Tom Sutton

You are responsible for your workplace not the landlord. I assume you are the employer and consequently subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 covering your workplace also you are designated the Responsible Person under the RR(FS)O. You need to conduct a fire risk assessment of your workplace and consider articles 8 to 22 of the FSO. To help you conduct a FRA you should study http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-risk-assessment/ and the guide for Offices and shops. Check out http://www.safelincs.co.uk/free-fire-risk-assessment-form/ for FRA form.

As owner/occupiers you are responsible for fire safety in your own flats and collectively you are subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Which designate you as Responsible Persons who are required to conduct a fire risk assessment in the common areas ( front door and internal stair) and rectify any faults you may find. To help you conduct a FRA you should study http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-risk-assessment/ and the guide for Sleeping accommodation. Check out http://www.safelincs.co.uk/free-fire-risk-assessment-form/ for FRA form.

Depends on the number of people who will be using the new room, the direction of swing of the remaining door and the travel distance to a place of comparative safety. If it is an office check out Offices and shops the guide offices.

All the landlord/owners or managing agents if you have one are designated the Responsible Persons and have a joint duty to comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which includes conducting a fire risk assessment and maintaining all fire safety equipment required in the common areas. This includes testing and maintaining the alarms and emergency lights in the common areas. Also landlords are subject to the The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 and since 1st October you have to provide CO/smoke detectors in the flats.

Surf the web with "60 min FR coatings for wood" and you should get many hits for companies selling fire resisting and intumescent paints which can meet a 60 minute fire resistant standard. Find one that provides certification for the enforcing officer you are dealing with and contact them for all the technical information you require.

A internal fd30 door fitted with a self closer would suffice with a minimum 100mm step down from the house to the floor of the garage or the floor of the garage to slope away from the back of the garage to the front garage door.

If fire doors are required then self closer would be required but without a survey or detailed plans it is impossible to say which doors need to be fire resistant doors. In most situations a lot fewer than people think.

What you are proposing I believe would be acceptable providing it provides the correct level of illumination for the emergency escape route. If the supply to the emergency lighting luminaire, is part of of a circuit providing lighting the the flat, then it is unlikely to be left isolated for very long,if the circuit breaker should trip. A problem could be if a flat is left empty and mains supply is switch off. If you require Emergency Lighting you should use a BAFE Emergency Lighting SP203-4 registered company. Search for one using internet and ensure that they are certified in the area that you require,System Design, Installation, Commissioning and Handover/Maintenance. Because you are not qualified you should employ a qualified SP203-4 person and instruct him/her of your proposals and if you have missed anything he/she would be able to discuss it with you.

It is acceptable, depending on the circumstances, you need to check out the fire risk assessment but other than very small schools a full blown emergency escape lighting, if required is necessary and in most cases is. There is no maintenance routine other than testing and if any faults occur they should be dealt with immediately.

The simple answer is to fit a standard self closer which is not going to prevent people escaping in the event of a fire, see attached image, but I do not know if it can be opened from outside, with self locking, unless you dispense with the second and third point of locking? You could also consider a magnetic lock with the door fitted with a self closer. Check out http://www.safelincs.co.uk/briton-571-touch-bar-panic-device/

I would suggest you check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk which covers all fire safety subjects or employ the sevices of a compent fire risk assessor.

If you are a tenant and the managing agent is your landlord you should check out https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarms-explanatory-booklet-for-landlords but if you are an owner or lease holder you will have to provide your own, but check out the above document which should explain.

I believe your proposals are fully acceptable and you will not have to do any manual tests as the self test facility is fully automatic and all you will need to do is record the six monthly and annually test in your log book. Check ou http://www.safelincs.co.uk/emergency-lighting-guide/ and take advantage of theit reminder service.

It is the managing agent who is responsible for ensuring your front doors meets the required standard and for you to co-operate. The front doors of all the flats are part of the common area and should be included in the FRA conducted by the Responsible Person (RP) and it should be them who tell you what is required. They will most probably recoup their costs by increasing the service charge. If you wish to have it checked out by an independent person check out http://fdis.co.uk/

Is a maintained or a non-maintained system required, what does the FRA say, it all depends on the type of premises involved and you can get luminaires that can be configured for both. I am not an expert on how emergency luminaires are wired but in a maintained system the emergency light should remain on when the normal lighting is switched off and remain on 24/7 if the normal supply is interrupted for a least 3 hours. In a non maintained system the emergency light will remain off until the normal supply is isolated and the battery will illuminate the emergency light for at least 3 hours. If this is what happens then it has passed the test. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/emergency-lighting/

I would think not providing the drive from the garage sloped away from the building and the threshold of the door is at least 100 mm above the level of the drive (fuel spills). Approved Document B - Volume 1

I understand the refuse bins are a fire hazard, an obstruction and a trip hazard hazard in the event of a fire so moving them to where they are now seems a good idea. The brooms and garden tools could be a trip hazard but if they were secured in brackets in the porch which can be purchased at any DIY store then I cannot see any reasons why they cannot be stored there, also looking into the building it looks like another door exiting the other side of the building so if anything prevented escape from this side use the other door.

A dwelling house having a floor level above 7.5m from the ground floor you require a fully protected means of escape to the ground floor and an alternative means of escape from the top floor or you could consider installing a domestic sprinkler system to the whole of the house. The BCO may consider another type of automatic fire protection but fire extinguishers would never be accepted as a compensatory feature. Check out Approved Document B - Volume 1

Yes, the key switch is to allow for manual testing and self testing luminaires are automatic therefore you do not require key switches. But you must record your tests six monthly and annually to comply with BS 5266.

Depends on the number of people using the fire exit, most, if not all private domestic houses in the country have inward opening doors and step down to the ground when exiting, with the exception of disabled people. It is not a problem because of the numbers involved and people are familiar with the situation. If large number of people are involved and are not familiar with the situation then things are a little more complicated. If the doors open inwards then usually no problem and it is not necessary to paint the step. If the door opens outwards then ideally you should have level going for at least a metre which would require a platform or a ramp. If the platform or ramp would be likely to hinder people escaping then you may have to accept a step and painting it maybe a consideration.

I assume because you refer to a fire panel the premises is flats and the fire alarm system protects the common areas, it is not a rented private single dwelling. If this is so the landlord is the Responsible Person which makes him/her responsible for the fire safety in the common areas which would include maintenance of the fire alarm system always.

In this situation I am not aware of such a thing as a third party fire safety certificate if he/she is a competent contractor and knows what he/she is doing then use them.

The Regulations apply to the reupholstery of furniture manufactured after 1 January 1950, to the extent that all filling material and cover fabric, supplied by the reupholsterer, used in refurbishing such furniture must meet the levels of fire resistance defined within the Regulations. This means he should fit the permanent labels making it legal to sell. Check out Domestic Flammability Guide page 19.

There is no regulation but the appropriate guidance for Offices and shops has a section on 3.4.6 Installation, testing and maintenance which provides a frequency of testing of fire safety items including fire doors, the time of the day to complete the test would be up to mutual arrangement.

I am assuming you are buying a flat on the ground floor and the front door opens into the common area. If you have been researching Approved Document Part B Fire Safety vol 2, then I would come to a similar interpretation based on the information you have provided. However some points to consider, the front door require being FD30s fire door, self-closing and the escape windows need to comply with section 2.9 also a grade D LD2 smoke detection is required.