Moving a few desks, adding a meeting pod or creating extra storage can seem like harmless office improvements.
But even small layout changes can affect how quickly people can escape during a fire. They may obstruct an existing exit route, increase the distance occupants must travel or create a dead-end area where there is only one way out.
UK fire safety guidance requires clear passageways to escape routes, while emergency routes and exits must lead as directly as possible to a place of safety.
At Total Fire Group, we regularly find that everyday workplace changes have unintentionally compromised previously suitable fire safety arrangements.
1. Adding partitions or meeting rooms
Businesses often install partitions to create private offices, meeting rooms or breakout areas.
However, a new wall can interrupt an existing escape route or create a dead-end pocket. This is an area where occupants can only escape in one direction. If fire or smoke blocks that route, they could become trapped.
Partitions may also:
Conceal exit signs
Restrict visibility of escape routes
Increase travel distances
Affect smoke detection coverage
Block access to fire safety equipment
Any significant change to the internal layout should trigger a review of the fire risk assessment.
2. Moving desks into escape routes
As teams expand, desks and workstations often spread into corridors and circulation spaces.
A route that appears wide enough during a normal working day may become difficult to use when several people are evacuating at once. Chairs, filing cabinets, bins, trailing cables and personal belongings can reduce the available width further.
Escape routes must remain available and unobstructed. This includes the entire journey to the final exit, not just the area directly in front of the fire door.
3. Using corridors for storage
Deliveries, archived files and spare furniture are often stored temporarily in corridors.
Temporary storage has a habit of becoming permanent. It can narrow escape routes, obstruct fire doors and introduce additional combustible materials into areas intended to support safe evacuation.
Storage should never prevent a fire door from opening fully or stop a self-closing door from closing into its frame.
Government guidance states that routes leading to exits should be kept clear of both obstructions and combustible materials.
4. Installing access-controlled doors
Keypads, magnetic locks and electronic access systems can improve security, but they must not prevent people from escaping quickly.
Any door on an escape route should open appropriately in an emergency. Poorly specified systems, missing emergency release controls or unsuitable locking arrangements could delay evacuation.
Security improvements should therefore be considered alongside fire safety requirements, rather than treated as a separate project.
5. Changing how rooms are used
A storage room may become an office. A meeting room may become a workspace. A quiet corner may be turned into a bank of desks.
These changes can increase occupancy or place people in areas that were not originally intended for regular use. They may also create longer or more complicated escape routes.
Your fire risk assessment should remain up to date and reflect how the building is actually being used, including its current layout and occupancy.
Review the layout before moving the furniture
Office layouts naturally evolve, but fire safety arrangements must evolve with them.
Total Fire Group supports commercial and public-sector organisations with fire risk assessments, inspections, fire protection, security systems and compliance consultancy.
We can assess proposed or completed layout changes, identify compromised escape routes and help ensure your workplace remains safe, practical and compliant.