Fire Warden Training

Who is this training for?

It is for the people appointed as fire wardens or floor wardens in a New Zealand workplace, and for the managers responsible for the building’s evacuation scheme.

Because it is built per site from your own SOPs, it fits your building and your team, whether you run one floor or a large multi-area facility.

Built around your site

Because it is bespoke, the content maps to your building and procedures.

What New Zealand law actually asks of you, and what it does not

Search the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 and the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, and Evacuation Schemes) Regulations 2018 for the word "warden" and you will not find it. Fire and Emergency's own evacuation scheme application reference guide says it plainly: wardens are not a requirement of the Act or the Regulations. They are simply what most buildings use, because they are the most practical way of doing the things the law does require.

That distinction changes what a fire warden course is for. It is not there to satisfy a rule that says you must appoint wardens. It is there to make the scheme you are legally required to have actually work on the day.

Which buildings need an approved evacuation scheme

The owner of a relevant building must provide and maintain an approved evacuation scheme. A building is a relevant building if it is used for any of the following:

• gatherings, for any purpose, of 100 or more people
• employment facilities for 10 or more people
• accommodation for more than five people, other than in three or fewer household units
• early childhood facilities, or nursing, medical or geriatric care, or specialist care for people with disabilities, other than in a household unit
• accommodation for people under lawful detention, other than home detention
• storage of hazardous substances above the minimum quantities set out in Schedule 3 of the Regulations

Ten employees is a low bar. Plenty of operators who think of evacuation planning as a big-building problem are already over the line and do not know it.

The duty most sites miss

Regulation 9 puts a training duty directly on the building owner, and separately on tenants. The owner must ensure that occupants who are their employees are trained to assist any other occupants of the building to evacuate in a fire emergency, in accordance with the evacuation procedure for that building. A tenant owes the same duty for their own employees.

Read that carefully. The duty is not to hold a document. It is to have people who can help others get out, in line with the procedure written for that specific building. A generic module cannot do that by itself, which is why this training is built around your building, your exit routes and your assembly point.

Six months, and ten working days

Two clocks run alongside the scheme, and both catch people out.

Regulation 29 requires trial evacuations at intervals of not more than six months. Not annually. At least twice a year.

Regulation 32 then requires a written report to Fire and Emergency no later than ten working days after the evacuation. That obligation is triggered by a trial evacuation and by any unscheduled evacuation. The report covers the date and time, how long the evacuation took, any injuries, whether the equipment worked, whether everyone got out in accordance with the scheme, and the date the permanent occupants were last trained.

That last field deserves a pause. There is no offence in New Zealand called failing to appoint a fire warden. There is a form that asks you, in writing, when you last trained the people in your building, and a duty under Regulation 9 to have trained them.

Where training sits in the hierarchy

Be honest about what training controls and what it does not. Training does not reduce the fire load stacked in a storage area, unwedge a propped fire door, or clear an exit route someone has blocked with pallets. Those are housekeeping and engineering problems and they sit above training in the hierarchy of controls. If your last trial evacuation was slow because a door was chocked open, more warden training will not fix it.

What training does control is the human part, and the human part is where evacuations fail. Someone has to act on the alarm rather than wait to see what everyone else does. Someone has to sweep an area properly, know which people need assistance and how that assistance actually works, and know when to stop searching. Someone has to hold the assembly point and give the arriving crew a straight answer about who is unaccounted for. Those are learned behaviours, and they decay if the only time anyone practises is the six-monthly trial.

Sources: Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, and Evacuation Schemes) Regulations 2018, regulations 9, 29 and 32. Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017, section 76. Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Evacuation scheme application reference guide. Check the current wording of the Regulations against your own building before relying on any summary, including this one.

Common questions

Why is this built per site?

Every building has its own layout, evacuation scheme, routes and assembly points. Training wardens on your actual site means they can act with confidence in a real event.

Who should attend?

The people appointed as fire or floor wardens, and the managers responsible for the building’s evacuation scheme.

How do we get started?

Contact us and we will scope the training around your building and standard operating procedures.

Can you cover multiple sites or floors?

Yes. Because it is bespoke, we build it to match your facility, whether that is one floor or several areas.

Is a fire warden legally required in New Zealand?

No. The word warden does not appear in the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 or in the Evacuation Schemes Regulations 2018, and Fire and Emergency's own guidance confirms wardens are not a requirement of the Act or Regulations. What is required, for a relevant building, is an approved evacuation scheme, and under regulation 9 the owner and any tenant must ensure their employees in the building are trained to assist other occupants to evacuate in accordance with that building's procedure. Wardens are simply the most practical way most sites meet that duty.

How often do we have to run a trial evacuation?

Regulation 29 requires trial evacuations at intervals of not more than six months, so at least twice a year, plus any additional trial Fire and Emergency requires. Regulation 32 then requires you to report the evacuation to Fire and Emergency in writing no later than ten working days afterwards. The same reporting obligation applies to an unscheduled evacuation, not just a planned trial.

Do we need an evacuation scheme if we only have a dozen staff?

Very likely yes. A building used as an employment facility for 10 or more people is a relevant building, so the owner must provide and maintain an approved evacuation scheme. The threshold also catches gatherings of 100 or more, accommodation for more than five people, early childhood and care facilities, and premises storing hazardous substances above the Schedule 3 minimums. The ten-employee trigger surprises a lot of small operators.