Tom Sutton

90 degrees, or at a right angle to the wall the door is located in.

What does the fire label and care label say, its shape and what are they made from?

As AB has said three hours should be used however there are no REG/ACOP/GI 's that I am aware of but BS 5266 is considered the best practise by the courts so this is the guidance used. http://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030331554 Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/emergency-lighting/ may be of use.

What labels have you removed, if you have an upholstered headboard are you talking about Display label which are not required after the furniture has left the showroom, Full permanent label or short permanent label, if it is the mattress you should have low hazard category of BS 7177 label. Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the home - A Guide to the UK Regulations Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the contract and non-domestic sectors Low hazard

Thanks Bradley I have seen your article https://www.quora.com/What-is-Delayed-Action-On-A-Door-Closer and I would think it is useful when dealing with wheelchairs.

It's a misunderstanding that all final exit doors have to be fitted with push bars (panic bars) it depends on the number of person likely to be using it, an easily opened, one action handle can be used but the door should not be locked, during the time the premises is open, if required for means of escape (MoE). Your fire risk assessment will show if this door is required as an alternative MoE.

How many floors?

Could you take a photo of the labels that are fitted, there are three labels 1. Display label, not required when the furniture has left the showroom. 2. Full permanent label or 3. the short permanent label, either, proves the furniture meets the regulations. Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the home - A Guide to the UK Regulations Page 11

A normal closer operates as the door is opened and closes it immediately the door is released. A delayed closing device allows the door to close when activated by a third party device like the fire alarm. https://www.ifsecglobal.com/hold-open-door-closers-devices-uses-limitations/

The BS states they should be carried out at approximately the same time each week, therefore +/- 15 minutes i would consider acceptable, just try to get it as close to 10.00 am as you can.

Are we talking about a single family domestic premises or are they flats and are they parking on the pavement?

It would not, both doors are fire exits, doors required to escape from a fire. If the fire was in an adjacent classroom and smoke/flames prevented you using the final exit door to outside then you would need to use the other door, it all depends on the layout of the premises. I would suggest you do what AB suggested you should ask your fire safety adviser or risk assessor to look into this and produce a risk assessment that justifies a suitable solution. Your suggestion may end up being accepted, but as it would be exceptional you need to go through the right process to justify it. Consultation with the fire and rescue service may be advisable.

I cannot help you with the asbestos report and there is no such a thing as a fire safety certificate, and I suspect the solicitor is referring to Fire Risk Assessment report (FRA). As the employer (self employed applies) you are subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and are required to do a FRA on the shop premises. As the owner of the office premises you are required to complete a FRA on the office premises. You could check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-risk-assessment/ and see if you considered yourself capable of doing an FRA if not you can employ a Fire Risk Assessor check out A Guide to Choosing a Competent Fire Risk Assessor

Have you considered fitting a DOOR ENTRY ALARM SET with off/on switch, high up the door which will not prevent the children using the door but will alert you if they do and when they realise they cannot sneak out quietly they may not try.

Check out http://www.abertaytraining.co.uk/trainercourses/firesafetytrainer.html and am sure there are others.

What is the building used as.

If the doors are BS 476 part 8, substantial, well fitting then intumescent strips may not be required but if new doors are fitted then they should be BS 476 part 22 and intumescent strips will be required, if there is any doubts fit the strips. Check out Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats

A lobby is a room or short corridor used as an entrance hall, vestibule in a domestic property or leading to a staircase in larger buildings and can be protected. In a flat only the front door needs to be a full half hour standard, doors to rooms only need to be FD20, no S/C. Any well-fitting substantial standard door would be considered a FD20 door. A corridor is a passage connecting parts of a building and can be protected or not depending on the circumstances, in a block of flats it will be a protected corridor. Once in a protected staircase it must lead to ultimate safety (fresh air) and protected corridors top or bottom can be used to achieve this. If you are using ADB then your building is not a small building it is more than three floors above the ground floor, it is more than 11 m check out C5 and 2.21, I think they have been served you a curved ball.

There seems to be plenty of compensatory factors if a fire was to break out of the riser and as a result the means of escape should not be compromised but ideally the breaches should be suitable sealed up.

I cannot give a definitive response and would need a lot more information but I can give some observations that may be useful. The use of accommodation staircases for means of escape is acceptable in small premises providing the bottom of the staircase is within 3 m of a final exit, also travel distances are limited. Because there is no compartmentation between the floors, both floors would have evacuated simultaneously and treated as one compartment. As you are considering risk assessment to justify accepting the number of occupants above the occupancy limit you would need to reduce the times in ASET to accommodate the extra numbers. Using automatic detectors and reducing fire load/ignition sources in unprotected area, you could reduce the ignition and detection of a fire. Level of management control in place plus the use of fire marshals could reduce the recognition and response time. The travel distance will be fixed so it is unlikely to be helpful in reducing ASET. The tenable limit would be helped by responsible management control in place and early detection. I think you have covered all the points and may be able to create a good argument but if it will convince the FRS is another matter.

Lee are you saying when does an unprotected route need to be a protected route. If so this is the principle of means of escape and I see it as three stages, stage one the unprotected area, stage two the protected route and stage three, ultimate safety. Stage one, you have to evacuate and the rules on travel distance provide a powerful control on the size of compartments, the distance to exits and the number of exits provided. Stair and exit widths dictate the maximum time required for physical evacuation to protected escape routes. Stage two is a protected, comparative safe route to outside the premises. Stage three is the route from outside the premises, away from the building to ultimate safety. As AB has said once in a protected route it must lead to a place of ultimate safety.

Emergency egress windows should not be used on floors above 4.5 m above the ground level. (ground and first floor only)

Further to AB posting check out “Main changes in the 2006 edition – Appendix B of Approved Document B (fire safety) volume 1: Dwellinghouses also page 30 diagram 10.

To add to AB advice there is an acoustic free swing door closer which may be suitable if you have a domestic smoke detector. http://www.safelincs.co.uk/door-closers/ or http://www.safelincs.co.uk/geofire-agrippa-acoustic-door-closer/

I cannot give a definitive reply without knowing much more but based on the information you provided, the wall is a 30 minute FR wall therefore any window would need to be fire resisting glazing, fix shut and located above 1.1 m above the floor level.