Water extinguishers for sheltered housing association

[Guest IanCamp]

We are a housing association and a the corridor in a sheltered scheme(elderly residents) has 3 water fire extinguishers in the corridor. Is it a legal requirement to have these? as neither the residents or the staff are trained to use them and they would be unsuitable for use in the flats as they have electric cookers. I have been informed of BS 5306 part 8 Clause 8.2 but cannot seem to access a free copy anywhere to check if this is correct. The extinguishers are rated 26A if that makes any difference. Can someone please give me a clear explanation of what to do in terms of removal of the extinguishers as I have had to attend an incident where a resident discharged a fire extinguisher in a flat.

[Safelincs]

Hi Ian, this is a long standing discussion. The British Standard requests extinguishers for most areas, almost ignoring the user's capability and on the other side the fire services sometimes recommend the removal of extinguishers altogether. Please see our article about the topic. In your case, I would assume that your staff, even without any training, would be able to put out a small fire in a waste basket and that overall this would serve the safety and well-being of your residents more than risking an evacuation and the possible destruction of the building. It might be a good idea to give your staff some very basic fire extinguisher training which is offered by most servicing companies or can be ordered as a training packet over the internet. You could also replace the water extinguishers with a more broad spectrum extinguisher such as 'dry water mist extinguishers'. These can be used on live electrical equipment and also cause the minimum damage if used on people on fire or on soft furnishing.

Harry

[AnthonyB]

British Standards are not law and are if anything a guide for professionals. It is quite possible for a competent Fire Risk Assessor to give an acceptable rationale as to why the safety of relevant persons would not be compromised by deviating from the BS recommendations (usually by removing extinguishers in areas with no risk) and I've done this for clients in several premises with no issues from enforcement authorities.

Communal areas with a risk (ignition sources, combustibles) would always require cover (common rooms, laundries, etc, etc). With fire sterile protected corridors, the need is less clear, unless the equipment is intended for the use of the occupiers of the flats, which is unlikely, particularly as unless the occupiers are smokers the likely fire is likely to be either electrical in origin or involving cooking oils, neither of which can be dealt with using water.

Therefore if you are keeping extinguishers they should really be a different type, if you wish to consider removal you should have your risk assessment reviewed by a competent person.