Annual Fire Drills in Ontario: A Legal Requirement—and Your Best Risk Decision
When a fire alarm activates, seconds disappear. The only thing standing between confusion and a controlled response is practice. In Ontario, that practice isn’t optional—it’s required. But beyond code compliance, well-designed fire drills are the fastest, most cost-effective way to expose blind spots, prove due diligence, and harden your building’s fire & life safety program.
What the Ontario Fire Code actually requires
Ontario’s Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) mandates emergency planning, approved fire safety plans, trained supervisory staff, and documented fire drills. Frequency depends on occupancy:
Monthly in care, care & treatment, detention occupancies, daycares (with special rules for schools).
Every 3 months for high buildings within the scope of OBC Div. B 3.2.6. (e.g., many high-rise/complex systems).
At least annually in most other buildings (“all other buildings”).
Fire drills must be planned, conducted, evaluated, and retained on file—at least 12 months and maintaining a history of drill documentation for longer periods, creates a defendable history of due diligence for building Owners.
Why owners should care: the business case
Defensible compliance
A clean record of drills, attendance, timing, impairments and corrective actions is the evidence your counsel, insurer, and AHJ will ask for “the day after.” If it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.Faster, safer execution under real conditions
Drills reveal whether supervisory staff can actually execute the fire safety plan—from building staff, to tenant and employer fire wardens acting as a coordinated team.Operational insights you won’t get from inspections
Only drills surface lived-experience gaps: door hold-opens that don’t release, noisy mechanical rooms that bury announcements, occupants who can’t find secondary stairs, or contractors who were not aware of their responsibilities.Stakeholder confidence
Tenants and employers equate visible, well-run drills with competence. Insurers see them as risk controls. AHJs see them as professionalism. Everyone sleeps better.
Who benefits—and how
Owners/Boards: Reduced liability; documented due diligence; clearer capex planning when drills expose system or staffing deficits.
Property & Facility Managers: A predictable annual rhythm for training, communications, and corrective actions; fewer surprises during inspections.
Engineers & Service Vendors: Evidence to prioritize repairs (e.g., voice evac audibility, stair pressurization response) and to validate changes during retrofits.
AHJs/Fire Services: Faster size-up on arrival when supervisory staff behave predictably and provide accurate zone/incident information.
Occupants (including PRAs): Clear expectations and confidence that support plans actually work under time pressure.
Making your program compliant—and truly defendable
Use this five-part playbook to move from “we did a drill” to “we can prove it works.”
Plan with intent
Align drill frequency to your building’s occupancy classification.
Don’t just do the drills during the daytime. Always consider lowest-staffing scenarios. Rotate times and locations across the year to include nights/weekends.
Train supervisory staff—not just “inform” them
Under the Ontario Fire Code, building Supervisory Staff must be trained – before bing assigned any responsibilities. Rehearse call trees, voice communication scripts, elevator protocols, system sequence of operations, receiving the fire services and PRA procedures.
New hires? Run silent/table-top drills between comprehensive drills to keep competency high.
Run realistic scenarios
Vary initiating devices (pull station vs. detector), floors, and impairment conditions.
Consider telephone reports of fire or smoke – test your building security in “receiving” the call, leading to correct actions in response and activation of procedures.
Consider the health and safety of building supervisory staff – when to investigate and when its not safe to do so.
For high buildings, verify actions tied to OBC 3.2.6 features (voice/alarm, firefighters’ elevator procedures, smoke control).
Document like a regulator would
At minimum, capture:Date/time, occupancy type, drill type (comprehensive/silent/table-top).
Scenario location and initiating event.
Names/roles of supervisory staff and wardens present; shift coverage.
Time stamps for key actions and documentation of system behaviors
Document what worked, what went well. Deficiencies and corrective actions with owners for each.
Close the loop
Log corrective actions to completion (work orders, vendor reports, re-tests).
Update the Fire Safety Plan if procedures, staffing, or building systems change, then submit revisions for approval.
Common pitfalls that sink otherwise “compliant” programs
Same scenario, same shift, every year. Drills that never test evenings, weekends, or differing scenarios create false confidence.
Address non partipcation. If the people with duties aren’t present, you didn’t test the plan.
No timing data. Without time stamps, you can’t prove critical duties were completed within safe available time.
No corrective actions. Findings without fixes undermine due diligence and create exposures to risk.
Confusing occupant vs. supervisory drills. Have clear objectives based on occupancy, risk and approved Fire Safety Plans.
In Ontario, annual (or more frequent) fire drills are a legal requirement—and the quickest way to turn a paper plan into a reliable, defensible life-safety program. Treat them as performance tests, not box-checks. Your occupants, staff, board, insurer, and AHJ will all notice the difference.
Closing
Conducting a fire drill isn’t just about compliance—it’s about proving, beyond question, that your building is ready when it matters most. But designing realistic scenarios, running them effectively, and documenting them in a way that stands up to regulators, insurers, and even the courts requires expert guidance. That’s where National Life Safety Group comes in.
Our team has led hundreds of drills across Ontario’s most complex occupancies, from high-rise commercial towers, Condo’s to vulnerable care settings. We don’t just run drills—we turn them into defensible records that demonstrate your due diligence and strengthen your entire fire & life safety program.