AnthonyB

Pre 1991 there is a larger chance the separation isn't sufficient, although regardless of age inspection is preferred to confirm. If not fire separated then regardless of whether the two areas are owned by the same or different parties there remains a legal duty to mitigate the risk to relevant persons either by installing separation or providing detection to the shop linked to sounders in the flats.

I've assumed that because there is a panel referred to that it's a Part 1 or Part 6 grade A system

Fire alarm - weekly testing using different call points in rotaton; 6 monthly service by a competent person with 100% of the system tested over a 12 month period Emergency lighting - monthly function ('flick') test of all fittings; annual duration (usually 3 hours) test of all fittings. (Don't be conned into a 1 hour part duration test at 6 months, it hasn't been required since 2004 and only wears out the lighting quicker)

Your work may be subject to Building Regulations and the Building Control process will cover certain aspects of fire safety. Other aspects are dealt with by carrying out a fire risk assessment. Useful links: https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-approval https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-sleeping-accommodation

Discharge? About 15 seconds. Service life? The minimum service life is 5 years at which point it's cheaper to replace it than continue it's life - most service firms will do this. In reality if Extended Serviced (discharged, stripped down, examined in an out, consumables replaced, parts cleaned, extinguisher refilled) ever 5 years a powder extinguisher can last indefinitely until it physically deteriorates (rust, dents,etc) or the parts required to maintain the extinguisher are no longer produced. Depending on the make of extinguisher this can be anything from 5 years to 25 years

You are better asking this question on www.firealarmengineers.com/forum

Not normally, no.

There should be a permanent label with this on the actual blanket. There are so many fake blankets around that fail on usage and unless it has a BS Kitemark with a verifiable KM number I wouldn't trust it with a bargepole!

As there is a duty to limit false alarms the likelihood of this should be low - also many suites have deadlocks for use out of hours so when the office is empty and the fire alarm goes off the premises remain secure. Life safety trumps property safety so whilst there is the ability in BS7273-4 (the standard covering the use of these locks on escape routes) to risk assess out some of the emergency release provisions it's usually where the security issue is a greater safety risk than that of fire.

You need no electrical fire alarm or automatic detection. Due to the size and layout of the premises your means of fire detection & warning as required by legislation is human senses (sight and smell) to detect and voice to warn. The official entry level guidance for small premises reflects this. Do not be conned into paying to provide anything extra for detection/alarm, it's not required and no real benefit to life safety (although if you really don't want to just use your voice a whistle or air horn would suit). Emergency lighting could be a torch and a single small extinguisher suitable means of fighting fire (preferably 2l foam spray or 1l water mist as powder wouldn't be advisable in such a small space). Technically you only need one exit too.

Grenfell was built in the 70's and complied with Building Regulations at the time (which referred to CP3 chapter lV part 1 as the standard to follow).0 It was refurbished in the mid 2000's and the alteration work (only - not the whole building) was subject to the Building Regs and the then current edition of Approved Document B. It is argued that the cladding installation complied with ADB. You can still build a high rise single stair block of flats, I've dealt with a few. This is because whilst the Building Regulations are law they only set broad functional aims. Approved Document B is not statutory and is only one way to meet the functional aims in the regulations. You can use alternative solutions as long as they can be demonstrated to give the equivalent level of safety. This could be by using BS9991 (BS9999 is not for flats, only certain commercial buildings) or a bespoke engineered solution using BS7974 fire engineering principles. One of the high rises I refer to, built in the 2000's, has a single stair with extended corridor distance and also non standard open plan flat layouts as it uses residential sprinklers to each apartment and a purpose designed mechanical smoke control system to the corridors. Building regs are not retrospective and so existing single stair high rises are perfectly acceptable, with thousands of fires in these over the decades not making the news because they stay in the flat of origin. It's very likely if the flat of fire origin occurred in a non refurbished Grenfell we may not have read about it other than in local press as you would only have the original non combustible concrete fascia.

Maritime rules probably differ as do different countries standards, however on the mainland UK a cartridge foam extinguisher must have the foam solution and cartridge renewed at 5 years (after testing by discharge). A cartridge's total life is 10 years after which it can no longer be refilled or used in an extinguisher. No upper limit is set for extinguisher life although some recommendations look at a 20 year service life unless physical condition or lack of parts forces an earlier retirement.

Assuming this is not domestic premises, flats, etc: Yes, unless it's a property protection system not intended for the preservation of life. A fire alarm system starts with manual fire warning and call points and sounders are always the starting point to meet legislation and has been the case for over 50 years. In most buildings you can stop there and you only need to add detection if there is a specific risk requiring it (e.g. inner rooms, sleeping risk, etc)

If you are not using the upper floor and the ground floor area isn't massive such that you can clearly hear the manual alarm throughout it then it would meet the life safety requirements of the Fire Safety Order. Automatic detection would only be needed if a fire could spread unnoticed such that it compromises escape (e.g. an inner room) and an electrical fire alarm system of linked call points, sounders and control panel would only likely be needed if you use both floors. An insurer is concerned with property protection and loss prevention, which are outside the scope of fire safety legislation (which doesn't care that much if a premises burns down as long as there are no deaths & Injuries) and their requirements have no legal force and are a contractual matter - i.e. they may decline to cover fire loss or may require excess premiums if precautions not to their requirement are not present. As it's the landlord's insurer and not yours then they should be providing any fixed installation upgrades as you are unlikely to have a lease making you responsible if you aren't also responsible for insurance.

The US has been heavily into halocarbons for well over 20 years with Halotron & FE-36 portables being sold as standard items for all uses, not just air. The fact that some Halocarbons such as Halotron are prohibited in the EU, plus the poor mass for mass comparative performance of other agents in portable form means that Halon substitutes in portables never took off in the general market and the specialist market that needed halon has held onto it to the last minute of the replacement deadlines, begrudgingly accepting media such as FE-36 when they couldn't hold on to halon any longer. Whilst newer developments such as Novec are well performing, their high cost,plus the fact that the non vapourising liquid halon alternatives have had 20 years to become established, means that unless something amazingly cheap & effective comes along then most of Europe will be sticking to non VL agents

Yes, one of the cornerstones of residential block fire safety has been to ensure residents are completely clear on the fire procedure (be it stay put, full evacuation or something in between) and are aware of key fire safety points such as not changing flat front doors, keeping common circulation areas free from storage, obstructions and ignition sources, etc. Residents being unclear of what to do has been connected with deaths in the past.

Most soft toys can only be surfaced wiped. In addition to soot fires generate various toxic and hazardous by products which could contaminate the toys so really renewal is the safest option - your loss adjuster should have written these off in your claim as fire damaged

Before 2002 it was still permissible for detection circuits to be not fire resistant as long as sounder circuits were fire resistant, although most legitimate and competent installers had been wiring all FR for years. After 2002 all new systems and any extensions or alterations to existing systems had to be in FR. An existing system need not be upgraded unless a risk assessment determines otherwise, however it keeping non FR cable it's important to have the panel in 'Short Circuit = Fire' mode - this is why the use of non FR cabling used to be allowed as in the old days panels worked on a short creating a fire signal not a fault in case the detection cabling was damaged by fire before a call point or detector was operated. A modern panel will normally as default only give a fault on short (as all cabling is expected to be FR) but most decent makes can be set to SC=F for use on older systems.

If you aren't near Lincoln, but are nearer Sheffield I have a few too!

I've answered a similar question elsewhere on here - you can if you feel competent using the guidance provided, otherwise you would need to use a suitable third party. The risk assessor as well as the responsible person can be legally liable where an FRA is not suitable and sufficient. For conversions: http://www.cieh.org/library/Knowledge/Housing/National_fire_safety_guidance_08.pdf For purpose built: http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/publications/-/journal_content/56/10171/3369777/PUBLICATION-TEMPLATE From https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-safety-law-and-guidance-documents-for-business

If it's that recent you can get the flammability rating from the manufacturer and check it's OK - you may not need to remove it. It should have been addressed during the Building Control process for the conversion (assuming it was a legitimate conversion and went through a BCO or AI) as well and thus there should be a paper trail (no pun intended) for this too. The wrong paint or indeed areas with several layers of paint applied over years can be an issue too.

Ask which British Standard the FRA is referring to - it's not unknown for them to be quoting wrongly! The maintenance intervals is BS7273-4 will be taken as the benchmark in any legal case or audit. It is possible to have a different regime of testing, but only if it can be demonstrated that it provides an equal level of safety proportionate to the risk. Sainsburys did this with their fire alarm testing, but had to do a lot of data analysis to prove their point (helped by their detailed records, otherwise they would have been stuck.) The intervals mirror fire alarm intervals, although the weekly test there isn't of all call points, just different ones in rotation, perhaps a similar regime with your green releases would be easier to implement

Yes. With stored pressure extinguishers you cannot 100% ensure they will work or are in safe condition just by the annual basic service. The discharge test, strip down and internal examination is the only way of detecting defects affecting safety or efficacy. Stuck gauges on leaky valves, internal corrosion, detached diptubes, etc. Also the extinguishing agent deteriorates with age and requires renewal to maintained efficacy. Before end disposal we often use 5+ year old extinguishers on training courses (where failure to operate is less of an issue and we take more than we need) and it's not as uncommon as you might think where they fail or do not perform as well as designed. The user servicable P50 range (available from Safelincs) does have the benefit of a 10 year interval between tests and you can do the annual check in house.

Do the premises operate a stay put policy? If so the stair widths are nowhere near as important as where you would be trying to get all occupiers down in one go. Sounds like a lack of ability to correctly risk assess in the way often associated with H&S

You are likely to require Building Control approval depending on a couple of factors - that process will answer your query specific to your house: https://www.labc.co.uk/your-project/homeowners/building-control-internal-alterations#buildingremoving