Safelincs

hi ELM In theory premises must not be re-occupied until the emergency lighting battery is re-charged. This is clearly not adhered to in this case. If the landlord does not see sense you need to inform the fire brigade. Harry

Hi George There is no problem using the fire exit for everyday use, as long as it does not get blocked by equipment during the movement. Harry

In a way this is the 'stay-put' policy with an extra twist (lock-in). The 'stay-put' policy of encouraging people to stay in their flats etc is sometimes used where more problems than help are expected from mass evacuation. A pre-condition is, of course, that the flat is sufficiently sealed against smoke, has sufficient fire resistance and can be accessed by the brigade. Harry

Hi Michael Just be careful when changing things around. The Water mist maintenance manual is here Please follow it carefully. You do invalidate any warranties of the extinguisher if you are starting to swap things around or start taking things apart without being a certified engineer. Harry

Hi Simon There is no requirement for external access, as long as the door can be opened easily from the inside and is (in general) opening towards the outside Harry

Hi Yvonne As long as they are of a type that breaks easily that would be quite ok. See http://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-exit-door-security-seal/ These are used to indicate if anybody has opened the doors unauthorised and to discourage unauthorised use (eg for a smoke). If you need a knife or similar to break them, then that would not be allowed as it would delay the evacuation in an emergency. Harry

I would be interested in a bit of feedback: If you have a business with water, foam and powder extinguishers installed in your premises - how often does your service engineer completely replace the units? Every five years? Every ten years? Only when the cylinders are rusty etc? Does it matter to the engineer if the extinguishers are powder or foam/water? Do you get service exchange units installed or new? Thanks for your time Harry

Hi Tom The E-series water mist extinguisher is tested to 35000V and can be sold as safe on live electrical fires up to 1000V, as long as a safety distance of 1m is adhered to. Interestingly, the conductivity of normal water, if used in a 'dry' water mist extinguisher, was not seen as a particular issue by the manufacturer. I guess this is due to the droplets not touching each other to conduct electricity? What makes the E-series water mist safe on electrical fires is also the fact that it does not form puddles that could conduct electricity. Harry

Hi Charly yes, you are supposed to use de-ionised water. Whilst this makes no difference with regards to the ability to fight a fire, bacteria could theoretically breed in un-treated or normal water. As the 'dry' water mist extinguishers produce such a fine, microscopic water mist, the user could inhale some of the fine mist when fighting the fire and after a few years and refills, the water can get a bit smelly. Our engineers therefore carry de-ionised water for refills. Harry

Hi Michael I am glad all is sorted. I have four daughters and a tragedy as you described it is really unbearable to even think about when you have children yourself. I guess you have already carried out escape route planning with the children? Do they know how to get out of the window if the landing is filled with smoke? Harry

Hi Michael we are referring here to the 3 and 6 water with additive (Ultrafire). Both the 3 and 6 l version, although having different hoses and nozzles, have 3 rotors each. I checked some extinguishers this morning in the warehouse and they are all correct. There is, of course, the chance that the rotors fell out when you were opening them. When I opened the 6 l version, I had rotors flying all over the carpet! Nevertheless, I appreciate inquisitiveness and I wish more people would take an interest in the subject of fire fighting and the equipment used. I spoke with Shawn, the engineer who yesterday answered your earlier email. He had concentrated mainly on your questions and missed the fact that one photo only showed one rotor. If you are still short of two rotors, I will see if I can find a spare hose and send it to you. In actual fact, Shawn is rifling through his stock of spares right now! Harry

Hi Michael The 'dry' water mist extinguishers (E-Series) were designed to achieve a microscopic droplet size at a lower pressure (12 bar) than sprinklers use. The dry water mist extinguishers produce a 25 micron droplet size. Water spray, whilst also creating droplets rather than a continuous jet, have a much larger droplet size. For a pure A class fire if you compare the 3l dry water mist (8A) and the 3l water with additive (13A), the latter one is of course more powerful. If, however, you are looking at a typical household with its spread of fire risks (paper, wood, electrical, fats, gas, clothing, Christmas trees), the dry water mist extinguisher is capable to deal with all of them, while the water with additive extinguisher would struggle with one or two of the categories (fat, possibly electrical, possibly Christmas tree). Dry water mist extinguishers are also safer to use, as they form a barrier between the fire and the user. Dry water mist extinguishers also cause less damage. We had a customer recently, who installed the E-Series dry water mists in their hotels and a fire broke out a few days later when a customer crammed a croissant in a toaster which promptly started to burn. The customer extinguished the fire successfully (of course), but surprisingly, the toaster was still found usable when PAT tested after the fire! The area between coated cylinder and thread, with most traditional extinguishers. appears slightly rusty. The area is covered in grease and looks brownish. You can just wipe it off with a cloth. I am impressed by your resourcefulness! Harry

Hi Michael My brother in law also has a powder extinguisher from his boat which is 20-30 years old and he never fails to rub it in that it is still in perfect condition (powder can be heard moving freely and the pressure gauge is in the green). I am sure that many extinguishers last longer than the recommended lifespan and for households it is perfectly acceptable to use their own judgement. However, I would be cautious in exceeding the lifespan recommended by the manufacturer. Quality extinguishers, as for example Gloria, are guaranteed by some retailers for ten years but there are a number of manufacturers of smaller extinguishers whose extinguishers are designed for a shorter lifespan. Harry

If your CO alarm goes off you need to take it very seriously. There is a simple guide available with telephone numbers of the relevant services.

Hi John I would assume that if only your own staff is within the warehousing buildings, non-maintained emergency lighting might in general be sufficient. Areas of higher risk (plant, fork lift routes next to footpaths, areas used by external drivers) might require maintained emergency lighting. Harry

Hi Darren It appears strange to me that your company should have installed extinguishers and then runs the risk of staff not knowing how to handle the extinguishers. That would surely open you to a liability claim if a member of staff should come to harm when using an extinguisher incorrectly. Extinguishers really help to stop fires in the initial stages. The FIA published a study in 2010 where they found that extinguishers were successful in between 86% and 91% of incidents where a fire was tackled with an extinguisher! Why would you risk not being able to tackle small fires? A fire that is not extinguished quickly not only threatens the safety of your staff but also the continuation of your business. If the multitude of different extinguishers causes you problems, you could consider a broad spectrum extinguisher like the dry water mist extinguishers (E-Series) from Jewel. These can be used on A, B, C and F class fires and are safe on electrical fires, as long as a safety distance of 1 metre is adhered to. They have the added advantage that they create a cooler mist layer between user and the flames. Harry

For vehicles carrying dangerous goods, the following ADR rules aply (ADR 8.1.4.1). Weights listed below are usually powder extinguisher weights, but it is possible to substitute powder with other extinguishing media. Vehicle <3.5 tonnes: 2 Extinguishers min, min total weight 4kg, minimum size of each extinguisher 2kg Vehicle >3.5 tonnes: 2 Extinguishers min, min total weight 8kg, one extinguisher has to be at least 6kg Vehicle >7.5 tonnes: 2 Extinguishers min, min total weight 12kg, one extinguisher has to be at least 6kg For any other business vehicles, I agree with Tom that 2kg are required. Harry

Hi Tom Not quite sure about this. I had a chat with Jalite about this. They state that their fire exit signs adhere to BS5499-1. According to Jalite, the first letter should be in capitals and the remainder should be lower case. This is because people with dyslexia and other reading problems may struggle to understand signs where the lettering is all capitals. Harry

Glad to hear that! Yes, when changing from alkaline battery backup to rechargeable lithium battery in your smoke alarm, you need to change the cable harness.

Hi Louis You could also try to change the backup batteries. If this does not stop the chirping, you need to try new smoke alarm units. If you bought the alarms from Safelincs, please send us your details and we will swap them out for free. Harry

Hi Louis when looking at the official list of replacement smoke alarms for Kidde and Ei, the choice of smoke alarm was correct. I have now contacted Kidde to ask for help. Back in a bit Harry

Hi Louis sounds pretty annoying! Have you checked that the power supply has been switched back on again after the replacement of the smoke alarms? Believe it or not, this happens quite often. Harry

Hi Garry I would also recommend the dry water mist extinguishers. We recently did a video with a Christmas tree that show this fairly new type of extinguisher in action Harry

Hi Daniel The yellow flag indicates that this particular break point has been activated. To reset, you will usually need a special key. The person carrying out your regular fire drill should have this key, as he/she will sometimes be triggering the alarms with these manual break points. Harry

Thanks, Tom, for pointing this out. Somebody in responsibility exchanged the location of all the relevant (and free) government guides without creating a forwarding rule. When people now search for the fire risk assessment guides in google, they cannot easily find the free guides but are fed links to sellers of those chargeable guides! I have updated all links to the free guides Harry