Why do I need a Fire Safety Plan in Ontario?

If you own or manage a building with a fire alarm system in Ontario, you are legally required to have an approved Fire Safety Plan under the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07), Section 2.8. This applies to apartment and condo buildings, commercial offices, retail, restaurants, and warehouses across Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, and Etobicoke. Without an approved plan on site, you risk fire department orders, fines, and delays getting occupancy.

Which buildings actually need a Fire Safety Plan?

The Ontario Fire Code requires a Fire Safety Plan for most buildings with a fire alarm system, plus all assembly occupancies such as restaurants and banquet halls, care occupancies such as retirement and long term care homes, high buildings, and many industrial and storage occupancies. If you are not sure where your building in the GTA falls, send us the details and we will confirm in plain language, at no cost.

What is changing with Ontario fire safety requirements in 2026?

Ontario updates the Fire Code on a regular cycle, and recent changes, including O. Reg. 87/25, mean a plan that was approved a few years ago may no longer meet current requirements. Enforcement is tightening across the GTA at the same time. We review your existing Fire Safety Plan against the current Ontario Fire Code, flag anything out of date, and bring it back into compliance before it becomes a problem with the fire department.

How long does it take to get a Fire Safety Plan approved?

It depends on the size and complexity of your building and your local fire department's review queue, but we are built for speed. Because we know exactly what Toronto Fire Services, Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, and the other GTA departments look for, our submissions rarely come back for corrections. That is what saves you the weeks of back and forth most owners run into.

Do I need a Fire Safety Plan for a construction or demolition project?

Yes. The Ontario Fire Code (Part 5) requires fire safety measures and a plan for construction and demolition sites before and during the work. We create site specific plans covering fire crew access, hot work controls, standpipe provisions, and muster points for projects across Toronto, Etobicoke, Vaughan, and the wider GTA.

How often do I need to review my Fire Safety Plan?

The Ontario Fire Code requires your plan to be reviewed at least once every 12 months, and updated right away whenever you renovate, change the building's use, or change the layout. We offer annual review packages for property managers and condo boards across the GTA, so your plans never lapse and you are not scrambling the week before an inspection.

We are applying for an AGCO liquor licence. What fire requirements apply?

Before the AGCO issues a liquor licence, your municipality has to confirm your space is safe, and fire approval is a core part of that sign off. For restaurants and bars in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, and across the GTA, that usually means an approved Fire Safety Plan, a posted occupant load, clear exiting, and confirmation your fire alarm and suppression systems are in good standing. We prepare the documents and handle the fire side so your licence is not held up.

I manage multiple buildings. Can you handle a whole portfolio?

Yes, this is a big part of what we do. Property managers carry fire safety responsibility across a portfolio, where every building has its own plan, its own annual review date, and its own fire department jurisdiction. We standardize your plans, track every review date, and give you one point of contact for all of your sites across Toronto and the GTA, so nothing slips through the cracks.

What areas do you serve?

We are based in the Greater Toronto Area and serve building owners and managers across Toronto (Downtown, North York, Scarborough, and Etobicoke), Peel (Mississauga and Brampton), York Region (Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill), and the wider GTA and Southern Ontario.

What is included in your Fire Safety Plan package?

Our Ontario Fire Safety Plan package is built to meet the Ontario Fire Code and your local fire department's requirements. You receive: an on site audit of your fire alarm, sprinkler, extinguisher, and exit systems; a custom site specific plan written to current Ontario Fire Code standards, never a generic template; clear building diagrams showing exits, equipment, and shut offs; full fire department submission and communication with the Chief Fire Official until it is approved; and digital and printed copies of the approved plan for your fire safety plan box and your records.

What is the process for getting a Fire Safety Plan?

We keep it simple, four steps. First, a site visit to map your fire safety equipment and any hazards. Second, drafting, where our team writes the plan and prepares the diagrams. Third, submission to your local fire department's plan review. Fourth, approval and delivery, where once it is approved we deliver the official plan ready to post on site. Call us to get started.

Occupant Load: The Number That Drives Every Fire Safety Decision in Your Building

Aug 27

4 min read

Most building owners have never heard the term "occupant load" until an inspector asks for it, or until a renovation permit application gets kicked back for a missing calculation. That's a problem, because occupant load isn't a bureaucratic footnote. It's the number that determines how many exits your building needs, how wide those exits have to be, how many washroom fixtures you're required to install, and whether you need a Fire Safety Plan at all.

At Sterling Safety we calculate occupant load on nearly every project we touch, whether we're writing a Fire Safety Plan, reviewing a tenant fit-up, or running a compliance audit for a property manager. Here's what it actually means and how it's worked out under the Ontario Building Code and Ontario Fire Code.

What occupant load actually is

Occupant load is the maximum number of people a floor area, room, or building is designed to safely hold at one time. It isn't a guess and it isn't a marketing decision made by whoever's running the venue. Under Division B, Article 3.1.17 of the Ontario Building Code, occupant load is a calculated value based on the use of the space, and it's the starting point for nearly every other life safety requirement in the building.

Once you know the occupant load, you can size everything else around it: number and width of exits, corridor and stair widths, plumbing fixture counts, and whether a Fire Safety Plan under the Ontario Fire Code is mandatory.

Why it matters

Every life safety system in a building, sprinklers aside, exists to get people out safely if something goes wrong. Exit width, travel distance, and the number of exit doors are all sized to move a specific number of people out of a space within a set time. If the actual number of people in a room exceeds what the exits were designed to handle, you get bottlenecks at doors and stairwells during an evacuation. That's how minor incidents turn into fatal ones.

This is why assembly occupancies, bars, banquet halls, restaurants, event spaces, get the most scrutiny. These are the spaces most likely to be filled past their design capacity on a busy Saturday night, and the Fire Code treats them accordingly.

How occupant load is calculated

Under OBC Article 3.1.17.1, occupant load is determined one of three ways, depending on the space:

Fixed seating. If a room has fixed seats (a theatre, an arena, a lecture hall), the occupant load is simply the number of fixed seats.

Dwelling units. Residential sleeping rooms and suites are calculated at two persons per sleeping room or sleeping area, regardless of the room's actual size.

Everything else. For all other space types, occupant load is calculated using Table 3.1.17.1, which sets out an area-per-person factor for dozens of use classifications, from 0.4 m² per person on a dance floor to 9.3 m² per person in a business office. You divide the floor area of the space by the applicable factor to get the occupant load.

A quick example: a 200 m² banquet hall used as a standing reception space, at a factor of 1.0 m² per person, works out to a 200-person occupant load. The same room set up with fixed-row seating instead would be based on the actual seat count, not the table factor.

A few details trip people up regularly. Mezzanines, tiers, and balconies count as part of the floor area. Public corridors used for something beyond pedestrian travel, like a waiting area, get their own factor of 3.70 m² per person. And under the current 2024 OBC (O. Reg. 163/24), a space designed for a specific number of people can no longer have its occupant load set below the Table 3.1.17.1 value unless it can be shown the lower number genuinely reflects the intended use. That's a meaningful tightening from the previous edition, and it catches designers who are used to the old flexibility.

Where the Fire Code takes over

The Building Code sets occupant load at the design stage. Once a building is occupied, the Ontario Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) enforces it day to day, and this is where most of our clients run into trouble.

Section 2.7 of the Fire Code prohibits an assembly occupancy from exceeding its calculated occupant load at any time, full stop. The occupant load used for enforcement is the lower of the calculated load under Table 2.7.1.A or the load the exits are actually sized to handle. Where the posted number differs from the table default, a permanent sign showing the approved occupant load has to be posted in a conspicuous location, and fire inspectors, and in licensed premises, AGCO inspectors, check for it routinely.

Occupant load also determines whether a building needs a Fire Safety Plan under Subsection 2.8.1 of the Fire Code. Any assembly or care occupancy needs one regardless of size. Beyond that, the threshold varies by occupancy type: residential over 10 persons, business and personal services or mercantile occupancies over 300, high hazard industrial over 25, medium hazard industrial over 100, and low hazard industrial over 300. If your space crosses one of these thresholds and you don't have an FSP on file, that's a Fire Code violation waiting to be found on your next inspection.

Other considerations

Occupant load isn't a one-time calculation. Any change of use, tenant fit-up, or reconfiguration of a floor plan can change it, and the exits, plumbing fixtures, and Fire Safety Plan all need to be checked against the new number, not the old one. Mixed-use floors need each zone calculated separately, using whichever use classification produces the highest load where a space serves more than one purpose. And if you're operating an older building, don't assume the occupant load calculated decades ago under an earlier edition of the code still holds. The table has changed over the years, and an outdated number is still your liability if something goes wrong.

Get it calculated properly

Occupant load looks like a simple division problem until you're the one defending the number to an inspector or an insurer. Sterling Safety calculates occupant load as part of every Fire Safety Plan and compliance review we run across the GTA and Southern Ontario, and we'll flag it fast if your building's actual layout doesn't match what's on paper. If you're not sure your posted occupant load is defensible, get in touch and we'll run the numbers.