Mobility Scooter in communal area

[Guest Dawnpre]

Hi

I am a manager of an independant living scheme for the elderly in Rastrick, Brighouse, West Yorkshire and I have 2 tenants that are wanting a mobility scooter and i have been told by my line manager that to store them in a communal area i would need to get a fire officer to do an inspection on the court, could you please inform me who i would need to contact.

[Safelincs]

Hi

The owner or operator of the independent living scheme is responsible to carry out a fire risk assessment. This responsibility might have been delegated to you. The fire brigade can give advice but ultimately, you or another responsible person has to ensure the adherence to the Regulatory Reform Order and the guides derived from it. If you feel that you need external advice, you have to consider employing a fire risk assessor who will be able to give written guidance and recommendations.

You will need to work out if the mobility scooters are obstructing the escape route to cause a risk to people escaping the building in the case of a fire. The width required depends from the number of people having to escape from a building. You need to take into account whether the people escaping are able to walk unaided, whether they need wheelchairs and if there is a risk that the mobility scooters could be left in or pushed into the escape route itself rather than being parked correctly.

I hope this helps

Harry

[Tom Sutton]

Checkout http://www.leicester...-scooters.shtml and http://fire.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4795.0

there are others do an internet search for " Mobility Scooters Fire " you may find them interesting.

[Guest StevChr]

I live and own in a 2bed apartment, there are 5 other appartments within the main structure/building.

Two on the ground, two on the 1st and finally two on the top. The neighbour and I share an extremely large landing, 4.5m width x 15-20m length (est).

Both the neighbour and I keep our push bikes/bicycles on the landing, x2 adult sized bikes, x1 small childs bike and a small scooter.

I live at my address with my wife and her three children. The Management company have sent me a letter stating that my neighbour and I have to remove the bikes.

We are not happy with this as there is more than enough room to exit the building in a hurry, the bikes only take up a small amount of space as I check them daily to ensure they are stored appropriately (out of the way). Can the management company continue to bully me in this way... The bikes do not affect/concern the neigbour and I, as a member of the police service (constable) I cannot see how they will hinder other such emergency services...

I would be extremely grateful for any advice

[Tom Sutton]

I am assuming the scooter is not a motorized scooter, if so then it does appear to be a over zealous fire risk assessment. Is it possible for the bikes to be secured to the wall so they cannot fall over this would help your argument but I would contact the fire service who are the enforcement authority for the The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and ask their advice. Most Fire and Rescue Services will do a free home FRA and you could ask them do they consider the bikes an obstruction/tripping hazard.

[Guest JoannaW]

I live in a block I would like to ask where I can keep my pushchair, according to fire safety procedure.The owner of this building told me that inside of flat byt my flat is small there is no place in the corridor because of the doors, he said in the living room, or outside. Now I keep in my small corridor which is main escape routes. Thank you.

[Tom Sutton]

Joanna what you are saying sounds irresponsible to me, you could be putting yourself and your neighbours at risk in the case of a fire. This could only be established subject to a fire risk assessment but could you not find some way in keeping it in your flat. Will the pushchair not fold up when not in use to enable it to be parked inside the flat.

I would suggest you follow the same advice I gave Steve and ask the local fire and rescue service for a fire safety home check. They may be able to suggest a solution which could be locating it in the corridor if there is sufficient room.

[Guest Mobility scooter]

My dad lives in high rise sheltered houseing and has been told by council he can't keep his mobility scooter outside his flat as it will cause an obstruction and/or the battery could cause a fire!? The area outside his flat is big and As he's the top flat no one but his visitors go there. The fire service have been today and they're at a loss as to why he can't store it on his landing & they've no records of any mobility scooter catching fire (via the battery). Their risk assessment is, that there is no risk.

So guessing it's just a jobs worth with the local council. 

[AnthonyB]

Not very clued up fire service personnel if they've never heard of any mobility scooter fires!
It's in line with HMG and National Fire Chief's Council guidance and because this is the result (& it's not even lithium ion)