Small Business Safety Audit Checklist for UK Sites

Published 25 October 2026 · gribit

Owner checking a drill in a workshop

A safety audit for a small business is a structured walk round your premises. You compare what you find with what your risk assessments say should be true, fix the gaps, and write down what you did. This checklist covers the checks most UK shops, pubs, offices, salons and village halls need, sorted by how often they come round, with a note on which records matter.

It is not a substitute for a competent person’s judgement on high-risk equipment. It is a working list you can print, adapt and run next week.

Gribit

Keep Routine Safety Checks on Track

Gribit helps small businesses record recurring checks, manage follow-ups, and keep safety certificates and documents together in one digital logbook.

Visit Gribit

TL;DR

Split your audit into recurring checks (weekly, monthly, six-monthly, annual) and a once-a-year walk-round that reviews your risk assessments.
Fire alarms need testing every week, and emergency lighting has its own monthly and annual tests. Record each one.
Written risk assessment records are a legal requirement at 5 or more employees, and good practice below that.
Missed checks, not missing policies, are where small sites usually slip. A scheduled system with reminders beats memory.
Fix hazards first. The paperwork exists to prove you did.

What a small business safety audit actually involves

Two things get called an audit, and it helps to separate them.

The first is the routine check: testing the fire alarm, looking at the first-aid kit, checking exits are clear. These are small, frequent and boring, which is exactly why they get missed.

The second is the periodic review: once a year, or after a change such as a refit, a new kitchen, more staff or a different layout, you step back and ask whether your risk assessments still describe reality.

The Health and Safety Executive is clear that this should be proportionate. Its guide for small businesses frames the job as identifying what could cause harm and deciding whether you are doing enough to prevent it, not producing mountains of paper. A good audit finds real problems and gets them fixed.

Do you have to write it down?

It depends on your size. Under the fire safety rules, the responsible person must carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment, and GOV.UK sets out when a written record is required: in general, 5 or more employees means you must keep it in writing. With fewer than 5 employees you are not obliged to, but a written record is the easiest way to show you met your duty of care if an inspector, insurer or solicitor ever asks.

For most owners the practical answer is the same: write it down.

Before you start: gather what you already have

An audit goes faster when you collect the paperwork first. Pull together:

Your current health and safety risk assessment and fire risk assessment.
The last audit or inspection notes, and whether each action was closed.
Fire alarm and emergency lighting test records.
Servicing certificates for extinguishers, alarms, gas appliances and any lifting or ventilation equipment.
Training records for fire marshals, first aiders and anyone handling hazardous substances.
Your accident book or incident records.

If you cannot find something, that is your first finding. Note it and move on.

The checklist, by frequency

Use this as a template. Delete what does not apply to your premises and add what does.

Weekly checks

Check	What good looks like
Fire alarm test	Tested using a manual call point, a different one each week, with the result and the person who did it recorded
Fire exits and escape routes	Clear, unlocked when the building is occupied, doors open easily
Fire doors	Close properly, not wedged open, seals intact
Walkways and floors	No trailing cables, spills or stored stock blocking routes
Kitchen or back-of-house extraction	Visibly clean and working, where you have it

The fire alarm test is the one with firm guidance behind it. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service says that if you have a fire alarm you should test it each week, and where you have break glass call points it is sensible to use a different one each time, so that over a cycle you have exercised them all.

Monthly checks

Check	What good looks like
Emergency lighting	Short functional test carried out, any failed units logged and replaced
Fire extinguishers	In place, accessible, pins and seals intact, pressure gauge in the correct zone, no visible damage
First-aid kit	Stocked, in date, nothing used and not replaced
Signage	Fire action notices, exit signs and first-aid signs visible and legible
Stairs and handrails	Secure, well lit, no loose treads or coverings

The same fire service page covers emergency lighting: monthly functional tests, plus a full-duration test once a year, all of it documented. If your site has emergency lighting, ask whoever installed or maintains it to confirm exactly how to run the tests on your system.

Quarterly and six-monthly checks

Check	What good looks like
Fire alarm service	Visit by a competent engineer on the schedule your system’s maintenance arrangement sets, report filed
Fire drill	Run at a sensible interval for your premises, time taken and problems noted
Staff first-aid awareness	Everyone knows who the appointed person is and where the kit lives
Housekeeping review	Stock, waste and flammable materials stored away from ignition sources and exits

Your fire risk assessment should say how often drills and servicing need to happen for your site. Follow that rather than a generic number.

Annual checks

Check	What good looks like
Fire risk assessment review	Reviewed and updated, especially after any change to layout, use or headcount
Health and safety risk assessment review	Hazards, controls and who is at risk checked against how the work is done today
Emergency lighting full-duration test	Completed and logged
Portable electrical equipment	Condition reviewed and testing decided on a risk basis
First-aid needs assessment	Revisited if staff numbers, hours or activities have changed
Training records	Refreshers booked for anyone whose certificate is expiring
Insurance and certificates	Everything is current and filed where you can find it

Fire safety: the part inspectors ask about first

Fire is the area where small businesses most often have a clear, checkable routine, so it is where gaps show most. The fire safety guidance on making small non-domestic premises safe describes the fire risk assessment as an inspection of the premises that looks at the likelihood of a fire starting and its consequences for people inside.

Walk the building as if you were a stranger who has never been in it:

Can you find two ways out from every area, and are both usable?
Would a first-time visitor see the exit signs?
Is anything stored under stairs or in corridors?
Do you know where the alarm panel is and what a fault light means?
Are electrical sockets overloaded with adaptors?

Pubs, halls and other places where the public gather have extra considerations. Norfolk County Council’s guidance for small and medium places of assembly is a good example of what a local authority expects from the responsible person there, and your own fire authority will have a similar page.

First aid: kit, person, information

First aid starts with a needs assessment. HSE’s page on what employers need to do sets the minimum as a suitably stocked first-aid kit, an appointed person to look after first-aid arrangements, and information for employees about those arrangements. Incidents involving first aid should be recorded, which also helps you spot patterns when you review your needs.

There is no single mandatory list of kit contents. HSE’s first-aid FAQs explain that what goes in the box depends on your needs assessment. So your audit question is not “does it match a list I found online” but “does it match what we decided we need, and is everything in date”.

A practical monthly kit check:

Open the box and read the expiry dates.
Replace anything used, and note who used it and why.
Check the kit is where the sign says it is.
Confirm the appointed person is still employed and still knows they hold the role.

Equipment, electrics and other statutory tests

Not every check has a fixed calendar date. HSE’s page on inspecting work equipment says the purpose is to establish whether equipment can be used, adjusted and maintained safely, and to catch deterioration before it becomes a risk. Frequency follows risk.

Portable appliance testing is the classic case. There is no legal rule that says every appliance must be tested every year. HSE’s PAT guidance says employers must keep equipment in a safe condition, and the right frequency depends on the type of equipment, where it is used and how hard it is used. A kettle in a quiet office and a drill in a workshop are not the same.

Some tests do have a statutory interval. HSE’s guidance on local exhaust ventilation says most systems need a statutory thorough examination and test at least once every 14 months, carried out by a competent person. If you run a salon with extraction, a workshop or a small lab, that date belongs in your schedule.

Water systems matter too. HSE’s Legionnaires’ disease technical guidance expects a practical risk assessment, including a survey of your water systems. If you manage a building with tanks, showers or hot and cold systems, check what applies to you and keep the monitoring records.

Equipment, electrics and other statutory tests — overview diagram

The paper trail: what to keep and for how long

The check itself protects people. The record proves the check happened.

For each recurring check, aim to capture the same five things:

What was checked, and where.
When.
Who did it.
The result: pass, fail or fixed on the spot.
Any follow-up, with an owner and a date.

Certificates and reports from engineers belong with the logs, not in a drawer at a different site. Some statutory records have set retention periods. For example, HSE’s Legionella guidance says to keep monitoring and inspection records for at least five years, so do not bin old logs when you change how you store things.

Good record-keeping is also just good business. The wider case for keeping business records properly applies as much to safety logs as to invoices: records you can find in minutes save time, avoid disputes and make hand-overs painless.

Where paper and spreadsheets let you down

We see the same three failures at small sites:

The check nobody owns. Everyone assumes someone else did the Monday alarm test.
The log that lives in one place. A clipboard in the back office is no use when the manager is off sick or an inspector asks for last quarter’s results.
The follow-up that vanishes. A failed emergency light is noted, then forgotten because nothing chased it.

Fire authorities make the same point. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service’s guidance on maintenance and records describes the cycles of weekly, monthly and annual tests that must be recorded, and an electronic record is one way to keep them in one place and available for inspection.

How to run the audit in practice

Set a date and block the time. For a small site, a first full walk-round takes one to two hours. Later ones are quicker.
Walk it with the checklist, not from memory. Take a phone or tablet, or a printed copy.
Photograph problems. A picture of a blocked exit is clearer than a note.
Rate each finding. Fix now, fix this week, or plan and budget. Keep it simple.
Assign an owner and a due date to every action. A finding without a name is a finding that stays open.
Close the loop. Re-check the item and record that it is resolved.
Update your risk assessments. If the audit showed the real situation differs from the written one, change the document.
Book the next one. Put recurring checks into a calendar or system with reminders.

If you employ staff, involve them. The person closing at night usually knows which door sticks and which light flickers.

Our perspective: make the routine boring and the problems loud

We built Gribit around a simple observation: most small businesses do not fail safety checks because they do not care. They fail them because the checks are small, recurring and easy to lose in a busy week. A pub manager has a cellar, a till, a rota and a queue at the bar. The weekly alarm test is the least urgent thing on the list, until it is the only thing an inspector asks about.

So we think a good safety system does two things. It makes the routine checks nearly effortless: scheduled, assigned, reminded and recorded in a few taps. And it makes problems impossible to ignore: a failed check creates a follow-up with an owner, and it stays visible until someone closes it.

That matches the spirit of HSE’s advice that effort should go into dealing with hazards rather than into the mechanics of paperwork. A tool should take the paperwork off your plate so you have time to fix the broken door closer.

It also means handover works. When a new member of staff takes over the opening checks, the history, the certificates and the schedule are all there, not in someone’s head or on a clipboard.

— Jon

Keeping the checklist alive with Gribit

If you would rather not run this checklist from a folder and a calendar, Gribit gives each site a digital logbook. You schedule recurring checks such as fire alarm tests and first-aid kit inspections, record results, track follow-up actions, store certificates and documents, give staff their own access and export records when you need them. Reminders are automated, and you can organise checks by site, item or location.

The Site Logbook Annual Plan costs £49 per year per site. You can see it and sign up on the Gribit site.

FAQ

How often should a small business carry out a safety audit?

Routine checks run weekly, monthly and annually depending on the item, with fire alarm tests every week. Alongside that, review your risk assessments at least once a year and whenever something significant changes, such as a refit, a new process or more staff. Your own risk assessments should set the intervals that fit your premises.

Do I need a written safety audit if I have fewer than 5 employees?

The law does not require you to write down your risk assessment findings below 5 employees, according to GOV.UK’s fire risk assessment guidance. Written records are still strongly advisable, because they show you took your duty of care seriously if there is an incident, an insurance claim or an inspection.

What should an internal safety audit cover?

At minimum: fire safety (alarm, emergency lighting, exits, extinguishers), first aid, housekeeping and slips and trips, electrical equipment, work equipment, any specialist items such as ventilation or water systems, training and your incident records. Then check that each action from the last audit was closed.

Is there a legal list of what goes in a workplace first-aid kit?

No single mandatory list exists. HSE says the contents depend on your first-aid needs assessment, so base the kit on that assessment and check it regularly for expiry dates and used items.