an inspection.
What should a fire drill record include?
The date and time, who ran it and who observed, whether it was announced, the timings from alarm to completed roll call, how many people were expected and accounted for — visitors and contractors included — what the observers saw, what went wrong, and what is being done about it, by whom and by when. Then a signature from whoever reviewed it and the date of the next drill. The sheet on this page has a box for each.
Should a fire drill be announced?
There is no rule. An announced drill tests the plan; an unannounced one tests the people, and most sites alternate. Either way, tell whoever monitors your alarm before you sound it so the fire and rescue service is not called out, and brief anyone who would be put at risk by a surprise, such as people working at height or on a live process.
What is a good evacuation time?
No figure is set in law or in the government guides, and anybody quoting one is quoting a rule of thumb. What matters is whether the time is consistent with what your fire risk assessment assumed for your building, whether it is getting better or worse from drill to drill, and how long the roll call took after the last person arrived. That last number is usually the longer one.
Do visitors and contractors take part in a fire drill?
Yes. The Order’s duties are owed to relevant persons, which means anyone lawfully on the premises, and a roll call that leaves out the people who know the building least has skipped the part most likely to fail. The count on this sheet separates staff, visitors, contractors and drivers for that reason.
How long should fire drill records be kept?
No period is set. They belong with your fire risk assessment and your evacuation plan, and keeping several years of them is what lets you show a trend rather than a single result. A sensible minimum is to keep each record until at least the next review of the fire risk assessment has taken it into account.
Also asked of sites like yours
The other things somebody may ask you to evidence
Each of these is a page about one standard, one duty or one visitor, written the same way as this one: what it actually asks for, what an iPad at reception records towards it, and where it does not help.
- GDPR and the visitor book
- CMMC physical security
- ISO 27001 visitor access
- AEO visitor access control
- BRCGS visitor control
- Fire roll call
- Contractor management
- HSE inspection records
- ISO 45001 contractor control
- Sign in sheet template
- Visitor health questionnaire template
- Contractor induction template
- Permit to work template
- Hot work permit template
When you are ready
If the drill keeps finding the same thing
Fifteen minutes on the phone. Tell us how long your last roll call took and where the list came from, and we will tell you straight whether a live list on a phone would have changed it.
Book a 15 minute callIf the sheets are doing the job, keep using them. We will say so on the call.
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