Fire Risk Assessments

Hi, my questions is that does a fuse box / electrical intake in a corridor in a building with two flats in it need to be covered with some fire retardant material in order to provide 30 minutes fire separation between the fuse box / electrical intake and the common corridor and the flat above?

Hello, I'm having problems with the FRA. I'm buying a flat in a high rise tower (lots of communal areas) and my solicitor is requesting a copy of the FRA. The management company is not providing it for reasons unknown. I understand that the legislation doesn't require the FRA to be formally written down but I know the management company has one because the London Fire Brigade conducted a fire audit on this building in the last 12 months which involved reviewing the FRA hence a hard copy must have been produced. My first question is: why is my solicitor requesting a copy of the FRA when it is not necessarily a written document? Shouldn't they be content wi…

Hi I've purchased PAS 79 and wondered if I can add a front sheet with my company's details and add photos and plans. BSI weren't helpful at all !! Any advice greatly accepted.

I know of a factory which is 20000 sq foot split into 2 parts by a concrete block wall, one side is the production area making plastic component's and the other is warehouse space where only 1 man works for approx. 1 hour per day in a wooden grinding room. In the production area there are 15 workers. There is a very old manual fire alarm system and both ends of the production area but never serviced, in fact the owners are unsure whether it still works although a red light is lit at the side of the break glass point Both areas are open areas and with a high roof, any fire in the production area would be immediately seen by the workers. But the lone worker wouldn't k…

Good afternoon, I was hoping you could give me advice on a couple of things please. I'm writing a risk assessment on a building that is a day service for disabled people. They have a fire door that is the only exit out of the building other than the main entrance. This is currently locked with a key turn. However this is also behind another door that must be kept locked at all times as in-between that door and the fire door are all of the electrical panels which the service users may gain access to. Can you advise if that one door must be kept open to access the fire door and if the fire door is ok being opened by a key or if we need to get a push bar? Also it is mainly o…

I am secretary of a residential management company of a mill building converted to flats in the late 1980s. There are 7 flats 3 of which have entrances directly outside, the other 4 open out onto short corridors 10m long (2 flats on each of 2 levels). I understand the need for a fire risk assessment of these corridors but wanted confirmation that 10m is a short enough distance not to require an additional route out of the floor (to be fair there is no cost effective option for us). Each corridor is open at the entry end and open on one side and non combustible.

Hello Can help me with a question? I'm hoping to sign a lease on a property in London which I wish to open as a small theatre - the space is in the basement and accessed by a single staircase 1055mm wide. Assuming we have the usual signage and extinguishers in place - how many people people am I allowed in the basement? Are there guidelines nationally for these this or do they differ from local council to council? Many thanks, Dominic

Could you please tell me how often a fire risk assessment needs to be done to be law abiding Can we carry out the assessment ourselves or should it be done by a qualified person I write from a thirteen bedroom hotel

In line with BS5839 a hotel group brand standard requires the fire alarm to reach 75db at the bed head. Auditors require evidence of this so employees measure (using a smartphone app) and record the sound at the bed head to ensure it reaches 75db. The hotels undertake a weekly MCP/sounder test and 100% of the fire alarm is serviced at quarterly intervals but this is done without the sounders operating (at the hotel's request) to avoid disruption. Does the absence of sounders operating during the service and the resulting inability to hear the alarm in each bedroom lead to the employee sound test at the bed head being necessary? The brand standard doesn't specifically requ…

How do people generally regard the translucent, adhesive escape signs that are commonly found on emergency luminaires? I frequently recommend that these are removed (and replaced with a standard sign in lieu) if the luminaire(s) concerned constitute the only maintained or non-maintained emergency light fittings, given that they reduce the emitted light and thus may compromise the intended lux levels. Where they've been used as a cheaper alternative to a dedicated illuminated sign, then I'm generally happy with this providing there's another emergency light source in the same vicinity. Do people here generally concur with this view? Interested to hear other views a…

I am selling a flat. They are purpose built privately owned flats. 18 flats in all with three entrances, 6 flats in each block. They have fire extinguishers which are checked and refilled each year. Does there need to be a fire risk assessment.

Hi I live in a block of 4 flats with communal hall and stairs, the council have just posted a letter saying we must move these within 7 days due to it being a fire risk , is this a regulation now in place ?

What are the requirements of having vehicles parked in warehouses or business premises? Vehicles catch fire when parked due to faulty electrics but I come across this regularly with the business owners vans parked in workshops, Business owners vintage car parked in a warehouse etc. Garage premises have customers cars in the garage but even these are a risk of fire surely? How would this be dealt with on a fire risk assessment?

Hi Tom Could you please tell me the requirements for testing of fuse boards in the communal areas of a converted two storey house(two flats). I am in a stalemate as I say they need a 5 yearly condition report and the landlord is arguing that the boards serve the electrics in the flats only, he cannot test them because they do not belong to him, it is there responsibility and it has never been mention in any report he has read in all his years. Could you throw some light on this please. Many thanks

Hi All, I am currently a Fire Alarm Engineer and have been for the last 25 years. I've done most things within the industry, from installation to maintenance to commissioning and worked for Large and small companies. I'm seriously considering a change of career and I'm thinking of Fire Safety as the career move. Could anyone give me some advice as to the state of the Fire Safety Industry at the moment, is there a demand for Fire Safety Consultants/Advisors? What are the qualifications I would need? I am a qualified Electrician and have the relevant qualifications for that industry I.e. 17th Edition, inspection & Test etc. I also have Fire Detecti…

Hi I'm selling a small retail shop with some offices above the premises (the offices are unoccupied at present) I have been asked by the Purchasers solicitor to provide an asbestos report and a fire safety certificate. Is this necessary?, if so where will I obtain the 2 reports? Thank you

Could someone tell me how to achieve regular fire drills at a tennis club please, it is inappropriate to evacuate paying customers and the premises are mostly occupied with players and members throughout the day. How could a fire drill be achieved without inconveniencing them?

Hi - I have a quick query and hope for a little advice, any help would be much appreciated. We have a building that has an accommodation staircase between ground and the first floor. The first floor is to be used as an event space and we would like to have up to 200 people on the first floor. However due to the width of the 2 protected staircases provided the limit for people on the upper floors is 186. We are investigating the feasibility of including the accommodation staircase as part of our calculations for occupancy, and understand that we can do this subject to a suitable risk assessment. As part of the fire risk assessment we will include. Travel …

Good day, May I ask your advice for an owner-occupied dwelling (about 120 sqm) built in the sixties and extended (one kitchen + bigger lounge) in 1995. What is the minimum building regulation requirements for smoke/fire alarm; shall a class F (battery operated) or class D (mains powered) system? I would like to avoid class D system since it requires new cables and the ceiling has just been plastered and painted.. so I would prefer a battery only system... many thanks

I have a situation where a hotel has from the day it opened had a small electric coffee machine on each floor in the bedroom corridor. The machines are a table top type with cups etc. stored with the machine on a different shelf. The bedroom corridors have alternate means of escape, travel distance is fine and the fire alarm is L1 with a delay for searching. The machines are fitted with RCD and PAT tested annually. I'm not happy with the machines as a heat producing item in a bedroom corridor but I would welcome anyone's view on this.

Ive just recently moved on to doing FRA's for residential properties such as flats and HMO's, ive always used the PAS79 format but I find its designed for more industrial than residential properties. Could I ask if someone could give me a more appropriate format please? My talent on a computer is limited to filling in forms and not designing one unfortunately

Hi I live in a purpose built block of 15 flats built in 1974, over 4 strories, will the doors still cover the current regulations ,as they were built to regulations made in 1974

Hi I am new to this world and am just starting to go out and carry out fire risk assessments with a mentor. However, the big thing that confuses me is when does a door need to be a fire door?? I understand that you need fire doors to compartment hazard areas such as kitchens, plant rooms, etc. But also escape routes... when does a corridor or passage way officially become an escape route? We went to a small health care building today. A small passageway / corridor [no more than 12m] had a mixture of fire doors and non-fire doors! All store cupboards along the passageway had fire doors. There were escape options at each end of the passageway / corridor …

I am in the process of assessing a site and I have come across something unusual. My client owns a block of flats and two particular flats in question are served by their own hall (quite small, about 8' x 4'). Both of these flats are leased, however the hall has been retained by the landlord. Both lease holders have replaced their doors which are now not compliant FD30 doors. My question is: Will this hallway have to be treated as any other hall serving the rest of the block ie. take into consideration that the compartmentation is not up to scratch and pursue the lease holders in renewing their doors? Thanks in advance, Chris.

Hi, The Hospital where I work is looking to employ an FDIS Certified Fire Door Inspector to survey and report on the existing fire doors in our 3-storey residential flat blocks on site, which are occupied by a mixture of student nurses, doctors and their families. Many of the flats house multiple occupants in bedsit rooms with a shared kitchen and bathroom. Having met with said Fire Door Inspector he has informed us that although several of us are trained Fire Risk Assessors (with experience of assessing flat blocks and HMO's) that we aren't certified and are thus unable to check fire doors sufficiently to say whether they are compliant with Building Regulation…