Last out this winter? A fire-safety closing check for Irish workplaces
As November begins, take a fresh look at how your premises are left at the end of each working day. A temporary heater, extra packaging or a cleaner working late can change what the person locking up needs to check.
Use the following approach alongside your premises’ fire risk assessment and written procedures. Agree who completes the check, who covers absences and how unresolved problems reach the person responsible.
Start with the people still inside
A quiet building is not necessarily an empty one. Confirm whether staff, contractors or cleaners remain, and hand over any closing responsibilities clearly. Exit arrangements must continue to work for everyone who is still on the premises.
Fire Ireland recommends communicating evacuation arrangements, including assistance for people with disabilities, and having a way to account for occupants. Make sure later-working teams know the alarm response and assembly arrangements too. Fire Ireland: business fire safety.
Check temporary heating before leaving
The Health and Safety Authority advises avoiding unnecessary portable heaters, switching them off when people leave the room and keeping them at least one metre from anything that can burn. Do not use them to dry clothing. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions, including any greater clearance required.
Look around each heater: has a coat, cardboard box or chair been moved into the clear space? Include switching off permitted portable heaters in the closing routine. Take damaged electrical equipment out of use and arrange competent attention; a closing check is not an opportunity for improvised repairs. HSA: fire prevention.
Walk the actual escape routes
Follow the route from the working area towards the final exit. Look for deliveries, waste, furniture or other items that have appeared during the day. Remove obstructions and check that exit doors remain readily openable while the building is occupied. Keep fire doors operating as intended; do not prop them open with wedges.
Fire Ireland’s business guidance identifies clear escape routes, closed fire-resisting doors and readily openable exits as key precautions. A route that was clear in the morning still needs to be usable for the last team leaving. Fire Ireland: preparation and escape routes.
Leave protection working
Follow your site’s agreed shutdown procedure for equipment. Do not turn a general instruction to “switch everything off” into disabling fire detection, emergency lighting or other systems that must remain operational.
The HSA advises keeping fire-safety measures in effective working order, addressing defects promptly and using competent people for periodic servicing and repairs. Report any fault found during the walk-through through the agreed escalation process. HSA: maintenance and testing.
Make the handover useful
Our suggested closing record is brief: date, area checked, issue found, immediate action, named person responsible and follow-up deadline. If an issue cannot be resolved safely, escalate it before treating the check as complete. Repeated findings should prompt a review of the underlying arrangements.
This week, choose one closing shift and walk the routine with the person who actually locks up. Ask what has changed since the procedure was written and what would make reporting a problem easier.
Practical support for your premises
Trailblaze Safety provides fire risk assessments, fire consultancy, fire safety training and evacuation support. To discuss your premises or team’s needs, contact Trailblaze Safety, email info@trailblazesafety.com or call 085 769 1035.
Prepared 2 November 2026. The closing-record format and suggested walk-through are Trailblaze Safety’s practical application of the linked guidance.