I may just be about to make an idiot of myself but here goes... I was sat in a RoSPA audit meeting and the auditor tutted about people not understanding that there was a difference bewteen a fire marshall and a fire warden. I said nothing. I thought a Fire Marshall and Fire warden were one and the same. I checked the guidance and that says they are the same. Am I missing something? Am I thick? Is there something I should know? Or is the joke on him not me?

I think going back into the dim and distant, a Fire Warden might have been someone who patrolled for fires (like a fire watch after hot works etc). But in recent times (20 years?) I've only ever heard the terms used to mean the same thing. I've recently re-titled all my wardens "Evacuation Marshals", as that much more clearly reflects what I want them to do. Wonder what RoSPA Man would say about that?

Funny, I've had a similar debate with someone on that very subject matterrecently, although that was our building landlord and not a RoSPA auditor. To me, they mean the same thing and I think that the majority of people would hold that opinion. The logic our landlord used to distinguish between the two was that fire wardens are the ones performing the sweep, they then report to the fire marshal for the check-in. Bit of a fuss over nothing I thought.

Just to add another quote: “The role was always called Fire Warden Training until a couple of years ago when some training organisations decided to move in on the market of Fire Training. They considered that they would impress people by saying that the words Fire Warden Training was old fashioned and sounded like something from "Dads Army" whereas Fire Marshal Training was more up to date”. The only difference is in the USA – marshall’s wear a ‘six-gun’. Cheers

Qoute "I was sat in a RoSPA audit meeting and the auditor tutted about people not understanding that there was a difference bewteen a fire marshall and a fire warden. I said nothing" I'm a bit disapointed that an auditor would even belittle in this way and then on top of that not even explain any misunderstanding - if indeed there is.