& 
NPORS Fire Warden Training (N703)
A fire warden is the person who checks the far end of the building while everybody else is walking out, and who can tell the fire service who is still inside. Half a day on the duties, the extinguishers, the sweep and the roll call, run on your own premises.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N703 Fire Warden different
About this course
The NPORS N703 Fire Warden category trains the people appointed to help manage fire safety and evacuation on a site or in a building. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places duties on the responsible person for non domestic premises, including appointing competent people to help implement fire safety measures and putting in place arrangements for evacuation. Fire wardens, also called fire marshals, are usually how those arrangements actually work.
The role has two halves and the less glamorous one matters more. During an evacuation, the warden sweeps their allocated area, encourages people out, checks the places people get missed, closes doors behind them, reports to the assembly point and tells the person in charge who is unaccounted for. Day to day, the warden is the person who notices the fire door wedged open with a bin, the escape route blocked by a delivery, the extinguisher moved to prop something up, the rubbish accumulating outside the compound and the hot works permit nobody asked for.
Half a day covers both. How fire starts and spreads, the classes of fire and the extinguishers that suit each, and the serviceability checks a warden makes on extinguishers and equipment. Detection, alarms and how your system actually works. Escape routes, fire doors, signage, emergency lighting and the assembly point. The sweep: which area, in what order, and how a warden signals that an area is clear without going back into danger. Roll call and information for the fire service. Personal emergency evacuation plans for people who cannot use the normal route. And the judgement about tackling a fire, which is almost always the wrong option.
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in outline, the responsible person, the fire risk assessment and where the warden fits in
- How fire starts and spreads: the fire triangle, fuel, ignition sources and the speed at which smoke makes escape impossible
- Classes of fire and extinguisher types, what suits what, and the serviceability checks a warden carries out
- Detection and alarm systems, call points, how your alarm sounds and what a two stage or phased evacuation means
- Escape routes, fire doors, signage, emergency lighting and the housekeeping failures that block them
- The warden's evacuation duties: sweeping an allocated area, closing doors, reporting and never re entering, then the assembly point, roll call, information for the fire service and personal emergency evacuation plans
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N703 Fire Warden category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS card recording the category, carrying the CSCS logo while the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- Wardens who know their area, their route and what they report at the assembly point
- A named, trained and recorded group of wardens, which is what your fire risk assessment should be able to point at
Who should attend?
Construction sites and compounds, offices, depots, workshops, warehouses and manufacturing premises, schools and care settings, retail and hospitality, and any organisation whose fire risk assessment relies on people to make the evacuation work. It suits newly appointed wardens and existing wardens who have been doing the job for years without formal training.
Entry requirements. There is no formal entry requirement beyond being physically able to carry out a sweep of your allocated area and to reach the assembly point, and being able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, with support available on request. Tell us at enquiry what your premises are like, how your alarm works and what equipment you have, because the course is built around them. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo, the holder needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at the level their role requires, which we book for you.
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.
Course content
What you will cover
Half a day on fire, the equipment, the premises and the warden's duties, with practical work on extinguisher checks and on the sweep and roll call in your own building.
Fire, the law and the role
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in outline, the responsible person and the fire risk assessment
- The warden's role, authority and limits during and between evacuations
- How fire starts and spreads, the fire triangle, ignition sources and the effect of smoke on escape time
- Classes of fire and extinguisher types, selection, and when not to use one at all
- Detection, alarm systems, call points, and single stage and phased evacuation arrangements
- Escape routes, fire doors, final exits, signage and emergency lighting
- Sweeping an area, roll call, reporting to the fire service and the rule against re entry
- Personal emergency evacuation plans, visitors and contractors, and fire prevention and housekeeping
In your building
- Identifying extinguisher types and matching them to classes of fire
- Carrying out serviceability checks on extinguishers and fire equipment
- Walking your escape routes and identifying blockages, wedged doors and signage gaps
- Planning the sweep of an allocated area and the order it is done in
- Practising the handover at the assembly point and the roll call
- Identifying what information the fire service will want on arrival
- Carrying out a fire prevention walk round and recording the findings
Method of assessment
How the N703 fire warden test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test, supported by practical work on extinguisher identification and checks and on the sweep and roll call in your own premises.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, what your premises are like and how your alarm and evacuation arrangements work. Eight sit with one instructor, and two half day groups can often run in a single visit. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We ask for your fire risk assessment arrangements and your evacuation plan so the training matches them, agree whether the CSCS logo version of the card is needed, book the CITB test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Fire, equipment, the premises and the warden's duties, then practical work on your own routes, doors, equipment and assembly point.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering the fire safety duties, fire behaviour, classes of fire and extinguishers, alarms and evacuation, escape routes and the warden's role.
5. Practical assessment
You identify and check extinguishers, plan and describe the sweep of an area, carry out a roll call handover and identify prevention failures on a walk round, against the NPORS criteria for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, carrying the CSCS logo where the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date.
After the course
Wardens need a plan, not just training
Training a warden without allocating them an area is a common and expensive mistake. After the course, write down who sweeps which part of which building, who checks the accessible refuge, who takes the visitors book or the site register to the assembly point and who briefs the fire service when it arrives. Then test it with a drill at a time that is inconvenient, because the drill everybody knows about at eleven on a Tuesday proves very little.
It is also worth being clear that a fire warden is not a firefighter. Tackling a small fire in the early stages with the right extinguisher, with a clear escape route behind you, is reasonable. Everything beyond that is not the warden's job, and a warden who believes otherwise is a risk to themselves. The most valuable thing most wardens do is in the fifty one weeks between drills, keeping routes clear and doors unwedged.
- N027 Evacuation Marshal and Banksperson for sites that need evacuation marshalling as well as fire wardens
- N704 Manual Handling, the other half day awareness category most organisations book at the same time
- Level 3 NVQ in Occupational Health and Safety for the person whose actual job is health and safety
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
Build your course
Who is coming, and how many
We do not run these to a timetable. The course is built around your people: how experienced they are and how many of them there are, which is what sets the length and the cost. Pick the mix and we will come back with a date and a price.
The course builder needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us how many people and what experience they have and we will price it up.
N703 Fire Warden FAQs
The NPORS test sheet gives a half day novice duration with eight candidates and one instructor, and the same maximum of eight on a refresher. Two half day groups can usually run in one visit, which suits organisations training wardens across several areas.
Not on the NPORS test sheet we work from. N703 shows a novice course and a refresher, each with a maximum of eight tests, and no experienced worker figure.
In practice yes, and both names are used for the same job. What matters is not the title but that named people have allocated areas, know what they are sweeping, and know what they report at the assembly point.
It covers identifying extinguisher types, matching them to classes of fire, carrying out serviceability checks and the judgement about when to use one and when to leave. If you want live extinguisher discharge as well, tell us at enquiry and we will arrange it where the premises allow, because it needs space and the right conditions.
If somebody's actual job is health and safety, rather than being a warden alongside their normal work, the Level 3 NVQ in Occupational Health and Safety is the qualification that evidences that role, and it is assessed in the workplace. It is not a substitute for warden training, and warden training is not a substitute for it. We offer both, and for most wardens this half day is the right and proportionate answer on its own.
That comes out of your fire risk assessment rather than from a formula. It depends on the size and layout of the premises, the number of people, how many floors and areas need sweeping, shift patterns and holidays. The usual mistake is training exactly enough wardens and then discovering that two of them are on leave.
Yes, and it is much better. Your escape routes, your fire doors, your assembly point and the store room everyone forgets. Wardens walk the actual sweep they will be doing rather than a diagram.
An NPORS card recording the Fire Warden category. It carries the CSCS logo where the holder has a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass, which matters where your wardens are on construction sites.
NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.
We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.
There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.
From the blog
Course guides and news
The latest plain-English guides to choosing the right course, card or qualification.
Training for a team?
One contact for all your workforce training
Book this course for a group at your site or ours, roll it into a managed training plan and let us handle the scheduling, certificates and renewals.