Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 — the fire safety duty regime north of the border

What it requires

Part 3 of the Act, at sections 53 to 79, is Scotland's fire safety duty regime. It places duties on employers and on others having control of relevant premises to carry out a fire safety risk assessment, to take fire safety measures, and to keep the assessment under review. Detailed requirements sit in the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, made under the Act.

The structure will look familiar to anyone who works with the Fire Safety Order: an assessment duty, a duty to take proportionate measures, and a review obligation. The terminology and the enforcement machinery are different.

What this means in practice

The practical point is that the Fire Safety Order does not extend to Scotland, and an assessment or compliance system built around it does not transfer across the border unchanged. The duties are broadly equivalent in effect but they are not the same duties, they use different terms, and they are enforced by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service under different provisions.

Anyone with premises in more than one UK nation needs to establish which regime applies to which building at the outset. Getting that wrong tends to produce an assessment that cites the wrong statute throughout — which is both wrong and obviously wrong to a reader who knows the difference.

What was repealed, and what stands

The Act is recorded here as partially repealed, and the distinction matters.

Sections 1 to 7, which established fire and rescue authorities and joint boards, were repealed on 1 April 2013 by the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, which inserted section 1A creating the single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Sections 61(4) to (5) and 67(2), within Part 3 itself, were also repealed by that Act.

The fire safety duty regime stands. "Partially repealed" describes the Act's structure — a large administrative chunk was removed and replaced — not any weakening of the duties. Reading the status alone without this qualification would give exactly the wrong impression, which is why it is stated on the page rather than left to the enum.

Note the terminology: this is an Act of the Scottish Parliament, so its provisions are repealed. Statutory instruments, including the 2006 Regulations made under it, would be revoked.

Where it stands

In force, partially repealed as above. One outstanding effect was recorded when checked — the repeal of Schedule 3 paragraph 12 by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, long outstanding and not yet applied to the revised text. The revised text was stated as current to 16 May 2026.