Fire Risk Assessments

We occupy (lease) a small ground floor office which is part of a block containing 4 flats. The building consists of ground & 1st floor. We have our own entrance which is separate from the communal entrance to the flats. We are being asked by the local FRS to provide a Fire Risk Assessment. The landlord leasing us the office space doesn't appear to have one. I dont know who the freeholder is for the entire building. Conducting an FRA for our small office space (4 people) would be quite straightforward but I dont want to be drawn into the more intricate issue of the adequacy of fire separation between our office space & the flats above. Who is responsible for this ?…

We are just developing an old bank building, about 100 square meters per floor. The Basement and Ground Floor will be for commercial use as one unit, and that unit is correctly fire-separated from the Domestic Part according to current regs. The Domestic Part is accessed through a separate front door, with a short corridor to the steps up. Each of the First and Second Floors will consist of a single two-bedroom flat with a hallway and all rooms lead direct off that hallway. Our intention that each of those two flats will have a smoke alarm in the hallway, with a heat alarm in the kitchen and these would be mains-powered and interlinked just with the other a…

I purchased and installed a nightlatch on the door of a flat. On the website said it was 30 min fire rated. Looking at information on the web it seems that no nightlatch is fire rated and it has no CE mark. I was wondering what I can do so the door is compliant with the fire regs. I have seen intumescent kits for a nightlatches. Would this mean the door is now okay? Is there any alternative lock I could fit using the existing hole? I don't want to change the door.

When undertaking a fire risk assessment would you recommend fire stopping (at all floor levels in a multi store residential building) within the service risers even if the service riser itself was constructed to provide 60 minutes protection. I know this sounds like a belt and braces approach but I hear this often from fire officers in that what they want to see, although I appreciate they can sometimes be incorrect in their approach.

Can anyone tell me the correct guidance to be used for carrying out a fire risk assessment in a childrens home; its in a converted house of 3 floors housing 4 children; im unsure weather to use specialized housing, residential homes, maybe HTM88 or something else....any advice will be greatly recieved?!

Hi I am living in a rental bungalow 12 month tenure. I am concerned the garage which is joined to side of the building and extends beyond the rear elevation of the building has been sectioned internally into a rear utility room with an external door. A Washing Machine and tumble dryer have been fitted with services through the batton and plasterboard only on the utility side. The garage has a CU for the bungalow on the bungalow wall. There is an electric roller door on the front of the garage. There is a small metal non fire trapdoor through the deviding ( installed in 2020 and signed) wall to get through in the event of the garage door bei…

I recently bought the top floor flat in a Victorian converted property (5 storeys total and 4 flats, a basement flat with its own entrance and three above with a communal entrance and hallway/staircase). I have renewed our buildings insurance but have been told this is only valid if we are compliant with fire safety regulations for communal areas. Do I need to hire someone to do a fire safety assessment for our hallway/stairs? I am an owner occupier but the other two flats that share the communal hallway and entrance are rented and have tenants.

I purchased a one bed ground floor flat in an old Victorian coverted house containing 4 flats last year. There are 2 on the ground floor one with it's own separate entrance and mine and the 2 upstairs flats share the communal front door. I have put it back on the market and the buyers solicitor are asking for a fire safety assessment certificate and an asbestos report. One of the other owners tells me that they had a fire safety assessment done around 20 years ago and had fire doors installed to all the flats and a firewall installed between the two ground floor flats. The problem is that none of the owners can find the paperwork and when I bought my flat last year my sol…

We have had to have double fire exit, no smoking, 4 meter cupboard safety signs, told to remove framed, glazed pictures from the walls, remove plants on set back shelves and around the main entrance. The property is occupied by 4 pensioner couples who don't want to feel as though they live in an institutionalised old folks home, or a fire safe Can't plant pots be secured so they won't fall off? Can't framed pictures be screwed to the wall so they can't be knocked off the wall? We feel it's not our home anymore. It' regulations gone mad!

My block of flats, purpose built in 2005, contains 6 flats. Since that time we have had yearly fire safety risk assessments, and all recommendations regarding repair and improvements have been carried out. Therefore, up to date we comply fully with the FSO. Since Grenfell new fire safety guidance and legislation has been introduced with the primary aim of making high rise blocks safer. We fall into the below 11m low risk category. As we are currently fully up to date with our fire safety assessments, what extra assessments or checks do we need in order to comply with the latest legislation? Our fire doors are FD 300 and are undamaged. Compartmentalisation has be…

Please can someone give me some guidance regarding fire dampers? Do the bathroom extraction ducts which travel into the protected corridors need fire & smoke dampers? ADB Vol 2 - 10.22 suggests that they do and they must be linked to the fire alarm. But I have been to a hotel (approx. 20 years old) where there is no fire damper fitted to the ducts coming from the bathrooms. Someone suggested they may be 'shunt ducts' but I cannot seem to understand how these work?! And whether they are acceptable? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi , I'm after some advice - with completing a fire risk assessment for a medium sized high street retail unit , with private residents above ( not our demise.) We have one main entrance/ exit door & one fire exit to the rear. I've been advised to discount the main entrance / exit for travel distance calculations - meaning we now technically have one fire exit , and thus single direction . Is this correct , or do we calculate travel distances with all doors included ? Thanks

I live in a flat below street level with my own front door. I have mobility issues and I asked my housing association if there was a fire risk assessment. I was told it was not required. I don’t think this is correct as I am 1 of 18 flats of which 9 are below street level all with elderly with mobility issues. The safest exit is through the patio door to a communal garden that is not lit at all. Should I insist on a fire risk assessment to be carried out?

Hi All, where it states that the premises must be no more than basement, ground and first floor, is that the only parameter? So ground , first and second floor would not be permitted under this guidance ? Rob

I'm hoping someone can help me with this. I have come across Green Override break glass units in care homes and schools that are placed on the wall adjacent to an internal fire door fitted with a maglock. The height of the green override unit was about 2 meters, well above head height. The care home I visited had only recently been built so had passed inspection. To me, this seems ridiculous because how would someone that is not particularly tall reach the override unit in an emergency? Any thoughts?

Hi Is the minimum compartmentation between different purpose groups under the control of single occupier (eg. office and factory floor) sixty minutes? Thanks

I am buying ground floor flat. Front door to front garden, kitchen door to back garden, no comunal areas with flat upstairs. Walls made of bricks. My solicitor is asking for FRAEW. Seller said he doesn't have one. There was fire risk assessment done before but expired a year ago. What to do now.

Hi Everyone Looking for a viewpoint on the following if anyone can assist please. Threshold gaps to fire doors should obviously be kept to within permissable limits and if a door performs a smoke stopping function then 3mm is regarded as the accepted threshold gap. To reduce such gaps where threshold gaps are becoming excessive then an accepted practice would be to add a hardwood strip with a minimum of 6mm to the bottom of the door by glueing and screwing. Question: Is there a maximum size put on any timber hardwood addition to reduce a threshold gap at the bottom of a door? Thankyou for any help in this department.

Hi, visited a small industrial unit office accommodation and mezzanine to the front of the building, warehouse / workshop to the rest of the unit L3 detection. There is a caravan sited in the workshop and when questioned a member of staff (as there was a mat and shoes by the door and obviously not just stored for the winter!) they replied "it is used for engineers to sleep in if they get home late after call-outs but not often". Just need to know where / what I can look to quote regarding the issues that this poses as other vehicles are stored in there along with fuel etc! 😮

Hi, I'm about to sell my flat and the solicitor is asking me for a Fire Risk Assessment as there is a communal area. is this really needed?

Good morning, I am seeing pushbacks from landlords (housing associations) for single private dwellings whereby the landlord refuses to complete a fire risk assessment as it is regarded as such. However where it is a home and there is support staff operating on a 24/7 basis would I be right in thinking the landlord has a responsibility to complete an FRA due to the staff presence or would it be the responsibility of the care provider (assuming there is no responsibility agreement).

I wonder if anyone can provide some concrete advice about this. I have a ground floor flat in a mews setting of 11 properties (flats and houses). I am selling the flat and the buyers solicitor is insisting that a Fire Risk Assessment is completed. The managing agent indicates it is not applicable as there are no communal or common areas and every property has its own external front door to the courtyard and car park. Can anybody provide a categoric answer with a bit of evidence please. Much appreciated. I have attached a couple of photos for information

Just had a FRA done on leasehold/ freehold owned apartments & recommendation of heat alarms inside private dwellings The building is grade 2 listed with the conversion done in 1999 with 8 apartments over 2 floors. All communal areas have wired smoke alarms as do private dwellings. Fire doors are in place The report have us 82% safe with recommendations on removal of items in communal areas, boxing in pipes, electrics etc all of which have been done If the heat alarms are a recommendation does that mean they are mandatory as I don’t particularly want one in my property - I am happy with smoke alarms & fire doors ?

If lobby doors leading to a protected stairway are 1200mm, but the stairway is 1000mm, which figure do I use for calculating max. occupancy capacity when using BS9999? Risk profile of building is A2. Also, a strange one, but the clear width of the stairs reduce further to 900mm at the very base! Building is a couple of hundred years old...

I manage a business that annual FRA is due on the 7/3/25. The company I would like to complete it cannot until the 27/3/25. Is this a problem ? Thanks in advance