In recent years there has been major changes to fire law which have implications with respect to Deaf and hard of hearing people. In 2005 in Scotland and in 2006 the remainder of UK two new laws replaced existing legislation. They are:

• The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005
• The Regulatory Reform (fire safety) Order

They apply to virtually all workplaces and places to which the public have access.

The main effect of the changes are:

• Fire certificates are no longer required for most buildings. (Certificates will still be required for certain types of high-risk premises).
• Responsibility for complying with the Fire Safety Order rests with the 'responsible person' who will take full corporate liability. In a workplace, this is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, e.g. the occupier or owner. In all other premises the person or people in control of the premises will be responsible.
• The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment which must focus on the safety in case of fire of all 'relevant persons'. It should pay particular attention to those at special risk, such as the disabled and those with special needs.
• Must implement reasonable precautions as determined by the findings of the risk assessment
• All existing fire legislation has been repealed or revoked, which includes the Fire Precautions Act 1971, the amended 1997 Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations plus 100 other pieces of fire-related legislation.

Protection is explicitly extended to all occupants, which would include employees, visitors, contractors and passers-by who would all have to be considered in the fire risk assessment.