A school runs a fire regime whether or not anyone writes it down well: a termly drill, a weekly call-point test, monthly emergency-lighting checks, fire-door and extinguisher inspections, and an evacuation plan that has to work for pupils, staff and visitors including those who need help to get out. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts a duty on the responsible person to manage that risk and keep records. So the real question about a fire safety record is not which app has the most features. It is which tool gets the drill time and the failed call-point recorded correctly, at the point, and in front of the responsible person the same day.
Guide · Education
School fire safety record app for the UK.
A practical guide to recording fire drills, weekly alarm tests, evacuation checks and fire-door inspections in a school, from paper logbooks to a WhatsApp workflow your site team already knows.
14-day free trial. No card required.
The point
The record does not make the school safe.
The drill, the working alarm and the clear exit do. A fire log is only worth keeping if a blocked exit or a failed alarm reaches the responsible person the same day and gets fixed. Software makes the check easier to complete on the corridor, harder to skip an item, and faster to act on. Nobody should be filling in the fire logbook from memory at the end of term.
Three shapes of tool
Pick the one that fits your site.
Paper logbook
The wall-mounted book
Familiar and cheap. Also illegible, easy to fall behind on, and useless to a responsible person who is off site when an alarm test fails.
General audit appsiAuditor, GoAudits
Built for any inspection, not for a school fire regime. Flexible, but each template needs setup and training, and per-seat pricing adds up across a site team and cover staff.
Conversation-basedQuickler on WhatsApp
The fire-drill and alarm-test workflow arrives as a WhatsApp chat. Nothing to install. A blocked exit or failed test flags to the dashboard the moment it is entered.
The friction
Most fire logs fall behind because they are paper.
A caretaker doing the weekly alarm test is not opening a bespoke app with a fresh login, and a paper book only gets written up when someone remembers. The evacuation time you record as the classes come back in beats the one estimated the next morning. On-the-spot completion is the whole point of a fire record.
Run fire checks on WhatsApp
No app install. No training.
Your site team uses the phone they already have. Text, voice note or photo. The fire record generates itself. Setup to first live workflow usually takes under a week.
The short version
- A school fire safety record covers drills, weekly alarm and call-point tests, emergency lighting, fire doors, extinguishers, and the evacuation plan including personal evacuation plans.
- In England and Wales the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the duty on the responsible person to manage the risk and keep records; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety legislation.
- Quickler records the checks, drills and inspections as timestamped, photo-backed evidence. It is not a fire risk assessment and does not replace a competent assessor.
- Most paper fire logs fall behind because they are only written up when someone remembers.
- Per-report pricing beats per-seat for a school with a site team and cover staff, because adding people is free.
- The record does not make the school safe. The drill, the working alarm and the clear exit do.
The point
What a school fire safety record is actually for
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales, the responsible person, usually the head, governing body or trust, must take general fire precautions, carry out a fire risk assessment, and keep records where the premises meet the relevant thresholds. In practice a school evidences a regime: termly evacuation drills, weekly call-point tests on a rotating point, emergency-lighting and extinguisher checks, fire-door inspections, and a plan for evacuating everyone safely. DfE guidance on fire safety in schools sets the expectations for the estate.
The record does not make the school safe. Acting on it does. What a record tool does is make each check easier to complete correctly at the point, harder to skip, and faster to get in front of the responsible person. The tool's only job is to make on-the-spot completion the path of least resistance for a busy caretaker.
The law
The responsible person and the four nations
The duty holder is the responsible person: the person who has control of the premises. In a maintained school that is often shared between the local authority, the governing body and the head; in an academy it sits with the trust. The core duty in England and Wales comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Scotland is governed by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and its regulations, and Northern Ireland by the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the associated fire safety regulations.
Quickler does not decide whether you comply. It gives the responsible person a consistent, timestamped, photo-backed record of the drills and checks their regime requires, so the evidence exists when a fire officer, insurer or inspector asks. Treat the duty as the responsible person's, and check the current legislation and DfE guidance for your nation. This page is not legal advice.
Drills and evacuation
Recording the drill that matters
A fire drill is only useful if you record what actually happened: the date and time, the alarm point used, the evacuation time, whether all zones cleared, whether the assembly point roll-call worked, and any problem, a wedged fire door, a blocked exit, a pupil who needs a personal emergency evacuation plan that did not work as written. That last category is the reason to do drills at all.
Quickler captures the drill as it is debriefed, with the evacuation time, the issues and a photo of any obstruction recorded on the spot and flagged to the office dashboard. A blocked exit does not wait in a paper book until half term. It records the drill; it does not run your evacuation strategy or write your personal evacuation plans, which remain the responsible person's job with the right expertise.
Pricing
Per report, not per seat
Most audit apps charge per seat. For a school that is the wrong shape: your site manager, caretakers, cover staff and business manager might all touch the fire regime, and a per-seat licence taxes every name whether or not they file a check.
Quickler charges per report, with unlimited users on every bundle. Bundles run from Quickler 50 at 50 pounds a month for 50 reports, up to Quickler 500 at 500 pounds a month for 500 reports. Add every caretaker, site manager, teacher and admin you like; you pay for the records you file, not the people who could file them. Pricing is approximate and shifts, so check the current pricing page before you commit.
Questions, answered
What is a school fire safety record?
It is the evidence a school keeps of its fire regime: termly drills, weekly call-point tests, emergency-lighting and extinguisher checks, fire-door inspections, and the evacuation plan including personal emergency evacuation plans. Options range from a paper logbook, to generic audit apps like iAuditor, to conversation-based tools like Quickler that run the workflow over WhatsApp so there is no app to install.
Who is the responsible person for fire safety in a school?
The responsible person is whoever has control of the premises. In a maintained school this is often shared between the local authority, the governing body and the head; in an academy it sits with the trust. The duty in England and Wales comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety legislation. Check the current rules for your nation.
Does Quickler do the fire risk assessment?
No. Quickler records the drills, tests and inspections your regime requires, as timestamped, photo-backed evidence. It is not a fire risk assessment and does not replace a competent fire risk assessor. The responsible person still needs a suitable and sufficient risk assessment; Quickler evidences that the actions it calls for are being carried out.
Can I run fire drill records over WhatsApp?
Yes. Quickler's workflows run over the WhatsApp Business API. The site team member receives each question in their existing WhatsApp chat, replies with text, a voice note or a photo, and the completed fire record generates automatically. No separate app or login is required, and Quickler manages the WhatsApp Business API account on the firm's behalf.