Fire Risk Assessments

Hi All, Do all roof voids (regardless of size) in premises need to be compartmentalised with walls which extend to the underside of the roof to fall in line with the walls in the floor(s) beneath them? Or does having continuous plasterboard ceilings remove the need for cavity barriers in the roof void at all? We have a building which has a protected stairway used for refuge and evacuation, and has continuous plasterboard ceiling across the top floor between roof void space. But the walls in the stairway do not extend up through the roof void space leaving the roof void completely open space. Diagram 9.1 of ADB suggests the voids should have cavity bar…

Basic question... Office corridor, MoE one end and at midway point, meaning there is a dead end of maybe 12 metres. Four or five offices along the dead end. The two remedies I understand however, do you extend the solution the full length of the corridor or just within the dead end area to the midway point MoE? So for example detection on all office along the full length of corridor or just offices in the dead end part of corridor? Thanks,

I own a blocks of flats in saint annes, I have recently decided to use a unused small room for storage, its ground floor the room is 2m x 2m and has a wooden none fire door screwed shut which leads to an old lift. I am having the entrance door and frame changed to a fd30 one, its entrance in the side of the building, but i am unsure of what i need to have done to the lift entrance because it is unused? Do i need a fire door and frame then lock it ? or it ok how it is or should i have it taken out and bricked up or fire board it. Any help would be most welcome, thank you for your time.

Hi all, strange one. In every place I have worked previously there has been a sign in sheet for people on site. With opening up post COVID, we are keen to remove bottle necks into the site for more limited distancing. We have been requested to remove sign in process, prior to COVID, we did not have a sign in system either and relied on fire marshalls through the buildings. With less people on site due to gradual reopening, we do not have fire marshall presence. We do swipe in and in theory could interrogate the system but: This would mean someone accessing the system and printing off a register when really they should be exiting the building…

Hi there, I live in one of 5 flats in a large converted house. We don't currently have a fire detection system which has been highlighted in our fire risk assessment so I need to rectify this asap. I am hoping that someone would be kind enough to recommend products that would satisfy the following requirements: Grade A, interlinked - WIRELESS Common area (LD2 coverage): 4 x smoke detectors Inside each flat front door: Heat detectors (5 in total) Many thanks in advance... Simon.

Hello there. We're have share of the freehold for a Victorian conversion, which is two flats (one ground floor and another a two floor maisonette). The only communal area is a 4x7ft hallway which houses doors to our flat and the staircase which leads up to the maisonette. We're looking to sell our flat and have been informed we'll need a fire risk assessment for this area. Given it's so small and looking online we felt we'd probably be able to do the assessment ourselves, but just wanted to clarify a couple of things. Would all doors in this area need to be fire doors? If a door doesn't have a specific marking, is there any way to tell that a door is in fact a fire …

Hi there, We've been having an absolute nightmare regarding our communal hallway for a block of 4 apartments. Our complex is made up of around 30 blocks of 4-5 flats, all with communal hallways. These hallways have electric convector heating in them where the heater is just away from the end of the staircase. We pay an amount to our management company every month for upkeep of the gardens and other communal spaces such as cleaners. This also used to include the cost of heating and electrics used in the communal spaces. As of August our management company has told us that they can no longer run the electric heaters in the halls as it is a fire safety risk follo…

Hi, I am a fire risk assessor for mainly schools and have a NEBOSH General Fire certificate, LFB Fire risk assessors qualification from when they were still running in Southwark and FPA qualification in passive fire protections but would like to broaden my knowledge and increase my competence and look to join fire risk assessor register i.e. IFE. Can anybody give me their best thoughts on courses that would be best to do this? What is the best route to take? I have limited ability to travel long distance for courses are spend time way from home. Also does anybody know if there is training which is relatively inexpensive for CPD in fire doors, alarms systems, emergen…

I own a flat that shares a communal entrance with one other flat. The communal area doesn't have any heating which leads to issues with condensation in the winter. Is it lawful to attach a small convector heater to the wall (which is plugged into the same wall)? It wouldn't be blocking any exits. Or do you suggest that we get a risk assessment first?

would a 2 floor house converted into a office with a stay put policy in place need emergency lighting ?

General needs block of flats. All the smoke heads have been taken out of the flats and replaced solely with heat detectors. This was done to cut down on false alarms as the smoke heads were causing signals from cooking, aerosols, steam etc. Does BS 5839-6:2019 condone this?

We are 3 shared Freeholders in a Victorian conversion house with a single communal stair (circa 15m2 total area, no storage, no meter cupboards, hanging light fittings, hot nut tested carpeting, water based mat emulsion walls, water based acrylic eggshell woodwork) serving the 3 flats from the Main Street level front door. As shared Freeholders I understand we are the ‘Responsible People’ to undertake a Fire Risk Assessment of the communal stair and that we need to demonstrate after review of guidance documents, etc. that we are ‘competent’ should we decide to undertake our own FRA and that this can most likely be a verbal assessment however will more than likely com…

hi , i have joint a company and they would like me to become there in house fire risk assessor , i have just taken the nebosh fire in management , would anyone suggest any other training ?

One of my colleagues has pointed out that perko style concealed door self-closers are now non compliant. I have looked at ADB volume 1 (2019 edition with 2020 ammendments) as I am dealing with blocks of flats & sheltered housing with flats opening onto escape routes. I could not find anything in there to say that they were not now unnaceptable, or if they should be removed retrospectively. I understand new builds having overhead closers, but should I be advising that Perko style closers be fitted retrospectively to buildings that had these doors fitted following guidance from the time they were built? I am writing up an FRA at the moment for a 1988 built shelt…

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has any information on which BS standard a Grade A system would be tested & maintained under in a residential property. Is it BS5839 part 1 or part 6. Sorry I know it seems like a silly question.

Does the new FS act 21 mean that external walls, windows and entrance doors have to be fire resisting, were as now double glazing and a wooden or Upvc entrance door would not be fire resisting

We have a share in freehold, but building manager organised a FRA and EICR which does not seem to consider cost effective options. The cupboard in the common corridor has been identified as needing fire doors. It houses the: 1. telecommunication termination box 2. porch light timer 3. emergency lighting test switch 4. water meters and the items that we will likely move into a replacement consumer unit inside or outside the cupbaord: 5. doorbell transformer 6. small common area distribution board (identified as needing update). Q1. Are devices such as the porch light timer considered an electrical hazard? It would seem to be on …

I was wondering if anyone had any experience or thoughts on this please? We have had a new gas system installed in a small block of offices; it has 3 floors (ground, first and second) and has a single, protected stairway. The contractors have finished, but we went to inspect the premises today for general H&S reasons, and noticed that the main gas pipe has been fixed in the singe stairway. Its copper and has not been enclosed in any way - I have attached a photo to show you what I mean. Does this cause anyone a concern? I've never seen this before - in the other properties we look after, the gas pipes are enclosed in cupboards and have vents / gri…

I have a question for the forum regarding the placement of diesel and LPG tanks in relation to high occupancy buildings. Currently I'm working on a contract in Asia where the designer has placed a 90,000 litre diesel tank within just a few meters of a 50,000 litre LPG tank. These in turn are located less than 15 meters away from a 850 room hotel and high-rise office tower. I want to know if there are any current British Standards that specify safe distances from building for either of the two tanks and/or indeed each other. Also, is there a relevant standard or requirement for leak detection and fire suppression systems? Thank you in advance

Hi I have written on this topic before. But in September of last year (just after I had left my flat to go overseas) the service agents of this Purpose Built, 30 year old block of 34 flats over Ground, First and Second floors with 6 separate entrances and 3 stair cases, received a Door assessment, following a FRA. The Fire door assessors appear to have checked each door (but could not check mine as I was away). As I understand it my door failed the test !! My door is an original door in perfect condition, in the original Frame. I attach images of the door and strips, and Perko chain (which by the way works as it should and will close the door ac…

I am registered mentally and physically disabled and was offered a property by a Housing Association 11 months ago which I accepted on a Starter Tenancy. The property was advertised as having some disabled facilities such as external access to front door and low level access wet room, which in fact turned out to be far too small for me with no chance of a seat being installed. My carer has to help me wash my lower body and so I have been arguing the point for a while now, with OT Reports confirming the property is not suitable for my needs. There are several other issues (works) that need to be attended to by the Housing Association including the widening of all doors to …

Please can someone tell me if all hatches to lofts / voids which form part of ceilings along means of escape (protected corridors and stairs) need to be fire rated or not? We cannot see anything in ADB Vol 2 which specifically mentions this so any steer would be much appreciated! ?

Good morning. I have a guest house which is also a grade II listed building I need to replace the existing flat panel fire doors. I am looking to replace these with modern FD30 6 panel doors which are more inkeeping with the original design of the doors. We bought some new smart locks which are a better set up that what we currently have. However when fitted they will foul the door stops, these stops are the 25mm type so I want to reduce these to about 15mm. The test certification of the doors shows that they were tested and certificated using 12mm stops with intumescent seals etc etc. Am I correct in thinking I can ask my carpenter to modify these stops without compromis…

What does it mean when ADB reccimends that in a single staircase building the staircase should not carry down to the basement rather terminate at Ground level and separate staircase follow down to the basement. Does it mean the basement staircase should be accessed from outside the building or can it be accessed from a door at ground level within the main staircase. Thank you.

Hi there, I am a committee member of a private tennis club & would like advice on what is required alarm wise for the clubhouse. The clubhouse is normally unmanned it has a small office for the pro & a kitchen for tea making & social events it contains an oven, hob, kettle & microwave. There are toilets & a couple of rooms for social gatherings during events. There are no alarms or detectors at present as it was never deemed necessary. I would appreciate advice on what is legally necessary.Thanks, Murray