Every Box Ticked, Except the One That Actually Mattered
Written by Stephanie Austin — Owner & Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training | Last reviewed: July 2026 | Next review: July 2027
I was delivering training in a building in the Midlands last week, and before the session had even started, I’d already given the place a mental tick. Floor plans on every corridor wall, current and legible. Fire extinguishers with their inspection tags in date. Fire doors shut properly, signed correctly, and do exactly what fire doors are supposed to do.
On a walk-through, it looked like a building where someone took fire safety seriously.
And then I noticed the box.
The Box That’s Meant to Save Someone
Bolted to the wall near a fire door was a small red key box, the kind with a glass front and a key inside for emergencies. Above it, the familiar green sign: a fist smashing through glass, with the words “In the event of fire, break glass for key.”
These boxes exist for a simple reason. Some fire exits are kept locked day to day, often for perfectly good security reasons. A side door near reception, an external door that opens onto a car park, that sort of thing. The break-glass key box means that in an emergency, anyone on site can get to that door fast, without needing to track down whoever holds the master key.
The glass on this one was intact. I looked anyway, out of habit more than suspicion.
The box was empty.
I Asked. Nobody Knew.
I mentioned it to the office manager, expecting a quick “oh yes, it’s in the drawer” or a slightly embarrassed dash to find it. Instead, I got a shrug and an honest “I don’t know.”
Not rude. Not dismissive. Just genuinely, nobody had a clue. The box had presumably been fitted years ago, the key had gone missing at some point along the way, and in all that time, nobody had stood in front of it and thought to check whether the thing it existed for was actually still there.
Which is, in fairness, exactly how these things go missing. Nobody decides to remove the key. It just isn’t there one day, and the day after that, and so on, until a trainer turns up and has a nosy.
Why One Missing Key Undoes the Rest
Here’s the bit that matters. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person has a duty to ensure that escape routes can actually be used, safely and effectively, at all times. Not “can be used once someone finds the key.” Used.
A locked fire exit with a break-glass key box is still part of the designated means of escape, as long as the key is where it’s supposed to be. The moment it isn’t, that door stops being an exit and becomes a locked door with a misleading sign next to it. Everything else around it can be exemplary, the extinguishers, the signage, the floor plans, and it won’t make the slightest difference to anyone trying to get through that particular door.
This is exactly the sort of thing that routine fire marshal checks are designed to catch. Not the big annual fire risk assessment, although that should pick it up too, but the regular, slightly boring, walk-the-building check that someone on site does every week or month. Open the box. Is the key there? Tick. Move on.
Compliance Looks Good. It Isn’t the Same as Safe.
None of the things this building had got right were a waste of time. In-date extinguishers, correct signage, up-to-date floor plans, and properly maintained fire doors are all genuinely necessary, and most businesses do at least some of this well. But fire safety isn’t a collection of separate tasks that each stand on their own. It’s a system, and a system is only as good as its weakest link.
On the night, if that door had been someone’s route out, the building’s fire safety would have looked excellent right up until the point it mattered.
Routine fire marshal checks help confirm that workplace fire safety arrangements can actually be used in an emergency. A building may have clear signage, current floor plans, maintained extinguishers, and properly closed fire doors, but if an emergency exit key is missing from a break-glass box, that escape route may fail when it matters. Practical checks help spot these issues before they become dangerous.
If your team could do with a practical, no-nonsense look at this kind of thing, not just the theory but the “walk the building and check what’s actually there” side of it, our Fire Safety Awareness and Fire Marshal courses cover exactly this. Get in touch if you’d like to talk through what would work for your premises.
FAQs
Why are fire marshal checks important?
Fire marshal checks help identify practical fire safety issues that may not be obvious from paperwork alone, such as blocked escape routes, missing keys, damaged signage, or problems with fire doors.
Should a break-glass key box always contain a key?
Yes, if the box is being relied on as part of an emergency escape route, the key must be present and accessible. A missing key could stop people from using the exit safely in an emergency.
What should fire marshal training include?
Good fire marshal training should include practical checks, fire prevention, escape routes, fire doors, emergency procedures, evacuation support, and the role of the fire marshal in day-to-day workplace safety.
This article is based on a real training experience and personal observations. It is shared to raise awareness of the small practical issues that can affect fire safety in the workplace. It is not a fire risk assessment and does not replace advice specific to your premises. Fire safety arrangements should always be reviewed by a competent person as part of a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
