Evacuation Plans

We have just had a fire alarm service with a letter a large sized fire related contractor stating that we don't fully comply with BS5839 due to our zone plans don't show show doors or toilets marked up in applicable rooms. In a care home I take it they refer to ensuit facilities. The zone chart was previously done some years ago and wondering if they are reffering to the 2025 standard as they stat they work to the current standard. Is this a retrospective requirement to update everything to the 2025 standards?

i have a mid terraced house with a middle bedroom that has a window situated above a glass roof. i need an escape route. The bedroom door opens onto an open landing leading to open stairs, so i guess that is not an option. i have been advised that an escape ladder onto the glass roof is also not an option as the glass is not fire glass. The research that i have done offers limited solutions, as follows: 1. Create a fire resistant hatch into an adjoining bedroom. So go through the hatch and escape from other bedroom via window to front of the house 2. Replace the glass with fire glass (not easy to do, not practical, and likely to be expensive) 3. Build a pla…

I have been advised that I need a sprinkler system in my home due to a attic conversion having a floor level above 7.5m from the ground floor. Due to the Building regulations being woolly, is their any way I can use extinguishers or fire protect the escape route. 3 years ago I was involved with a renovation of a 4 story building which had student accommadation in and the sprinkler system was omitted and extinguishers were used. Please can anyone help, Regards Paul

I rent a house in a row of houses 2nd from the end with only one door. If there is a fire in the 3rd and 4th houses, I will not be able to escape as there is a padlock on the gate of the 1st house. Is this legal?

Hi, We have been asked to document a PEEP for a new resident in our supported living facility. The facility provides self-contained accommodation (flats) for service users with mental health/substance use and the only support provided is in relation to these issues (they are generally mobile and live mostly independently). As it stands, staff members on site are not expected to assist in an evacuation. Some blocks are staffed at all times, others have no staff on site at all. This specific site does have security staff on site overnight. We have a new resident who uses an electric wheelchair and has been placed on the second floor of the building. On a day to …

Hi . 3 story semi residential house Does anyone have advice regarding transom windows.We have one above our 1st floor main bedroom door (now a fd30) and this opens onto our protected walkway (landing).We also have one above our front door ,both smaller than half sq mtre.Will these need to be replaced with fire rated glass . Thanks

Hi We have an investigation time of 4 mins programmed into the system, allowing time to investigate however we now only have one receptionist (a lone worker) on duty at night and have been told to reprogram the system to go into full evacuation at this time, that is with a single person on duty they must stay at the panel after calling the fire brigade if no answer from the room. Is this a law or guidance ?

I live in an apartment which I own and which is part of a complex on five floors containing 50 apartments. Our management company own and manage the property and have no regard whatsoever for the way in which they spend money and then charge it back to us owners. The building was opened in 2019. It has 2 lifts and 2 stairwells. In November 2023, the management company installed an evacuation chair in one of the top floor stairwells at a cost of around £560. This was then charged to the residents. If the chair was required, I asked why it wasnt in place before residents took up occupancy from 2019 onwards and why, suddenly 4 years later, it had to be install…

When a hotel displays their evacuation plan on the back of the fire doors in every hotel room, are there any regulations for the picture frame? Does the frame need to be made of fire retardant material? Or can it be a regular of the shelf frame? Thank you

Hi, I have got myself somewhat stuck. I have been asked to help devise a Generic Emergency Evacuation Plan for a retail store. From my searching online I have found examples from universities (e.g. Fire procedures (reading.ac.uk), which seem to be more what I would call the end result. I may be under the wrong impression but I thought the GEEP is the document that explains the approach to getting persons with disabilities out of the building who are not employees and therefore would not be familiar with the approach. Am I looking at this wrong? Would the plan around evacuation be solely done in the evac plan document and the GEEP is more the 'public fac…

I work in a warehouse with offices attached. We have a sweeping plan in place because the sign in/ out procedure was not being used properly 100% of the time. Office workers now work from home but have recently started returning to the office on an adhoc basis. If an office worker stays late at the office, lone working , I cannot utilise the sweeping plan because the this would mean staff in the warehouse would have to leave the warehouse to reach the office and this would take time. I’m not sure how I can safely protect the safety of the lone worker should the fire alarm sound.

I've been searching the internet but I can't find this anywhere: How much space is required outside a commercial building's fire escape? I rent a small field for a couple of ponies next to some commercial units and there's a distinct lack of knowledge on whether the owner of the land is able to rent the area to me for my ponies at the same time as renting the unit out to someone else with an emergency exit leading out on it. I of course, feel the exits should be used in case of emergency only, however the new tenants use them for their convenience, taking their lunch breaks out in my pony's field, leaving the fire exits open most of the time and today, putting a cou…

I live on a residential site near a static caravan and touring park. There is only one road into the static site but the fire meeting point is at the entrance, meaning no emergency vehicles would have a clear route and any vehicles exiting would also be impeded by people at the fire marshalling point - is this safe practice? Thanks JC

I live on the fifth floor. When the lift breaks we have been told to use the fire escape, internal, is this legal?

I'm not sure which heading this fits under so apologies if it is in the wrong place. We have a 4 floor block of flats with a "stay put" policy. Each floor is a compartment and has a part 1 detector opening a smoke vent on that floor. The compartment is separated from the stairs by a 60 minute door. There is a single protected (fire fighting) stair with a manually operated vent above it in the roof. The Fire Service can use a MCP by the entrance door to open the roof vent if they wish, but there is no smoke detection on the stairwell. ADB Vol1 seems to suggest that if the travel from the fire door to the stairs is under 4.5m, smoke detection is not required …

Hi All Would it be reasonable for a hotel to silence their fire alarm panel whilst they investigate for a fire to avoid waking residents in the case of a false alarm? At the moment the sounder goes off, they silence it then if a real evacuation is needed they set the sounder off again. In my opinion this would cause confusion and raise doubt with the residents of the validity of any alarm sounding in the future.

On site we have a locked gate that blocks the way out from a fire route, is the gate allowed to be locked and only opened by key when there is an evacuation in process. If not what solutions are there?

Hi, if we fit a fire escape ladder as an extra escape route option, what is the distance it should be from the nearest fire escape?

My question is in reference to a privately owned 2nd floor apartment managed by a company - common area only and not classed as high rise Personally i would not expect a management company to undertake a PEEP for for a privately owned property even if within a managed building (Property is not a care home etc) However the lady cannot access the stairs due to mobility issues and lift is not usable Any thoughts gratefully received Thank you

Hi All, I've picked up a small project where we are being asked to confirm the capacity of an existing roof terrace of a 6 storey office building. The building is a smidge under 18M high, roof terrace is approx. 175 Sq. M. Single means of escape via external staircase with a clear width of 1000mm between handrails. Max travel distance is 18M. Use of building is Offices. The means of escape is 1 way i.e. it's only used for egress. I've tried reviewing the previous Architect's information and can't find an answer to their designed capacity and of course our usual independent approve inspector is rightly suggesting that the building tenant produces a Fire Risk…

Hi, I dont know if i have found the right place to ask. I currently rent a property that has no rear windows or rear exit door, i am alittle concerned this is not safe if there was a fire, is it legal to build a house with no rear exit or rear windows. Thanks for your help

What’s your thoughts on these Fire Action Notices? They are the only ones in the premise. What if people don’t have a phone? Should there not be some written ones with actions and assembly point??

What is the appropriate evacuation strategy to use in a care home, now used for extra care? Applying specialised housing potentially implies that 30 mins FR is ok as building is low level but having a stay put in a care home designed building doesn't sit comfortably with me. Advice and reference to guides welcome

Where a fire assembly point for a hall is accessed by a private roadway owned by a third party (over which there is a right of way for hall users), would the hall management be liable for any slips/trips that occurred on the roadway as a result of poor maintenance of its surface?

Hi could you clarify something please. BS9999 16.6.1 says you should discount a storey exit when calculating available exit width (if there is more than one storey exit). However, 17.3.2 says if your escape stairs have protected lobbies you don't need to discount a stair. If escape exits are at the bottom of the stairwells, and the stairwells have protected lobbies, can we avoid discounting one of the exit widths?