AnthonyB

It's certainly written in BS5306-3:2017 for portable extinguishers, whereas in standards for other systems it's not so lenient - fire alarms are "not exceeding six months" allowing early, but not late, servicing

Certain environments will require specific training and a standard online course may be unsuitable - e.g. Care Homes where the fire risks, evacuation strategies and staff duties are far different from those in normal premises. You need to check the contents of the course against the procedures, roles and responsibilities in your premises. Some organisations offer sector specific versions of their courses (e.g. https://www.i2comply.com/firesafetyschooltraining.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQiAlpDQBRDmARIsAAW6-DOGEoE6febQAlNY1d_mjDNs9kUlP1OZgOztu-fYPRVYu5B71YI08F0aAkE-EALw_wcB & http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/online-health-and-safety-training-courses/fire-safety-for-schools-online-health-and-safety-training-with-certification.html) However you may find you could use a general course supplemented by information on local procedures, although sector specific is obviously preferred.

Usually no, but as the legislation is risk based if it can be demonstrated to not be a risk in theory it's possible, e.g. no ignition sources nearby, presence of automatic detection &/or suppression, suitable fire resistance to the cupboard, etc.

And if it's a commercial leasehold property the same applies except the standard is BS5839-1:2017 where again the whole system needs to have been tested each year over a minimum of 2 service visits.

The stairwell is required to be what is a protected route, which should have at least 30 minutes fire resistance from a fire on any of the floors and itself be fire sterile so a fire does not start within it. This is why there are thousands of buildings in the UK, including new builds, with only one stair and all safe and legal. The FRA should check that this situation is OK - as well as limits on travel distance and required exit widths there are limits on occupancy on a particular floor - as you are using the area as offices you require 6sq.m. per person and you could be overloading the floor

In a building of the size you are in there should be no reason to not be able to add the detector to your existing panel (unless it's something very weird and obsolete with no spares made), you are unlikely to have exceeded your zone device limits or loop loadings, this wasn't accompanied by a quote to put in a whole new system to achieve this by any chance? If the detection is only required to give a local warning (e.g. an inner room situation) then you could use BS5839 Part 6 Grade D (mains & battery back up) domestic smoke alarms with radio link bases, although strictly speaking you should be extending the BS5839 Part 1 commercial system. If a more wider warning is needed then you have no option but to extend the commercial system. By across the escape route do you mean you have to pass through the room to exit? IT room detection is usually recommended for property protection only and not statutory life safety compliance unless the building overall needs a high level of cover (note that normal offices don't require detection at all unless multioccupied and then usually only to limited areas)

However the windows may require to be openable for smoke control purposes so shouldn't be locked or restricted, depends on the layout

If, as it sounds, the site is an old single company site with multiple separated buildings then there is usually not an automatic requirement to retain the central system, especially as these systems are often either completely obsolete or at least using legacy products and subject to faults or the need for expensive upgrades/replacements. Individual buildings, unless very small would still need their own electrical fire alarm systems - although the cost of installing these will add up a lot up front you can then leave responsibility for weekly testing, 6 monthly servicing and evacuation drills up to your tenants, instead of having to arrange it yourself and recover through the service charge. Where a larger building on site is split up it will require a single common system unless split into distinct units with 60 minute fire walls - easy with a warehouse being split, but an office block cannot be suitably broken up this way so would need a common system covering the common parts and office suits. You could do with a decent FRA and fire alarm spec to help you with this, it's something I've done many times as your scenario is quite common in the property sector which I work in.

Final exit doors do not have to be fire resistant doors nor self closing unless required to protect an external escape route such as an external steel escape stair - no stair nearby, no requirement:

This is why having sufficient fire wardens to sweep the building whilst leaving is essential as roll calls can take to long and the staff lists can be incomplete

In a black & white world it would be no, never. In the real world a risk based approach is more sensible. If the room is large enough, lockable metal cabinets are used for potential combustibles and a separation gap from the installation, then as long as it is well managed and nothing very hazardous is introduced then I see no reason not to if no viable alternative is available. Usually these rooms are also fire rated rooms/cupboards with fire doors where I would accept it - the firestopping would need to be up to date too. Smoke detection would be desirable, but not always essential Care needs to be taken as mixed use of such areas has led to tragedy - the 14 fatality Rosepark Care Home fire in 2004 started in an electrical cupboard also used for storage:

If there isn't a legal agreement (wayleave, easement, means of escape license, lease clause, etc) to go across your yard for escape then you can stop their access, if there is then you are stuck unless there is a break clause.

Last after using a temporary waiting space (aka refuge) as their descent will be slow and to go first will cause a log jam, pushing, trips, etc as the main flow builds up behind them. Protected routes are never less than 30 minutes so there is plenty of safe evacuation time if they are last. Note - in some large/tall buildings with complex phased evacuations or where a PEEP involves the managed use of a firefighting or evacuation lift this can change to leave first, but usually it's last after refuge

All this serves the opinion that Building Control certification is worthless as there is so much flexibility anything goes........

Sounds reasonable to me if managed correctly, certain Care Homes have similar issues where there is a greater risk of residents wandering off. I've risk assessed a similar educational establishment where there is an absconding risk and a security/fire safety balance has had to be made.

In a word, no. It's a protected shaft and complies with the guidance for shafts in Approved Document B (Fire Safety) to the Building Regulations. As long as the horizontal service penetrations are sealed then it's fine.

Sounds like utter rubbish to me as there is nothing in any of the fire safety guides to support this and I think that the other tenant is just wanting to keep the main entrance for themselves. As long as the double fire doors are fitted with self closer and not wedged open there is absolutely no reason not to use them as a personnel access point. Also the BS radar is beeping with the reference to 'closing down'. The way Fire Safety enforcement works is that Prohibition Notices are rarely used and usually reserved for sleeping risk premises with multiple issues such as poor compartmentation, inadequate fire detection & alarms, i.e. an immediate risk of death or serious injury. In commercial premises as yours most breaches are dealt with informally by a fire safety letter (often called a notice of deficiencies/agreed action plan/etc) only escalating to a formal Enforcement Notice for continued non compliance or particularly severe/multiple offences.

As stated there would be no requirement to carry out a FRA as the Fire Safety Order does not apply. The Housing Act 2004 does apply however from what you say if you check what you have provided against the LACORS guidance Tom has linked above you are more than likely to have met the basic fire safety requirements under this legislation. Also even if you had been required to carry out an FRA you appear to fall below the threshold for recording it so there would be nothing to give them anyway!

This hub links to various guidance on the subject: http://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/acetylene.htm

If that's how they want to define it then there is nothing to stop them, there's no right and wrong.

Not automatically no. Most premises have detection over and above what is legally needed for life safety with most buildings actually only requiring manual call points. Where detection is required for life safety it normally has to be tiered with each tier including the cover of a previous tier. You start at L4 covering escape routes only, then go to L3 which is L4 (escape routes) with the addition of cover to rooms opening onto them . The next tier is L2 which is L3 cover (escape rooms plus rooms adjoining) plus defined high risk areas. These areas are specific to a particular building & risks, so in some premises an L2 system would include the boiler room and in others it wouldn't. The top tier is L1 which is coverage to virtually everywhere in a building. A lot of detection is for property protection (known as P systems) and this is often why areas such as server rooms are covered - their location is such that a fire here wouldn't be a life safety risk without the earlier detection (as a person or an escape route detector would catch the fire before it was such a risk) but any delay would be damaging to business continuity. You could say the same for a boiler room, which being an area of special fire risk would often have enhanced structural fire protection such that a fire would be contained such as not to threaten life, but totally destroyed boilers are expensive to replace and may affect the ability to comfortably use the premises. The various sector specific fire safety guides on the gov.uk website, plus the fire alarm standard BS5839-1 give pointers for existing buildings. BS5839-1, along with Approved Document B to the Building Regulations and BS9999 give guidance for the design of new builds. So in summary it's not always a must (especially for servers). A lot depends on the layout and usage of the premises - a traditionally built office would usually need neither covered, a care home would need both, an office using a fire engineered solution to deviate from traditional building regulations guidance would also usually need both - it's all down to risk assessment. (There is an L5 type of coverage which is for a specific risk or fire safety purpose and can involve anything from a single detector to hundreds, but I didn't weant to complicate things for you!)

Heritage doors are normally allowed to be upgraded in situ to increase fire resistance and sealing with various papers, paints, varnishes and surface seals where in other buildings new FD30S doors would be used.This is of course after risk assessment and usually coupled with other mitigation such as automatic detection. However a door needs to shut flush in frame to be effective and so unless there was suitable mitigation you would expect the doors to be positively self closing and latching

The names are interchangeably as they are essentially the same role. Usually the person in charge of overall coordination at an assembly point is known as an Evacuation Controller, Incident Coordinator, Roll Call Coordinator, etc. At the end of the day the terms are not legally defined and an organisation can use what terms they like. In the US a fire warden/marshal is sometimes called a floor warden for example.

The system does not comply with BS5266 by not operating on local circuit failure (assuming the fittings are non maintained) and both the FRA and H&SRA should consider the risks from this and determine how important it is to resolve. Where EL is not connected to local circuits rather than rewiring changing the fittings to maintained overcomes this, or in this case replace the inverter with self contained fittings on the local circuit. Whether this is needed to be done as one big job or as a gradual upgrade will be determined by the risk assessments.

They require an extended service at 5 years and most manufacturer's warranties (where they exist) usually expire at this point too. With powder extinguishers, especially small ones it's often cheaper to simply replace. If they haven't ever been annual serviced even better to replace.