Tom Sutton

I was all ways told fire safety is 80% common sense and your solution will improve matters providing your fire procedures ensue there will always be sufficient adults available to open these doors in an emergency. The legislation and guidance only talks about all doors needed for means of escape must be easily opened and direction of opening, but not by whom. There are two guides for education premises https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-educational-premises https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/BB100%20July%2005%20-%20Complete.pdf

Emergency route plans are not officially required as part of an Emergency fire escape plan/procedure, unless you consider that floor plans are a useful tool, consequently I am not aware of any BS/EN standards other than BS 1635 for Graphical Symbols and Abbreviations for Fire Protection Drawings. There are many styles and the one you decide to use is up to you and by surfing the web you can see what other people have done. Checkout http://www.firesafe.org.uk/graphical-symbols-and-abbreviations-for-fire-protection-drawings/ Note. The emergency fire escape signs you use to indicate the means of escape on site, including illuminated fire escape signs is now an international standard. The current standard for the design of fire escape signs is BS EN ISO 7010 1912 and BSEN 1838:2013 requires all illuminated exit signs should conform to 7010.

Technically the management company for the landlord are the RP and does have to carry out a FRA. Although if I was you it may be prudent to moan about the cost if you think it is excessive. Cost for that should be no more than £100 for a non-third party accredited sole trader, particularly if it’s a post 1991 conversion. There will an additional cost if the FRA identifies any short comings in the fire safety of the common areas.

I assume you have been studying the Approve Document B (fire Safety) which discusses unprotected staircases and protected staircases from a basement. If you use unprotected staircase then you need an alternative means of escape which could be cellar door or escape window or another staircase leading to an alternative final exit on the ground floor. If you use a protected staircase leading to a final exit, you only need one staircase. You will also need a 60 minute fire separation between the basement and the ground floor and I am not sure about the head height in the basement whether or not building control would accept it. Also the travel distances could be a problem but without measurements or a plan I cannot say. If you are doing refurbishment, subject to building regulation then you should talk to building control, if not, then you are using the wrong guidance and should be using the DCLG guidance "Offices and Shops" which can be downloaded from http://www.firesafe.org.uk/regulatory-reform-fire-safety-order-2005/

The only guidance I am aware of, for windows, is if they are escape windows or for ventilation, then they needs to be openable also of a certain size. Only if they form part of a compartment wall would they require being fire resistant. The figures you quote do not make any sense and you would need to provide me with further details of the source to enable me to research this more. The guidance for anybody building or refurbishing building in England and Wales is the Approved Documents and fire fire safety it is Approved Document B (Fire Safety) download from http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partb/bcapproveddocumentsb/

The weekly test only applies to manual call points (MCP) and is usually carried out by the the occupants of the premises. Each week a different MCP is tested, using a special tool that operates the MCP without the need to break the glass. A person located at the control panel silences the alarm, after he/she has ensured it has worked correctly and then resets the system. If any of the occupants doesn't hear the alarm, then the reason needs to be investigated. I cannot see any reasons why the tenants couldn't be trained in this procedure.

Do you and the other tenants hold the freehold of your flats and if so how do you provide for the upkeep of the common areas?

Download and check out, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/14890/fsra-theatre-cinema.pdf and it recommends the following publications. BS 5266-1: 2011 Emergency lighting. Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises other than cinemas and certain other specified premises used for entertainment. BS EN 1838: 2013. Lighting applications. Emergency lighting. Association of British Theatre Technicians, District Surveyors Association, Institute of Licensing. Technical standards for places of entertainment Technology press 2009. BS 5266 Pt 1 2011 does stipulate the levels of illumination required. Where the recommended maintained illuminance of 1 Ix is likely to affect normal working, it is considered acceptable to reduce this level to not less than 0.02 Ix, provided the system is so arranged that, in the event of failure of the normal lighting within the a auditoria, the emergency escape lighting illuminance is automatically restored to a minimum of 1 lx within 5 s. Full details of lighting requirements for places of entertainment are given in technical standards for places of entertainment. For areas of cinema and theatre auditoria with seating which is fixed to the floor, the minimum illuminance of emergency lighting should be 0.1 lx on a plane 1 m above the floor. All other emergency lighting parameters should be as required for open areas. However the gangways should be treated as escape routes. For full information you need to study the standards.

There needs to be an agreed procedure between those playing and whoever is leading the service/concert as to how music will be stopped in the event of an emergency so that an appropriate announcement to leave the premises can be made. This should have been picked up in the Fire Risk Assessment. And indeed how the leader is informed in the first place by stewards or other participants!

Check out page 106 of the above guide and there is information relevant to this situation, it states, At the start of the event or function you should notify all those present about: • the smoking policy; • the emergency warning signal; • who is supervising and how to identify them; • location of exits and escape routes; • taking only valuables immediately to hand but not to go to collect other belongings; • the location of muster points; and • what will happen after that (e.g. re-entry to the building).

Not only are you required to provide information and training to your staff you are required to consider relevant persons in your premises i.e. the congregation/audience. The guide for Small and Medium Places of Assembly says, "All other relevant persons should be given information about the fire safety arrangements as soon as possible. Information should be available for the public, e.g. fire action notices". You have chosen an announcement I would think is a good way to provide that information in your case but you are not required to do it that way, however I think it is an excellent method.

The national guidance accepted by all fire and rescue services is "HOUSING – FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing" download and check out page 18 which states, 16.2 It is strongly recommended that the exit door from each unit of accommodation (bedsit or flat) is also openable from the inside without the use of a removable key. As you can see it says openable from the inside not the outside.

I am afraid there is no way to treat a piece of existing upholstery furniture so it will meet the regulations this needs to be done at the manufacturing stage and retailers should ensure it has been done before selling it. The person who sold you the sofas may be guilt of an offence, this depends on the circumstances, but you are not. You could treat the the sofas with fire retardant solution for your own piece of mind but you first need to look for the permanent labels which can be difficult to find and located in out of the way places. The display labels (green showing a cigarette and match) are usually lost very quickly its the permanent labels you need to find. Turn the sofas upside down, check there, inside the cushions and if the label is missing there should be evidence where it was fixed. Check out http://www.fira.co.u...mability-guides and download the "Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the home" document for what the permanent labels look like and more information

New one on me, how many hinges are there, and do they conform to BS EN 1935: 2002.

Check out http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/water_mist.pdf and you will see that there is no British standard for water mist fixed insulation, there is a European standard, EN 14972, also there is an ISO standard but that is only for water mist nozzles. I do not have access to the EN standard which may indicate colour coding but I am not able to help. If you look at the gaseous fire protection systems, such manual devices should conform to BS12094 - 3. This sets out colour requirements and technical specifications. It is important that they are different in colour to the normal fire alarm system - you would not want to operate the gas suppression system by mistake, thinking you had operated the fire alarm. BS7273-1 makes this point in connection with gaseous fire protection systems saying they should be "visually different". BS 10294 - 3 says manual triggering controls should be yellow and electrical stop controls should be blue. 4 Requirements 4.1 Electrical triggering and stop devices 4.1.1 Electrical triggering devices Electrical triggering devices (with the exception stated under 4.1.3) shall comply with the technical requirements of EN 54-11:2001, type B (excluding 4.1, 4.2 and 4.7.2.3 of EN 54-11:2001) with clear indication of the function. This means that the component shall be permanently marked, in the format of 4.7.3.2.1 of EN 54-11:2001, on the front face with “MANUAL RELEASE - Gas extinguishing system" (or in the national language(s) acceptable in the country of use). The colour of the component shall be yellow 4.1.2 Electrical stop devices NOTEA suitable yellow colour is specified in ISO 3864. 2) Electrical stop devices (with the exception stated under 4.1.3) shall comply with EN 54-11:2001, type B (excluding 4.1, 4.2 and 4.7.2.3 of EN 54-11:2001) except they shall be self-resetting, with clear indication of the function. This means that the component shall be permanently marked, in the format of 4.7.3.2.1 of EN 54-11:2001, on the front face with “EMERGENCY STOP - Gas extinguishing system”, (or in the national language(s) acceptable in the country of use). The colour of the component shall be blue The component shall function correctly when tested in accordance with 5.3. NOTE a suitable blue colour is specified in ISO 3864. Link to Euro standards http://www.xact.org.uk/fire_safety/information/information-standards.html

DDA cover far more than wheelchairs but I assume we are discussing wheelchair access. If wheelchairs do not have direct external access/egress then how do they get into the building?

What type of fixed installations are we talking about?

Yes there is, it is The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended in 1989, 1993 and 2010). Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ for more information and the guide at http://www.fira.co.uk/document/fira-flammability-guide-october-2011pdf.pdf also worth a look at http://www.primelocation.com/guides/letting/guide-to-being-a-landlord/.

Cinemas, theatres and other places of assembly have door curtains so I cannot see why they should not be allowed in other workplaces providing they follow the same conditions. Curtains or drapes should be of durably flame-retarded fabric or inherently flame-retarded fabric and should conform to the latest edition of British Standard 5867: Part 2 – Fabric Type B when tested in accordance with the latest edition of British Standard 5438. Where approval is given for curtains to be used, the curtains shall where necessary be periodically re-sprayed to maintain their fire resistance. All curtains covering doors shall be hung on sliding rigs on a free running rail and shall be parted in the centre when in front of double doors to enable them to be parted easily. They should not trail on the floor and such curtains shall have a clearance of at least 75 mm between the bottom of the curtain and the floor. Curtains or drapes should be arranged so as not to obstruct EXIT signs/notices and/or fire extinguishers or other fire fighting equipment when hung in front of fire exit doors.

What about the normal lighting circuits in these areas the emergency lighting only needs to be connected to these circuits?

I would suggest you check out Approved Document M at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/ that is the guidance for access to and use of buildings. You need 2.8 page 25/26.

The use of polystyrene tiles are legal but many authorities oppose their use because they can pose a surface spread of flame risk. It all depends on which tiles are used and how they are treated after they have been installed. There are two types, the old, which is not treated and the so called flame retarded type. How they are fixed to the substrate either using blobs of adhesive or the whole of the tile is covered. How they are decorated either using a non flammable covering (emulsion paint, etc) or a flammable covering. (oil based paint) Because it is difficult to control what happens after they have been installed, even if installed correctly, I personly believe they constitute an unnecessary risk and I would not use them.

How far does a person have to travel before they reach a place of comparable safety. (a protected route leading to a place of ultimate safety, outside and away from the premises)

I am afraid it is not as simple as that you would need to follow a specification that has been tested to the appropriate fire resistant standard. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/ for more information.

I am not sure how you would get a steel containers that are acoustically treated, fire rated. It would need to be tested by an approved testing organisation, but how they could achieve this, is difficult to imagine. I would suggest you contact one of the testing organisations and see if they could advise you. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/links/#ftc and select one of them.