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Fire Warden (Marshal) Training
Half a day for the people who sweep the building. What fire wardens actually do before, during and after an evacuation, which extinguisher to pick up, and the far more important question of when to leave it on the wall.
About this course
Every workplace needs somebody who will check the toilets. That is not a joke: the commonest reason an evacuation goes wrong is that nobody swept the areas where people cannot hear the alarm, and the commonest reason a roll call fails is that nobody knew who was in the building.
Fire warden training is about that job. It is a half day, it is practical, and it covers the three phases of the role: the prevention work you do every week that nobody notices, the sweep and the evacuation on the day, and the roll call and handover to the fire service afterwards.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts the duty on the responsible person to make sure everyone can get out safely and to provide adequate fire safety training. Appointing wardens is how most organisations discharge that duty in practice, and an untrained warden is an appointment rather than an arrangement.
Extinguishers get proper time, including the part people find surprising: when not to use one. A warden who tackles a fire that has got past the early stages, or picks up the wrong extinguisher, becomes a casualty. Water on an electrical fire and CO2 in a confined space both have consequences.
We deliver it at our centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Manchester and Liverpool and onsite nationwide. Onsite is usually better: the sweep routes, the assembly point and the extinguisher locations are your own, so what people practise is what they will actually do.
- The responsible person’s duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and where wardens fit
- How fire starts and spreads: the fire triangle, and the four ways fire travels through a building
- The common workplace fire causes, and the housekeeping that removes most of them
- What a fire warden does week to week: checks, obstructions, wedged doors and clutter
- Recognising when a fire door or an escape route has quietly stopped working
- The sweep: your area, the order you do it in, and the places people get missed
- Evacuation, assisting people who need help, and personal emergency evacuation plans
- Roll call at the assembly point, and reporting to the fire service on arrival
- Extinguisher types: water, foam, CO2, dry powder and wet chemical, and what each is for
- When to tackle a fire and, more importantly, when to walk away and close the door
How completing this course helps you
- An Acadame certificate in Fire Warden / Marshal training
- Wardens who sweep a route rather than head for the door with everybody else
- Evacuations that produce an accurate roll call
- Evidence that your fire safety training duty has been met, with named trained people
- A weekly set of eyes on the things a fire risk assessment assumes are happening
Who should attend?
Appointed fire wardens and fire marshals, supervisors, team leaders and managers with responsibility during an evacuation, receptionists and facilities staff, and anybody named in a building’s fire plan. Also useful for the responsible person who has to sign the fire risk assessment and wants to know what they are relying on.
Entry requirements. None. It assumes no previous training and it is written for the people doing the work rather than the people writing the policy.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Where it fits
A fire warden is not the responsible person
Fire wardens carry out the arrangement. They do not decide what it should be. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts that on the responsible person, and it rests on a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
So a building with well trained wardens and a fire risk assessment written by somebody who was not competent to write it is only half protected, and it is the half that fails under scrutiny. Competence in fire safety is defined by knowledge, training and experience, not by job title.
If nobody in your organisation has formal fire safety competence, the NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety is the qualification that closes that gap. Wardens and a competent responsible person are two different roles and you need both.
Everybody
Fire awareness at induction. What the alarm means, where to go, and not to use the lift.
Your wardens and marshals
This half day, refreshed annually, ideally at your own premises.
Your responsible person
The NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety, for the competence behind the fire risk assessment.
Anyone who cannot use stairs
A personal emergency evacuation plan, and evacuation chair training for the named operators.
Course content
What you will cover
The qualification is structured around the management of health and safety and the practical application of risk assessment.
Fire, and the law
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the responsible person
- Where fire wardens fit in the arrangement
- The fire triangle: fuel, oxygen and ignition
- How fire spreads: convection, conduction, radiation and direct burning
- Common causes of workplace fire
- The role of the fire risk assessment
The warden’s week
- Routine checks and what to look for
- Fire doors, wedges and obstructions
- Escape routes, signage and emergency lighting
- Housekeeping, storage and ignition sources
- Reporting problems so they get fixed
The day it happens
- Raising the alarm and initial actions
- Sweeping your area, and the places people get missed
- Assisting people who need help, and personal emergency evacuation plans
- Getting to the assembly point and carrying out a roll call
- Reporting to the fire service on arrival
- Not re-entering the building
Extinguishers
- Water, foam, CO2, dry powder and wet chemical
- Matching the extinguisher to the fire class
- Safe use: distance, sweep, escape route behind you
- Why CO2 horns freeze and why dry powder blinds a room
- When not to tackle a fire at all
Method of assessment
How Fire Warden / Marshal is assessed
Assessment is built into the session rather than bolted on. Your trainer checks understanding as you go and there is a short written check at the end.
Scenario work
Working through an evacuation of your own building, or a representative one, including the sweep, a person who cannot use the stairs, and a roll call that does not add up.
Extinguisher identification
Matching extinguisher types to fire classes, and identifying the ones in your own building. Live extinguisher use can be arranged separately where a suitable area is available.
Written check and certificate
A short paper on the duties, the fire triangle and extinguisher selection, then an Acadame certificate. We recommend refreshing it annually.
Ways to learn
How you can take this course
Every route covers the same accredited syllabus and the same support. Pick the one that fits how your people work.
Dates and locations
Pick a date
Live availability from our booking system. Prices exclude VAT.
Have the dates emailed to you
Which centres do you want on the sheet?
A clean, printable PDF of exactly what you are looking at, however many pages that takes. We will only use your address to send it and to answer you.
Classroom and live online courses
1CourseLengthFromAvailabilityFire Warden / MarshalFirst Aid, Fire & Mental HealthHalf a day£75 + VAT10 dates
- Wed 7 Oct 2026 · 13:00Stoke-on-Trent£75.00 + VATFully booked
- Tue 13 Oct 2026 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£75.00 + VATFully booked
- Tue 10 Nov 2026 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£75.00 + VATFully booked
- Tue 8 Dec 2026 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£75.00 + VATBook
- Tue 19 Jan 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
- Mon 1 Feb 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
- Mon 22 Mar 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
- Mon 26 Apr 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
- Fri 21 May 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
- Mon 28 Jun 2027 · 08:45Stoke-on-Trent£85.00 + VATBook
Prices are per person and exclude VAT. Nothing here has to be booked online: call 0330 124 2165 or email hello@acadame.co.uk and we will book you on, or put a date on to suit you.
Nothing matches that. Clear the filters, or tell us what you are after and we will point you at it: 0330 124 2165 or hello@acadame.co.uk.
Everything we run is on this page, whether or not a date is showing. Where a course is scheduled, open the availability column to see the dates, the centre, the price and how many places are left. Where nothing is scheduled it only means nobody has asked yet: tell us the course and the numbers and we will put a date on, here or at your place.
Also available
In-company training
We run this one to order, at your place or ours.
Onsite / in-company
Run Fire Warden / Marshal at your site
We deliver anywhere in the UK, on your dates and around your shift patterns. For six or more people it is usually cheaper per head than sending everyone to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling.
Tell us roughly how many people and when, and we will come back with options and a price, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
What onsite includes
- The same tutor, materials and certification as our centres
- Your venue or one we arrange near you
- Dates and start times built around your operation
- One invoice and one point of contact for the whole group
- Content examples drawn from your own workplace
Fire Warden / Marshal FAQs
No course is named in law. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to provide adequate fire safety training and to make sure everyone can leave safely. Appointing and training fire wardens is the normal way that duty is met and evidenced.
There is no fixed ratio. It comes out of your fire risk assessment: the size and layout of the building, the number of floors and separate areas, shift patterns, holidays, and whether anybody needs assistance. Most buildings need more than they have, because two wardens becomes zero the week they are both away.
Nothing consistent. The terms are used interchangeably in UK workplaces and this course covers the role under either name. Some organisations use marshal for a slightly wider role including extinguisher use, which is covered here either way.
Annually is the usual interval, and sooner if the building, the layout or the people change. Pairing the refresher with a fire drill is a good habit, because a drill tests the arrangement rather than the training.
The classroom session covers types, selection and safe use, and identification of the extinguishers in your own building. Live discharge can be arranged where there is a suitable outdoor area, so tell us when you book if you want it included.
Yes, nationwide, and it is the better option. Practising the sweep on your own floor plan, with your own assembly point and your own extinguisher locations, transfers to a real evacuation in a way a generic training room does not.
Acadame. It is general awareness training rather than a regulated qualification, which is the right shape for this subject: it is built around what your people actually do and it can be adapted to your own equipment, substances and procedures. Where a regulated qualification is what you need instead, we will say so and point you at it.
Yes, anywhere in the UK, and it is usually the better option. Training on your own equipment, in your own building, with your own procedures in front of people, transfers to the job in a way a generic venue does not.
Up to twelve on a standard session. For practical subjects we will talk through numbers with you, because a room of twenty watching two people practise is not training.
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