Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the 'responsible person' for a commercial building carries a legal duty to keep fire detection and alarm systems in good working order. In practice, that duty breaks down into a simple rhythm.

A weekly user test — usually a different call point each week — checks that the panel receives and displays a signal correctly. This can be done in-house and takes minutes.

A six-monthly professional inspection and service, carried out by a competent engineer to BS 5839-1, covers the parts a weekly test can't: battery condition, detector sensitivity, wiring integrity and full system functionality.

Skipping either half of that rhythm is one of the most common gaps we find during compliance reviews — and one of the easiest to close with a proper maintenance schedule.

An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) is a formal inspection of a building's fixed electrical installation — the wiring, consumer units, sockets and fixed connections — carried out against BS 7671, the UK wiring regulations.

For rented residential property, EICRs are a legal requirement renewed at least every five years. For commercial premises, the same five-year benchmark is widely treated as best practice under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, though higher-risk environments often need more frequent checks.

The report itself grades any issues found: C1 (danger present, immediate action), C2 (potentially dangerous, urgent remedial work) or C3 (improvement recommended). A C1 or C2 finding means the installation doesn't satisfy the report as 'satisfactory' until it's fixed.

Keeping a valid, satisfactory EICR on file isn't just about avoiding fines — it's the clearest evidence you can produce that you've met your duty of care if anything ever goes wrong.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) place a duty on employers and building owners to control the risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria in water systems.

The starting point is always a Legionella risk assessment — identifying where water can stagnate, where temperatures sit in the 20–45°C danger zone, and where aerosol-producing outlets (showers, cooling towers, spray taps) could spread contaminated droplets.

From there, a written control scheme sets out routine actions: temperature monitoring, flushing of little-used outlets, descaling of shower heads, and periodic water sampling where risk warrants it.

Risk assessments should be reviewed at least every two years, or sooner if the water system changes, usage patterns change, or a case of Legionnaires' disease is linked to the building.

Any commercial CCTV system that captures identifiable people falls under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. That means the footage you record is personal data, and you're responsible for handling it lawfully.

The basics: clear signage telling people they're being recorded and why, a documented retention period (footage shouldn't be kept indefinitely 'just in case'), and a process for responding to subject access requests if someone asks to see footage of themselves.

It's also worth reviewing camera placement regularly — systems installed years ago sometimes capture more than originally intended as layouts change, which can create unnecessary compliance exposure.

A well-documented CCTV policy, reviewed alongside your annual system service, closes most of the gap between 'installed' and 'compliant'.

It's tempting to treat building maintenance as a 'fix it when it breaks' line item. In the short term, reactive repairs can look cheaper — no ongoing contract, no scheduled visits.

In practice, reactive-only maintenance tends to cost more over a 12-month period once you account for emergency callout rates, unplanned downtime, and the compliance exposure of running past-due inspections.

A planned preventative maintenance (PPM) schedule spreads the cost predictably, catches small issues before they become expensive failures, and — critically — keeps your statutory inspection dates on track automatically rather than relying on someone remembering.

The buildings that pass compliance audits with the fewest findings are almost always the ones on a planned schedule, not the ones responding to problems as they appear.

Keeping track of every statutory inspection across a commercial building can feel overwhelming, especially across multiple sites. A simple checklist goes a long way.

Fire: weekly alarm call-point test, six-monthly professional fire alarm service, monthly emergency lighting function test, annual full-duration discharge test, annual fire extinguisher service.

Electrical: five-yearly EICR (or sooner for higher-risk installations), annual PAT testing cycle for portable appliances (interval varies by equipment and environment), regular visual checks in between.

Water: Legionella risk assessment reviewed at least every two years, routine temperature monitoring and outlet flushing on an ongoing basis.

Security: annual intruder alarm and CCTV system service, documented data retention and access policy.

Keeping all of these on a single compliance calendar — with reminders ahead of renewal dates — is the single biggest thing that separates a well-run building from one accumulating risk quietly in the background.