Fire Prevention

Hi My client has just bought this property. The previous landlord didn't appear to be doing weekly testing of the fire alarm. I am struggling to convince my landlord client that we will need to do this. He has claimed that he has been told this isn't necessary. Unfortunately the fire risk assessor did not reference the lack of testing/ onsite docs by the seller. As a second query - I have been advised that the fire alarm is linked between shop and flat stairwell but the two flats have a separate link between fire and smoke alarms. Is this sufficient? I am conscious if a fire starts in the shop/ stairwell, the flats may not hear the alarm. Thanks

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I have a customer that has a Apartment entrance with a glazed section next to the door, I am changing the door to a Fire door FD30. My question is if I re-glaze the side section with fire glass and gaskets, how legitimate is that? is it worth doing? Thanks again Jacob

I am a Landlord of a multi-occupied period property with a mix of tenants, bars, fast food, retail. My insurance company will not insure the building unless all kitchens have a suppression system installed and unfortunately because of the age of the building, this is the only company who will offer insurance. Some of my tenants will not be able to offered a suppression system. Is there a legal requirement for this and if not, why is the insurance company refusing to insure the building if not? It seems like they are not giving us any choice on the matter.

I am currently working on a scheme of 200+ oak vaneer fire doors in an apartment block. The doors are 7 years old and I need some advice on the 20 or so communal double doors. The doors have been installed with no lead-in on the doors, the slave doors are square edged with 2 x 10x4 smoke intumescent strips on the leading edge. On the active master door at present on one side the gaps are around 3-4mm but on the other side the are 5-7mm. Making the gaps 4mm max on both sides won’t work because the doors simply won’t shut. Do you think it would be acceptable to fix a timber stop on the slave door to make it rebated? This would get rid of the excessive gaps. …

Does anyone know what the difference is between BS7177:1996 and BS7177:2008 when it comes to safety of beds and mattresses please? Thanks

Hello, I have a question about bonding and grounding of nonconductive containers. At my job we have a poly drum that we use for bulking flammable lab solvents. The solvent mix contains a small amount of strong acids so we've had to switch from metal to poly drums, and I am not sure what is considered adequate bonding (per OSHA, but also in practical terms). I have read an OSHA interpretation letter from 1999 that says that static charge needs to be equalized/eliminated between any two containers (including nonconductive containers such as poly drums). In this letter, they "permit" two methods: 1)metallic suction pump and draw tube 2)metallic, self-closing f…

At my work place an approved contractor (for fire wall penetrations) has installed a digi lock in to a fire door. Am I right in saying that as there has been modifications to the fire door I will need a certificate for the integrity of this door now it has has holes drilled in it.

Hi, I’m hoping someone can help. I was under the impression that in buildings taller than two stories high, service riser cupboards should have fire stopping between levels as to enable compartmentation. I’ve just just been carrying out some work in a hotel which is four stories tall and the service risers do not have any between level stopping in place. You can see all the way down the riser shaft from top to bottom. Is this not an issue? This was not picked up in previous fire risk assessments. The riser shaft is situated in a communal area of the hotel e.g. a shared corridor leading to the hotel rooms. The doors leading to the riser shaft are fd30 doors but I was …

Our buyer's lender's surveyor asked us to remove the rigid foam insulation from loft (applied by previous owners 12+ years ago) as the lender won't lend due to fire risk. The foam is directly on top of the roof tiles (with no membrane/material underneath). Been a nightmare as it took weeks for contractors to remove the residue from the loft (from cutting and scraping it off). Upon re-inspection the surveyor is still not satisfied with the removal as there is residue of the foam left (stuck to roof tiles). Can this residue still be considered fire-risk? Is the surveyor being unreasonable? Any advise please on how best to remove it if possible? Looked into dry ice blasting …

Could you please check pic and advise if the rigid foam insulation applied in year 2016 to roof is flammable? or could it be fire-rated? Its orange in colour now and buyer's surveyor has considered it a fire risk despite it being a residential house

I find a lot of labeling on fire and gas detectors, does anyone knows the acronym of it (ASH, YSH, USH, OSH)?

I live on the ground floor of a block of 6 flats which are on 2 levels. My flat opens from the front door directly onto the outside. Next to my front door on the outside is a cupboard that I use to store various bits and it also houses my meters for electric and gas. This cupboard has an old wooden door which was installed when the flats were built in 1998 and now the Housing Association which manage the block (I own my flat) have put a notice on my cupboard door saying 'Fire Door Keep Locked'. My question is: 'is this door really regarded a fire door and am I obliged to keep it locked as over the years I use it for delivery of parcels etc and never keep it locked. …

Hi, I recently saw a firestrategy drawing which had a note which said something like 'fire umbrella to be in accordance with Approved Doc B, does anyone know what a fire umbrella is in a building?

I have in the past recommended lifts in mid rise block of student accommodation with a L2 alarm system to be interfaced with the alarm so it returns to the ground floor on fire alarm activativation. It there anywhere in the guidance documents or regs back up this or it is just best practice I have picked up from somewhere?

Good morning, I would be grateful for some advice. I am in the process of replacing 9 existing doors with FD 30 Fire Doors 762mm x 1981mm and new 30mm linings but my problem is that the width of the existing 9 doors varies from 752mm to 760mm, which is only a small amount but is giving me a headache. Therefore, I need to consider trimming between 5mm-10mm off either side to accommodate the existing shortfall and 30mm lining. 1) The suppliers are stating that once you trim more than 4mm of either side then their warranty becomes invalid. Each side has a solid 35mm thick trim down each side. The other option is to increase the aperture to accommodate the…

Hi Can someone please give me advise on the picture attached. This is the construction of a flat wall in a small purpose built block of flats. This is like straw construction with a skim over the top. The flats are on a stay put policy and I’m pretty sure there needs to be 60 minutes compartmentation for a stay put in flats. Will these wall last for 60mins, or are they dangerous? Any information welcome

Hello I am working for an organisation which provides support to places of worship - such as Mosques, Gurdwaras, Temples etc. We want to arrange online train the trainer training so that our consultants (trainers) can then train people who work as staff or volunteers in places of worship to be fire marshals. Does anybody know a good body which has experience of fire safety in these types of organisation and who could provide such an online course? Many thanks Nick

Hi my Grandma just moved into a new build house with an internal garage there is a fire door between the kitchen and the garage and then the ‘back door’ of the house is in the Garage. The back door obviously has a lock but my grandma wants to put a lock on the internal fire door as well I have said she shouldn’t do this as it is a fire door but I wondered if she insisted if there are any implications for doing this I.e affecting insurance? I have read that fire doors can not be locked but unsure if this is relevant to a commercial property only

I have an office in a nursing home that has no window, but all the four walls are internal so there is no option of having a window that opens outside. To add some natural light and airflow a window has been requested, but as this would open into another area of the home (corridor/escape route) how could an openable window be safe? Surely only a non openable fire resistant window can be fitted?

Hello, I have a doubts about the regulations contained in the Approved Document B. What is mean "Not be easily demountable " ? Is it allowed to have 30min fire rated grid ceiling (tiles) to meet this requirement? Or this must be a plasterboard ceiling ? Thank you in advance.

Hope someone can help please. Am thinking of installing a laundry chute from a first floor laundry room to a ground floor laundry room, both laundry rooms will have fire rated doors. Does the chute have to have its own fire rated door too? If so: does this apply on both floors? Would putting a fire rated door on the cupboard it is accessed from be adequate. Upstairs the cupboard would be only for laundry chute acces. Downstairs it is a large cupboard with water tanks, pump and electric meter and consumer boards, but with plenty of room for a large basket/bag to catch all laundry. It seemed easy until I started looking at possible regulation pitfalls!

Hello all, I am bothered by a few questions related to the fire safety of office buildings. I will add simple 3d drawings to illustrate the situation 1. Rooms designed to run the installation through the entire height of the building, commonly known as risers I would like to ask which documents regulate the definition of Service Risers, Electrical cupboards and related fire requirements. If there are only ducts and pipes in the room - should such a room be included in the fire strategy of the building (REI 30 or similar)? Should the following be secured in this case: a) Slab penetrations only? b) Wall penetra…

In our granite office building on the first floor there are glass slats located above the door, they can be opened and closed above both the kitchenette and comms room, I assume with the age of the building these were originally for light and ventilation with them being internal rooms, should these slats be removed and blocked. There is only a microwave, toaster and kettle in the kitchen, no cooking appliances and the comms room has the servers with an air con unit.

Hi All, I recently stayed at a hotel in a Grade II Listed building. Unfortunately, during our stay we had an incident with an intruder entering our room because the door was not fully closed and latched. When we raised this as a security issue to the hotel, they said that we were at fault for not closing the door properly. However, it is my impression that all of the doors to the hotel suites (our room also included a kitchenette) should be fire doors and therefore should close fully. Are there exceptions made for doors in listed buildings? I noted the doors seemed to be the existing and upgraded.

Hi, I hope you can help? Should service riser cupboards in tall buildings (above two stories) have fire stopping fitted between the levels to establish compartmentation? I was under the impression they should if they were taller than two stories high yet I’m carrying some work out in a hotel and I can see all of the way down from the top (4th floor) to the bottom (ground floor). The riser shaft does have fd30 doors fitted at each access point but I was still under the impression that they required between level stopping? The riser shaft is situated in a communal corridor to the hotel outside of hotel room entrances. Thanks, Jack.