When a building owner asks AI for a fire risk assessment, which firms get named?
Last reviewed 14 October 2026
Part of Building compliance and safety. For fire risk assessment firms that sell to building owners and the people who manage their buildings.
- The Fire Safety Order puts the risk assessment duty on the responsible person.
- Across 844 UK fire firms we measured, 495 had no AI citations.
- Our view: measure by buyer question, not by site.
The duty behind the search
A responsible person needs someone competent to carry the assessment out. The question for your firm is whether it is named when they ask, in Google or in an AI assistant.
What we measured: 844 fire firms
In September 2026 we measured the AI citations of 844 UK fire risk assessment and fire safety firms. The median firm was cited zero times. 495 of the 844 (59%) had none at all, and only 78 had 20 or more. Figures are Ahrefs UK data, collected on 29 September 2026.
Being on the BAFE register makes no difference: the median for its 698 members was also zero, with 425 of them uncited.
Citations are not the same as being found by buyers
The most-cited small firms in the set are cited for other questions. One has two staff (Apollo's estimate) and 391 citations, and its top pages include fire-marshal exam answers. Another, a small company by its filed accounts, has 1,047 citations, and its top pages explain extinguisher types and colours.
Our view: counting citations per site flatters firms that answer the wrong questions. A fire risk assessment firm should be measured on the questions its own buyers ask.
The questions buyers ask
"fire risk assessment" draws 7,800 UK searches a month (Ahrefs, 29 September 2026).
For "how much does a fire risk assessment cost" (250 searches a month), Google's AI Overview listed 16 sources on 29 September 2026, and 15 were firm or software pages.
For "fire risk assessment companies" (350 searches a month) it showed no AI Overview that day. That is one snapshot. Our hypothesis: if Google adds an AI Overview there, it will have to choose among firms whose pages state service, location and credentials.
Eight of the most-searched questions UK buyers type about fire risk assessment:
| Question, as typed into Google | UK searches a month |
|---|---|
| who is responsible for enforcing fire safety | 700 |
| who is responsible for fire risk assessment | 300 |
| how often fire risk assessment uk | 200 |
| do i need a fire risk assessment | 150 |
| how long does a fire risk assessment last | 150 |
| how many steps make up a fire safety risk assessment | 150 |
| how often should a fire risk assessment be carried out | 150 |
| how to get a fire risk assessment certificate | 150 |
Source: Ahrefs keyword data for the UK, retrieved 13 October 2026. Monthly search volume shows how often a question is typed into Google; it does not show which firm an AI engine cites.
What we do for fire risk assessment firms
We measure your visibility on a fixed set of buyer questions, show who is named instead of you, and rank the fixes. The SEO & AI Search Sprint is the first step: see what it includes.
Questions answered
What does the Fire Safety Order require of the responsible person?
Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed, so that the general fire precautions needed can be identified.
Does being on the BAFE register make a firm more likely to be cited by AI?
In our measurement, no. Being on the BAFE register makes no difference: the median for its 698 members was also zero, with 425 of them uncited.
Why measure by buyer question and not by site?
A site can collect citations on pages that buyers never read. The two small firms above show it. A buyer question is the unit that matches a sale.
Does the SEO & AI Search Sprint promise a ranking?
No. Nobody can promise a position in an AI answer. The Sprint shows where you stand and what changes it.
Would AI name your firm today? The SEO & AI Search Sprint measures where AI names you and your competitors. The free check takes two minutes.