Tom Sutton

Many times there will be no specific answer to a fire safety question you have to use your knowledge and common sentence. In this case, under normal conditions, wheelchairs will cause little problems and the staff will most probable assist the person. So have this written as a PEEP and included it in the fire plan.

Any Fire Risk Assessment must be reviewed by the responsible person regularly so as to keep it up to date and particularly if - (a) there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or (b) there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates including when the premises, special, technical and organisational measures, or organisation of the work undergo significant changes, extensions, or conversions, and where changes to an assessment are required as a result of any such review, the responsible person must make them. Most FR assessors consider 12 months as being a reasonable time but not necessary.

They can be wedged open and to and insult to injury they often use fire extinguishers.

The common area is subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and requires a fire risk assessment. (FRA) You can do it yourself or use a fire risk assessor and choose one use A Guide to Choosing a Competent Fire Risk Assessor or if you decide to do it yourself the following guidance will help. For prices you will have to contact the suitable fire risk assessor. https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-5-step-checklist https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities/fire-risk-assessments

I depends if it is a private seller or a business, private sellers are not subject to the legislation but businesses are. The enforcing authority is the Trading Standards so if it is a business then contact the local department. Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the home - A Guide to the UK Regulations

I would think the brass would not melt into a liquid form at those temperatures it is more likely to soften and distort like steel at those temperatures. Providing the door remains closed, the role of the lock will achieved its aims and it holds back the fire for the given time it will have passed.

From the Home Office guidance Small and medium placesof assembly are the following statements. The effective usable width of an escape route is the narrowest point, normally a door or other restriction such as narrowing of a corridor due to fixtures and fittings. The capacity of an escape route is measured by the number of persons per minute that can pass through it so, to establish the capacity of the route, it is first necessary to measure the width of the route at the narrowest point. The effective width of a doorway is the clear unobstructed width through the doorway when the door is open at right angles to the frame. The effective width at any other point is the narrowest clear unobstructed width through which people can pass. When calculating the overall available escape route capacity for premises that have more than one way out, you should normally assume that the widest is not available because it has been compromised by fire. If doors or other exits leading to escape routes are too close to one another you should consider whether the fire could affect both at the same time. If that is the case, it may be necessary to discount them both from your calculation.

I would use the guidance recommended by the Gov.UK DCLG Home Office. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-safety-law-and-guidance-documents-for-business.

There is no problem in using flammable material in the inside of a protected shaft, in most situation there will be, however if they are ignited then any fire should not be able to pass to the outside of the shaft and in this situation the brick wall will achieve that.

To add to AB submission check out FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing and A Guide to Choosing a Competent Fire Risk Assessor for further guidance.

How does a person get from outside to a room in the dead end, if the dead end leads nowhere. Check out Approved Document B (fire Safety) volume 2: Premises other than Dwelling Houses page 39 diagram 17 show what a dead end is.

From what you say it is unlikely the buildings was built to BS 9999 so why are you using it for your calculations, it looks like cherry picking. Either way common sense would dictate the narrowest part of an escape route should be used to calculate maximum numbers in that escape route.

Why not, it is a single direction MoE and all the doors should be FR s/c to enable you to pass the rooms to get to a final exit door.

Many years ago I was involved in double metal doors, fully glazed, with the intumescent seals concealed under phosphore bronze lippings, that met a two hour fire resistant standard. I think your door could be a fire door you need to check out the manufacturer. Check out https://www.iqglassuk.com/products/steel-framed-fire-rated-doors/s24176/ they are possible.

You could check https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/operational-guidance-for-the-fire-and-rescue-authorities-incidents-in-tunnels-and-underground-structures appendix a Covers tunnels under contruction.

Assuming you mean cease and not seize, then no it will always be CO2 while it is sealed in the cylinder.

Are there escape windows in accordance with Approved Document B (Fire Safety) in each habitable rooms and are the doors well fitting substantial doors to the escape route, check out page 46 of FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing.

Fire doors NO, if they remain open they will not function as required, final exit doors, that do not need to be fire doors, YES. It all depends also on what you means by retainer, if it is an electronic hold open device, then it could be acceptable on certain fire doors.

As the buyer I do not think you can do anything and the seller, if they are freeholders, then they are part owners of the building. As part owners they are a Responsible Person and have duty to conduct a FRA, however in this case they and the other RP's have employed a management company to take over the RP duties. As part owner and employer the management company I would have thought they could get a copy of the FRA if a written record is required which would depend on the numbers of employees the management company has. If the flat is leasehold then then there is little you can do other than to rely on the goodwill of the management company. I am only a barrack room lawyer and you need professional advice from a solicitor dealing with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 like http://www.safetylawyers.co.uk/fire-safety/

Dry power is no longer recommended by 5306 - 8 for indoor use as the powder will obscure vision, affect breathing and is very damaging to surfaces and equipment Powder is still very useful and it's not an absolute no-no indoors if justified by a Health & Safety assessment. However for your usual place of assembly, office, shop, hotel, healthcare premises, etc it's not appropriate - it's usually industrial type risks where the need for it's rapid knockdown properties outweighs the secondary damage and health risks where it can remain. Depending on the risk to be covered then Wet Chemical, Water Mist, Triclass, Foam, Water Spray are all possibles as powder extinguishers can be found covering all sorts of risks! Thanks AB.

Without knowing the layout or surveying the premises it is impossible to give a definitive response, a single exit could be acceptable or not it would depend on a number of considerations.

If your concerns are valid, why are not all our shops being destroyed by fire, because most will have aerosols in them, including domestic premises. I agree they should not be stored willy nilly in between other combustibles and a full FRA should be conducted to ensure they are are safe as possible. But if they were a major problem I am sure there would be plenty of guidance for small quantities as there is for large quantities like warehouse used by aerosol manufacturers and there isn't. You should conduct a full risk assessment, including sources of ignition, closeness of flammable items, etc then based on your findings produce a your report and let the RP decide what he/she is prepared to accept.

The problem is, no matter how you propose to prevent cold smoke passing a fire door and smoke logging the escape route, it has to be tested according to BS 476 Pt.31.1. All cold smoke seals that are on sale meet that minimum requirement and you must consider how you will fit them to the fire door. Batwing Seal would be one of the easiest because I think you could fit it and remove the brush seal, leaving the intumescent seal, without dismantling the door. The cost would be about £3 a length, less the £10 a door and I cannot see you getting it much cheaper no matter what solution you decide upon. I cannot see removing the intumescent seal and leaving the brush seal will make any difference, as the intumescent seal lies flat with the door edge? A combined intumescent strip and brush seal is acceptable in the door rebate. If you remove the brush seal from the combined fire and smoke seal I cannot think it would be detrimental on the operation of the intumescent seal. Check out ASDMA Best Practice Guide I am sure this will help.

Fire Marshal/Warden training should be similar no matter which premises are involved and the only difference is the fire routine, they have to work to. It is a matter of opinion and the syllabus whether a course is satisfactory; you should seek recommendations from somebody who has taken the course.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states you must have fire alarm in the common parts, if necessary and it needs to be maintained. Good practice dictates it should be installed and maintained in accordance with BS 5839 part 6 which in turn says the this should be done, Grade A systems should be inspected and serviced at periods not exceeding six months in accordance with part 1, Grade B and Grade C systems should be serviced every six months in accordance with the supplier’s instructions.