Tom Sutton

What do you means by plunger type door retainers and are we talking about fire doors. If they are fire doors, are they Dorgard or other acceptable Fire Door Retainers. If so, it looks like you have answered your own question and is correct.

Paul what is the conflicting advice, is it that you cannot retro fit an intumescent strip/smoke seal and why?

The door to the communal garden, is that the the only exit and if so where do you go when you leave your flat, is there a way out of the communal garden also would people have to pass close to the door to escape?

The fire safety of all mattresses (of any size), divans and bed bases is controlled by both the The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations and The General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Only the filling material (foam or non-foam) contained in a mattress, upholstered divan or bed base must meet the FFFSR. Only BS 1877 Part 10: 2011 A1 2012 is the current version and is relevant to children’s bedding being the specification for mattresses and bumpers for children’s cots, perambulators and similar domestic articles. I cannot find any that that just cover mattresses. Upholstered headboards must meet the full requirements of the Regulations. Upholstered headboards and footboards of beds must meet all requirements of the Regulations. For headboards, the external surface to which a label should be attached might be the reverse face. In addition it should be noted that the fabric on the reverse of the head or foot board is considered a visible fabric for the purposes of the Regulations. Upholstered bed side-rails are considered to be similar to any upholstered bed base/divan. Therefore, all filling materials in side-rails must comply with the Regulations. Therefore upholstered bed bases should comply with the FFFSR and mattresses should meet BS 7177 2008 A1: 2011, achieving a standard of domestic use (Low Hazard). However, the fire safety of the complete product is controlled via the GPSR. The normal route to achieve legal obligations is to have products evaluated against the British Standard best suited to product safety. In this context, a finished mattress and mattress topper, divan or bed base should comply with the low hazard category of BS 7177. I think the trading standards do not effectively police the regulations and it is up the consumer to take care when purchasing items to ensure they are covered by the FFFSR and report any failures that they are aware of.

Is a permanent label or a display label?

Private balconies are not covered by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 only the common areas but fall within The Housing Act therefore you have no powers to require them to do anything.

If it is for domestic premises then it is subject to the regulations (FFFSR) and if it is a commercial premises then it would be subject to the FRA under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The Responsible Person may use of Standards for the fire safety of upholstered furniture, BS 7176, for mattresses and BS 7177, and BS 5867 Part 2 for curtains which would be intended to assist all parties in ensuring the fire safety of upholstered furniture/furnishings for different end use applications, by using clearly defined ignition sources according to the level of hazard determined by the fire safety risk assessment. Check out https://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ if it is a domestic premises and Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the contract and non-domestic sectors if it is a commercial premises.

Yes there is Article 17 Maintenance of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, check out https://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-alarms/ you will find testing and maintenance detailed in there.

Not to my knowledge, the head of household or households if it is flats, should be aware if smoke alarms are missing or defective.

The fire alarm test is detailed in https://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-alarms/ and the weekly test is done by operating a manual call point to ascertain if the fire alarm is working and everybody can hear it. The building could have a stay put policy therefore may not be a fire alarm it could be there to operate the automatic opening vents. (AOV) Without more information I cannot give you a more definitive answer.

You are correct but it is possible to get thinner doors which meet FD30 standard, but unusual, if you cannot get any documentation to prove they are FD30, then stick with the 44mm rule.

Depends on its location, the glass panel could be a vision panel in an inner room situation and would be required. In most cases it is a health and safety matter, to prevent an accident, if two people on opposite sides of the door try to open it at the same time. You can decorate it anyway you choose providing you keep the require signs and do not increase the spread of flame to high levels, (usually no more than 4 or 5 coats of paint or vanish).

Are you the owner/freeholder of the building as he/she is the Responsible Person and it is the RP who has to conduct FRA who has to make the decision on any fire safety matters. Also the managing agent usually takes on the role of RP for the owner and any decisions should be theirs? A fire alarm may have been required because of poor compartmentation between the flats and the common areas resulting in a fire in a flat spreading to the common areas.

I am afraid I am a sassinak and Scotland has its own building regulation, which I am not up to speed with, hopefully somebody who is, may respond.

PS. The above only applies to those resident in the UK.

All persons who supply upholstered furniture/furnishings are subject to the regulations and should ensure the appropriate labels are fixed the items supplied. All consumers, except those that are in the business of upholstered furniture/furnishing, are not subject to the regulations. If you have two or less persons living with you, having free run of the house, they are lodgers and the premises do not subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 therefore it is a domestic dwelling not a business. Based on this reasoning, if the above facts are correct, I would think your relative is subject to the regulations and you are not. You need to get legal advice and contact the local trading standards. Go to FRFree's profile and check out his latest submissions. Check out https://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ aswell.

I understand Amazon claims they do not sell the furniture they only act as agents for the seller and trading standards have been on their case with little success. Go to FRFree's profile and check out his latest submissions. Check out https://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ aswell.

Keith you need to be sure it is the smoke alarm causing the beeping, I would suggest you you get up before 0700 and remove the smoke alarm from the base plate, then wait to 0700 to see if you hear the beeps. This will establish if it is the smoke alarm because there is no electronic equipment in the base plate only connection to the mains supply. Replace the smoke alarm and wait until next day, then get back to us with the results.

I do not think this is the best forum for technical question on fire alarms you should try http://firealarmengineers.com/forum/.

A office in your home, because it only forms a small part of the premises, which is primarily a domestic premises therefore all upholstered furniture or furnishings is is subject to The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations. I assume you reside in the UK, consequently subject to the regulations and if you wish to pass on any items, subject to the FFFSR, you would be defined as a supplier requiring you to ensure the upholstered chair meets the regulations. Germany is not subject the the regulations therefore the chair will not meet the required UK standards and without a permanent label issued under the UK regulations you have no proof that it meets the standards, if you pass it on to a charity you will be in breach of the law. Anyway it is unlikely the charity would accept it without a permanent label because they could be in beach of the law as well. In the future I would suggest you ensure that all upholstered furniture or furnishings you acquire has a permanent label attached, for your own safety and if you wish to pass it on. Check out https://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ there is plenty of links that you may find usful if you wish to research it further.

If they are private balconies then they do not form part of the common area therefore are not subject to the RR(FS)O.

The external staircase could be located on the side of the building but any doors should be FD30 self/closing and any windows be FRG fixed shut if within a specified distances of the staircase,(see Approved Document B (fire Safety) volume 2: Premises other than Dwelling Houses page 54/55). The problem with this, there could be a need for escape windows but without having an personnal knowledge of the premises especially the flats internal layout and construction it is impossible to give a satisfactory answer. Also there could be problems with ventilation so you need the services of a fire consultant and building regulations approval.

As it isn't 6mm wired glass, do you have proof that it is FR glazing you should have a certificate or the glass is acid etched with the trademark and the British Standard it was tested to, either way if it is cracked then it needs replacing. As you have said it shouldn't have cracked as it did which would indicate it wasn't fitted correctly.

Are these balconies private or are they used in common.

Drop bolts are acceptable during the time the premises is unoccupied but they should be withdrawn during the time the premises are occupied. A major problem is they are sometimes not opened during the time the premises are occupied resulting in the Responsible Person committing an offence. Consequently we used to require the RP to remove the stop that prevents the barrel from being removed, so the bolt could be hung up on a board, we used to call a chain/bolt board in easy view, this ensured the RP was not committing an offence.