Fire Exits

Hi there Would be grateful for some advice. We have a small shop selling gifts and home accessories which occupies the front (street facing) quarter of a 250 sq m ground floor property. The premises used to be a garage and has old, heavy folding garage doors across the front giving on to the street. The building is Grade 2 listed and we are further restricted by being in a conservation area and in a National Park. At the moment our customers enter and exit the our shop via one "leaf" of the folding doors - approx 700mm wide but this is inward opening. The shop is not deep (6m) so we regard this single exit as sufficient Fire Exit for our small space at pres…

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice regarding a window in a protected stairwell and whetrher or not it's acceptable/acceptable with caveats. It's a manually operated window, no mechancal sysems/AOVs present in the building. The glass is the same as the other windows in the building and is just standard, glazing. not fire rated. Detection is present at the head of the staircase. Compartmentation is all in good order and unbreached. Externally, there is no fire loading (some AC units at ground floor level but these are not directly below and about 2m away, serviced 6 monthly etc.) external fire spread is unlikely due to construction etc. The final exit is below it but, …

I'm reviewing our fire risk assessment and for our 2 storey office block I am doubting myself with the signage. I have always based signage on risk assessments, and for regularly used routes we have only got signs above the final exit, storey exits and in the offices. (most of them are emergency boxes) I have reviewed the layout and I think it is acceptable as it is. We are not open to the public, however, someone wants more signage. Specifically, at every turn on a corridor even when there is no alternative direction to take, ie, you cant go the wrong way and on stairs that turn, a sign at each turn. These aren't dedicated exit routes, they are pa…

I live on a private road. At the bottom of the road was an industrial building that the residents gave permission to be installed 30 years ago providing it was only a fire door for a commercial building. The building was converted by permitted development to a residential property. The developer is now claiming he can still use the door and has an easement over the private road. We have enough evidence to challenge his easement claims but does a fire exit for a commercial building transfer to 2 story residential house. The front door for the building is via the high street that runs along the bottom of the private road.

Hi. Our block is a 1930s block with an internal staircase (from which some flats are accessed). The internal common area landings also lead to external decks. The original common area doors that lead to these decks are fire doors. Some of these deck access doors have been replaced with non-fire rated doors. In addition, some front doors to flats on the external decks are about 1.2m from the deck access doors. Some of these are also not fire doors. No other flats need to pass the front doors to these flats to escape. My question is, do the front doors to flats that are this close to the common area access doors need to be replaced (1) if the common area a…

I am a trustee of a Village hall where we have in the last year replaced our double fire doors. During one of the recent storms both doors were torn open and are now US. There is some uncertainty whether the doors had previously been "jimmied", however our insurance policy is covering the damage costs. I am looing for some impartial advice - the doors have a bar operated opening mechanism that appears to operate a single lock tongue connecting the two doors. There is also a twist lock on both doors that when operated drive pins into retainers within the door frame. The twist locks retract when the bar(s) are pushed from within the hall. The issue is that h…

We have a holiday home which is disabled friendly with a ramp to the front door, level access to the back door. Both doors are double doors and wheelchairs can easily pass through. The ramp is very long (has a resting space in the middle) and in need of repair. Do we need a disabled fire exit out of both doors or can we replace the ramp with steps leaving one fire exit for the disabled. The holiday let is a bungalow and sleeps 8 in 4 double bedrooms. Advice appreciated

Hi, It's my first post there so hi everyone! I'm wondering if this door is repairable or needs replacing due to the holes in the door behind the push pad? https://ibb.co/S4v3fSbr https://ibb.co/DDNwq4t7 Otherwise the door is in good condition. Thank you Rob

I work in a childcare centre where there are doors to the outside play area are also fire exit doors, children are able to open these doors by pushing down on the bar and then get outside at inconvenient times which is unsafe, staff have suggested putting a movable barrier/room divider in front of the door so they can't open it all the time or a simple lock but would this be breaching fire safety regulations and if so is there a better solution or do we just have to put up with it? Thanks

Hello, I have a neighbor who chooses to use the outdoor fire escape stairs as a main entrance instead of using the front door. My issue with this is that the stairs run directly past my window invading my privacy. Can this person legally use these stairs as a main point of entry to their apartment when having access to a main entrance in the building? Regards

Hi everyone, I’ve been digging through loads of documents but still can’t find a definitive answer, so I’m hoping someone here can help me, please. I live in a flat (in a block over 11 metres tall) that was completed in 2020. On my flat entrance door, there’s a sticker showing FD30. From what I understand — based on: 1. Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 1, Requirement B1, and 2. Approved Document B (Fire Safety), Volume 1 – 2019 Edition (effective 30 August 2019), particularly Appendix C and Table C1 — any door in a compartment wall that separates a flat from a space in common use (like a communal corridor) should be FD30S, not just FD…

I'm looking at Approved Document B for Dwellinghouses. I'm struggling to figure out if basements can use any normal protected stairway layout or if 2.16 is saying that it'd need to connect to a final exit in a specific way. Specifically whether they can use the separated routes option that is detailed in 2.5a and diagram 2.2b. Perhaps the answer is obvious to a more experienced eye. Does anyone know? Context is desired: A friend looking at buying their first home. Most likely (given budget and locale) the fairly typical 2 up 2 down layout (where the basement stairs are sandwiched between the kitchen and living room with the final exits on the front and rear …

I am the designated H&S Officer for a soft-play centre for children with additional needs. Our fire doors are push pads or a bar and are alarmed to notify us of any children leaving the building. Would it be acceptable to put bolts on the door or to put the bars/pads further up the door to prevent children from escaping? Weighing it up, there's currently more of a risk posed by this than fire. Thanks

Hi not sure if this is a daft question. I have completed visits at various premises that have enclosed areas outside that exits lead to. I have had offices and small shops and always said that evacuation should involve your main final exit to open air and ultimate safety, with the option if required to move further to say a pedestrian path. In the case of enclosed areas to the rear of a premises that if you can not reach the front final exit or if you are already in an enclosed area, you would not be expected to re enter the building and you are in a place of relative safety, and aslong as you are the building height away you are safe and this is acceptable. …

I live in a four storey flat. We have a back stair outdoor fire escape, with a locked in gate which opens out to an access patio/paved area of about 12 by 12 Feet which leads to a road. The management committee have decided to put low level plant planters across this area approximately 28 inches apart to block cars from using the space for loading, but the height of the planters makes it dangerous for elderly or low vision residents as they could trip over the planters if light fails. Is there a minimum distance that the planters should be apart to make sure in event of an evacuation they would not obstruct people as they might not see them in an emergency situation …

Good eveningb I've just checked into a hotel near Gatwick Airport. It's an old property, which may perrmit it certain variances on safety codes, I don't know. However, I've been surprised to discover that the only window in the room, comes from the ceiling to about my chin. There is virtually no product in the room which anyone could use to climb out of the window in the event of fire. But that's not my greatest concern. I've discovered that the when you open the tiny window, there's a heavy steel bar which runs from the top to bottom of the window, thus preventing any escape whatsoever. There are no locks on these bars. They're most certainly permanent. A…

Hello We are an arts venue that have recently rearranged our spaces. One space we want to use for hires was originally an office and has two single inward facing firedoors. The doors are situated 14m away from one another. The room is 95m2 . Looking in capacity I am led to believe the cap would be 60 as the doors open inward. For the next event we can cap it at 60 but we are looking at what needs to be done to safely increase the capacity. Are the options: 1. Change one door to outward facing or would both need to be outward. 2. Man the space with fire marshals who can latch the doors open then close after evacuation to serve as firedoor. …

I am helping a friend who is a responsible person for a vertical block of three flats, and we have come up against an unclear situation with regard to the external door. The block consists of three flats one above the other, each of which leads via a front door into a communal stairwell. At the bottom there is one door leading to the outside. Obviously the regulations applicable to each flats front door are clear, but the bottom door, I feel, does not need to obey the same fire regulations as it leads to the outside. Would this be a correct supposition: I have read so much from every angle on the internet, but no one says anything on this specific point.

I have a tenant that has just moved into a rented property who is supported by a care worker, when inspecting the property. We have found an old shed that is blocking the rear garden gate, is this classed as illegal (fire exit). Can anyone answer this please. Thanks Baz

Hi. Double door fire exit has one leaf out of order. The fire exit serves area of building that's disused but could still be used by contractors. Leads from disused auditorium. Is it better to fix the faulty leaf or ok to have one leaf out of action? Regs refer to occupancy factor going through exit and now the area is disused, only contractors and any staff that's gone into area in this area now.

No reference to roller shutters is included in BS 7273. It has been proposed to install a roller shutter door that is going to be a designated fire exit. The roller shutter will provide the only exit from an external enclosed area that forms part of the escape route away from the building to a place of ultimate safety. I am considering accepting is as long as the installation complies with BS 7273 with the following three fail safe requirements: 1) It auto opens on power failure. 2) It auto opens on FA actuation. 3) A release mechanism is included in the installation with an emergency release device (green box) next to the shutter. Your thoughts please?

Hi, Please help. We have a maglock entrance door to our building. I have recently had an external company come in and carry out their maintenance. Their remedial works are to fit an interface to the door so in the event of a fire this becomes fail safe. This i understand, but is this a legal requirement to make the door fail safe. The door has a green push button to activate it, but this would not deem it fail safe. Please advise

I live in a small block of flats (23) there is a bin store you have to pass through to get to the fire exit. With the changes in bin collection they start to get over full towards collection day with the potential for bin bags to fall to the floor and block exit. I have mentioned several times to landlord but seams in no rush to sort out. Is this breaking any regulations ? Would like to know so I could include in next letter to them . As it is I always worry a bit as to the right of this store are the gas meters for the whole Block and pipes are behind mesh’s panel you see in pics, but obviously that has passed when built. thanks in advance

My query concerns a building used as a small/medium place of assembly with one exit to the public realm and a second exit to a rear walled garden (with no openings in any of the walls). In principle, is it permissible to consider a walled garden a place of safety for the purposes of fire evacuation? How deep must the walled garden be relative to the height of the building in order to qualify as a place of safety? I can only find rules of thumb for the depth of the standoff distance, ranging from 1 x building height all the way to 2.5x the building height. Is the governmental guidance silent on this aspect - leaving it to building operators to decide, or is there somet…

Hi All, if a pub has 3 final exits, all 3 open inwards, is the occupancy 60 for each door or 60 in total please?