protected/unprotected fire escape

[Guest Lee]

Can someone define a protected fire escape to a unprotected one, is emergency lighting, signage required in both areas, when should it cross between unprotected to a protected route

[AnthonyB]

The official definition:

Protected route: An escape route which is adequately protected from the rest of the building by a fire-resisting construction.

In practice this is usually to a minimum of 30 minutes fire resistance (in some cases it can be much more) and 'construction' is usually walls, ceilings, glazing, doors, etc.

Once in a protected route it should lead to a final exit to a place of safety, you should not usually have to leave a protected route to then go through an unprotected one to reach an exit.

Emergency lighting is often required to escape routes as is signage, but there are always exceptions - your Fire Risk Assessment will determine this.

 

[Tom Sutton]

Lee are you saying when does an unprotected route need to be a protected route.

If so this is the principle of means of escape and I see it as three stages, stage one the unprotected area, stage two the protected route and stage three, ultimate safety.

Stage one, you have to evacuate and the rules on travel distance provide a powerful control on the size of compartments, the distance to exits and the number of exits provided. Stair and exit widths dictate the maximum time required for physical evacuation to protected escape routes. 

Stage two is a protected, comparative safe route to outside the premises.

Stage three is the route from outside the premises, away from the building to ultimate safety.

As AB has said once in a protected route it must lead to a place of ultimate safety.

[Guest Rose.E]

Please can someone advise urgently as my fellow Tenants and I are really concerned.

We share an HMO with 6 occupants; 3 on the ground floor and 3 on the next floor ( It is a two storey house: including ground floor).

There is a garden but the only access is for the Tenant whose room it leads off.

There is no emergency lighting, one fire extinguisher upstairs and a fire blanket in the kitchen.

The local council are not concerned that the property is not Licensed in spite of it being a known HMO for at least 10 years.

 

As a new resident to this area, I am VERY concerned that this local authority seem to have a very non-impartial/ objective relationship with Private Landlords!

I am even more concerned to learn of a dreadful fire in 2012/2015 in which a mother and her small child perished in a house fire. The House was apparently an unlicensed HMO but contrary to "statements of regret and lessons being learnt" the Local Authority are NOT adhering to or complying with their legal responsibilities.

What can we do as Tenants to ensure we are safe if the local authority are not protecting HMO tenants?

 

Thank you for any advice given.

 

[AnthonyB]

The shared areas of Houses in Multiple Occupation are also subject to the Fire Safety Order as well as the Housing Act so you could contact the Fire Service.

Also under the new HMO legislation that came in in October 2018 these premises are now subject for Mandatory Licensing.