Does it need a fire alarm

[Lee]

I know of a factory which is 20000 sq foot split into 2 parts by a concrete block wall, one side is the production area making plastic component's and the other is warehouse space where only 1 man works for approx. 1 hour per day in a wooden grinding room. In the production area there are 15 workers. There is a very old manual fire alarm system and both ends of the production area but never serviced, in fact the owners are unsure whether it still works although a red light is lit at the side of the break glass point 

Both areas are open areas and with a high roof, any fire in the production area would be immediately seen by the workers. But the lone worker wouldn't know of any fire in the production area, nor would the other section if there was a fire in the warehouse. I have to point out that house keeping is ok with no fire loading and nothing near any points of ignition. I am wondering what the solution would be regarding the fire alarm. The RRO (article 13)states that there should be fire detection and alarm in place but before any detector would work in this premise I would have thought the fire would have been seen. I don't think the company could afford a brand new fire alarm and detection system but what would you guys recommend?.   

[AnthonyB]

Minimum legal requirement is a manual fire alarm system, which they have, but appear to have neglected to maintain in breach of article 17 of the Fire Safety Order.

The red light would usually indicate the call point has been activated - somewhere there should be a control panel which will probably be in 'fire' but silenced.

Get your existing system serviced and back up to full order then carry out a fire risk assessment to determine (amongst other things) if a fire could develop unnoticed & prejudice the escape of anyone. It may be that you need no detectors or only a couple - you wouldn't normally need detection everywhere for life safety in this type of building (even though an alarm installer may try and convince you otherwise!)

I can't be specific without seeing the site.