Tom Sutton

As far as I am aware and according to BS 5306 part 3 2009 you are required to service all extinguisher (basic service) every twelve months (+/- one month) from the date of commissioning or last service. The extended service is slightly different, for all extinguishers except CO2, it is five years from the date of commissioning or 6 years from the date of manufacture which ever the sooner and then every five years. For the full information you should read BS 5306 part 3 2009 and if they have used other guidance you should ask what guidance.

Yes there are available double swing fire doors which uses specialised hinges and closers. A fire door closer used with double swing doors should not only close the door but also hold it firmly in the closed position. It needs to be strong enough to keep the door closed against any pressure to which the door leaf may be subjected in a fire. The only type of device which has been shown to be successful is a spring type mounted in the sill.

The fire risk assessor bible is The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and article 13 (1) partly says, Where necessary (whether due to the features of the premises, the activity carried on there, any hazard present or any other relevant circumstances) in order to safeguard the safety of relevant persons, the responsible person must ensure that, a) the premises are, to the extent that it is appropriate, equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment and with fire detectors and alarms. So if a fire alarm is necessary the FR assessor would recommend one and if you as the Responsible Person accepted, it would be up to the fire alarm company to design and install it. A good FR assessor would be also familiar with the appropriate guidance, Offices and shops in your case, which goes a little deeper into fire alarms and installation. He/she would also have a working knowledge of the appropriate British Standard, but not a full technical knowledge that’s up to the fire alarm engineers. In conclusion I would say as the Responsible Person (RP) you have ultimate responsibility to accept or not the requirements of your competent persons and to select a competent FR assessor and fire alarm engineers. In this case it looks like the original fire alarm engineers have failed in their brief but it could be the BS 5839 has changed since the original installation, without a lot more information and research it is not possible to give a more definitive answer. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-risk-assessment/ .

I am not aware of any guidance or legislation but it is common sense and most Responsible Persons adhere to that principle. The other factor that should determine if it is a test or the real thing is the length of the test, tests should only last a short period of time, just sufficient time to ensure the system is working and everybody can hear it. There should be two persons carrying out the test one at the fire alarm panel and the other operating the manual call point so the sounders can be silenced quickly.

A 800 sq. ft. office is likely to accommodate about 20/25 persons and although guidance usually suggests doors should open in the direction of escape, it is acceptable that a door can open inwards providing the numbers likely to use the door is small and providing it is accepted by the Fire Risk Assessment. The problem is the Fire Safety Order article 14 (d) says emergency doors must open in the direction of escape but as far as I am aware it is not acted upon for small rooms unless there is a very good reason. I also say any door you need to escape, in my opinion, are emergency doors or maybe the FSO interprets it differently.

You could try a Drop Down Smoke Seal for the threshold gap providing it does not exceed 14mm. Correcting the sides would depend on the size of the gap, if it is less than 4mm the intumescent strip doesn't need to touch the frame it will fill the gap when heated but if it is more than 4mm you may have to fit new hardwood lippings or even a new fire door.

If the intumescent strip is in the fire door I would imagine it would do more than impede the expansion strip it would prevent that length operating and reduce the fire resistance of the door. If that door is required for the means of escape and there was a fire or audit, then the local authority could find themselves on the wrong side of the law. One solution could be to fit the intumescent strip in the frame and not the door. http://www.safelincs.co.uk/video_player.php?vid=58

Not as simple as that you would need Building Regulations approval consequently it would have to meet the requirements of Approved Document Part B Fire Safety.

As far as I am aware there is not one standard pressure for fire extinguishers, they vary depending on type, class, manufacturer and country. What I do know, when servicing, they should be treated with a great deal of respect.

On the 5th floor, if it was not a scheduled drill why didn't they break the glass bolt or device fitted and use that fire exit, how could they be denied? If the progress was so slow then the Fire Risk Assessment needs reviewing. The health and safety at work act clearly dictates the cubic area required by each person so there should not be any overcrowding if it is then they are breaking the law. (at least 11 cubic metres per person) The door at the bottom of the secondary fire exit stairwell that was locked and they were unable to leave the building is clearly an offence under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. I am afraid if somebody doesn't bring it to the attention of the enforcing authority (Fire and Rescue Service) then nothing will be done, you could do it anonymously. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/uk-fire-rescue-services-details/

The weekly fire alarm test is usually done at a day and time known to all the occupants of the building so they know it is a test and not an evacuation. If this information is changed then everybody would have be informed and then changed back for the following weeks. Could you not warn all the delegates at the beginning of the conference that there will be a fire alarm test at a certain time and would only last a couple of minutes which you can confirm with the conference centre. It is not a legal requirement but best practise.

There is no legal requirement it would depend on your fire risk assessment and the preventive and protective measures document, required under article 11 of the The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

David the purpose of the vision panel is to see what is on the other side of the door and if it was obscure it would not serve the purpose. If the doors are fire doors then the glazing would have to be fire resisting glass.

Dennis If you wish to add fire resisting glazing to a fire door, you can, if it installed by a person certificated to modify fire doors or has the necessary competence. Check out http://fdis.co.uk/ also http://www.bwf.org.uk/choose-wood/fire-doors.

British Standards are not law they are recommendations that would be considered best practise if ever a case came to the courts. BS EN ISO 7010 is the current standard accepted in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world but unfortunately we still have the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 which spurns the so called euro sign and until it is amended the euro sign is still legal. As you suggest the mixed signs are not acceptable and I would try to persuade them that they should replace the euro legend for the 7010 fire exit legend. Many emergency lights have either the euro style of legend or have none, so these adhesive vinyl signs stick over the light to create an illuminated exit sign. The legends come in packs of 10 and are made by Jalite.

It depends on the construction but if it is a fire door then it is most probably of solid construction and should be able to glue and pin a hardwood lipping to the cut but whats this to do with fire safety?

As I have said it is not easy to interpret but it appears, assuming it is not a delayed door closer, the total closing and latching time should range from three to seven seconds. If it is a delayed closing device then the total closing and latching time should range from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.

I stand corrected Shawn as you say, remove the safety device (pin) to ensure that it moves freely and check that the handle also has free movement is in accordance with the BS but why would you need to replace the pin, can it become damaged when you try to remove it?

The appropriate standard is BS EN 1154 but it is not easy to interpret, but I will research it further and get back.

The premises are subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the enforcing authority is the Fire and Rescue Service. The licence authority will insist that an up to date Fire Risk Assessment under the RR(FS)O is available on the premises but it is up to the FRS to audit the premises. All exits are dedicated fire exits, if they are needed to escape from a fire. If a route is unfamiliar to the occupants, for example routes not in normal use, or people who are unfamiliar to the premises, like visitors, then these routes should be signed using the standard fire exit sign. I would think a maintained fire exit sign above a door would be sufficient to indicate it was a fire door leading to a place of safety but there is no way of giving a definitive response without a physical survey.

All exits are dedicated fire exits, if they are needed to escape from a fire. If a route is unfamiliar to the occupants, like routes not in normal use, or people who are unfamiliar to the premises, like visitors, then these routes should be signed using the standard fire exit sign. The standard sign is the Icon (running man left or right) and the directional arrow pointing in the direction of escape. You can also have supplementary text Fire Exit or Exit or FIRE EXIT or EXIT.

I am afraid inexpensive sliding fire doors do not exist you will have to pay around £250. I would simple google "Sliding Fire Doors" and do some research.

Depend on the reason for the glass panels, if it is for health and safety reasons to stop people opening the door into somebody or is a vision panel because the room is an inner room and you require to know what is happening in the access room, then no, if not, then I see no problems.

I suspect the heat builds up as it tries to pass around the rebate consequently activates the intumescent strip quicker but that is only a guess and you would need to do some research with one of the testing companies. If the centre jamb of a pair of fire doors is rebated then you need door selectors to ensure the doors close in the correct order this does not apply to flush jamb double fire door as it doesn't matter which doors closes first, simples?

Article 17 of the the The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of the premises under this Order are subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. This means serviced by a competent person and yes it is it correct that a service visit has to be done twice annually by a competent person and weekly in house also monthly if you have a automatic generator or vented batteries used as a standby power supply for the fire detection and fire alarm system inspected. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-alarms/ for more information.