Evacuation Plans

Dear sir/madam, I am writing to you regarding evacuation measures on advice from the British Council, as we are an accredited centre for English language. We have a crèche for our students with young children and this is located on the first floor. I understand that, where possible, this should be located on the ground floor with a direct exit. We have completed our own risk assessment on the crèche and have evacuation measures in place. We used resources from firesafe.org.uk and the gov.uk website to complete these. The room we currently use for the crèche is located at the rear of the building nearest to the stairs leading directly to the rear fire e…

Hi, So I work at a youth centre and our team is made up of paid staff and volunteers. I have sort of taken responsibility for fire safety for our particular session and we need to plan a full evacuation of the centre soon. On a busy night we can have up to 50 young people (ages 8-13) in and we usually have 8-9 staff. Anyway, to my point... would it be necessary to appoint fire marshals for the building, there are usually 1 or 2 members of staff in each area. So one of my ideas was that upon an evacuation; one would sweep the area and the other would lead the young people out of the building. The other is that all the staff would guide the children out then the fire m…

An external fire stair is to be closed for 6 weeks during refurbishment of a courtyard, only 1 more fire escape will remain to serve the 1st and 2nd floor (total of under 60 tenants) where the 3rd 4th and 5th floor have multiple alternative fire escapes. If closure acceptable on this basis? Many thanks

Hi, please can you advise if a simple break glass with a key can be used to satisfy a simple means of escape? Rob

Hi there Several of our employees completed their training in April 2013, but there does not appear to be an expiry date on the certificate. Please could you advise? Thank you!

Hi, We are company of 30 staff operating over 2 floors with a mixture of office, warehouse and field based staff. We can easily evacuate but keeping an acurate register of people in the building is difficult. How important is the roll-call element for small premises?

I recently received an email from the shared landlord/management company of the building that I live in, informing me that they conducted a fire drill and it is "no way possible to conduct a full scale evacuation incase of a fire" Please can you inform me as to whether being unable to do a full evacuation of a building is legal? If the building is outside of its legal requirements can you please advise action that I can take? FYI, the building is let specifically to students. Kind Regards Giorgio

I am currently trying to find out the current regulations regarding fire evacuation routes from a pier that extends into the sea. Is this something you could help me with? Many thanks in advance, Chloe

A proposal to establish a residential care faciity within an existing bulding has thrown up a few issues. The building (more or less in it's current form) was previously used as a care home facility but closed several months ago. Some cosmetic & remedial works have been carried out to the fabric of the building with further work to follow before any proposed re-opening. The local FRS visited recently & have made comment on the suitability of the building particularly with regards to the fact that the 1st & 2nd floors are served by a single staircase with, self evidently, a single direction of travel to that staircase. It is proposed to have 6 rooms on the 2nd …

I work in a care home (elderly) I have a fire training course this week but it's not in the care home I work in its at another care home. Is this OK? I have done care for a few years in other homes and the fire training has always taken place in the home I work in.

I am in need of advice about the role of occasional volunteers in evacuation of disabled persons from a library premises in the event of fire

Hi I was wondering if you could give me advice on protected staircases. I am opening a coffee shop in London and have Toilets and a storeroom in the basement. The ground floor holds 50 people with 2 gent and 2 ladies toilets being located in the basement. I am constructing a staircase to the ground floor. The staircase will be the only means of escape. I am trying to find information about whether the staircase can be made out of impregnated timber to a Class 1 standard or if it would have to have a concrete construction. The width of the staircase will be 1.3 meters and have a run of 18 steps. With 2, quarter turns along the run. Any help on this would be much apprecia…

Hi All, I wonder if anyone can point me to useful up to date guidance regarding evacuation strategies for nursing homes. This is where the majority of residents would require significant physical assistance. Also any relevant guidance re: defend in place strategies. As always, the thoughts & views of the FS community are most welcome. Dan.

Hi I have a client who runs a medium sized retail outlet/supermarket. He is concerned that running fire drills will affect trade and as such our first drill was on a Sunday afternoon after the store had closed and involved family and friends of the company. It was a bit wooden and didn't really work. So options; a, run the drill in a quiet time, 2.00 pm or so, and offering vouchers for customers who are inconvenienced b, run the drill as above but just tell customers it was a false alarm... thoughts? Cheers Steve

We are on the fourth floor of a property which was converted to self-contained flats 1996. We bought a long lease at that time. The other three floors have 2 flats each, making seven flats in all. Four of the flats are one room plus kitchen and bathroom. The remaining three flats are one bedroom. We have a fire exit from our flat to a roof escape. The freeholders now say we do not need that escape route as long as we have heat sensors within each flat. We are concerned since the only escape route for us is four storeys (8sets of stairs) down to the front door. please could you advise.

Hi ,who would i get assistance for breaches of fire drill as we have always been told we are not allowed to leave the building and continue to take calls through the fire drill.. Thanks

Hi, I have a parent who would like to know, who she can contact regarding the legal requirements on PEEP for her disabled daughter who is 20yers old and is applying for an EHCplan to attend college/uni. Thank you for your help in advance Dawn

Hi, We are a GP surgery and part of our building is rented out to a pharmacy business. They have a separate entrance/burglar alarm etc to us. We are currently updating out fire safety policy and wondered,when it comes to fire evacuation, are we responsible for evacuating the pharmacy or is it their responsibility? Many thanks, Liz

Legally how many nightcare staff are required in a residential care building overnight?

I am the fire Marshall at the hotel where I work, and whilst implementing some fire training today a member of staff raised a question that I was unable to answer. What are the responsibilities of members of staff with regards to the evacuation of disabled guests. Any advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I've looked through your forums and can't seem to find anything on this topic. Maybe I'm just crazy but I'm seriously trying to think of the best way to evacuate my cat in tthe case of a fire. We are moving into a new house and if there were to be a fire in the hallway then we would have to go out the first floor window. My cat always sleeps in the room with me all night, I have planned that I will put her in her carrier but then not sure about the best way of getting the carrier out the window to the ground. I'm thinking I will need some kind of rope with something that I can attach quickly to the cat carrier (sturdy metal cage). Any advice? I'd be very grateful.

Dear Sir / Madam, our company occupies three floors in a high rising building. we have appointed a fire warden for each floor, to assist in evacuations of personnel and to confirm full evacuation of the floor. are these wardens to be protected somehow? are there any regulations governing their respiratory protection needs? Thanks for your advice! Ilan

Hi I am looking to buy a 1st and 2nd floor flat in a victorian house to rent out. The flat shares a front door with true ground floor flat and there is one staircase to the ground floor as a main fire escape route. The windows have just been replaced by the current owner but I am unsure of they open fully and therefore whether they could offer an alternative escape route from the bedrooms and livings room should the stairs be an unsafe option in the event of a fire. Should all modern PVC double glazed windows installed be able to open to allow escape if needed? What are my legal requirements as a landlord in respect of ensuring there are alternative escape routes (than ju…

We have a strange situation - we need exclusive access to a portion of the building (i.e. exclude public from a paid venue) - but need this exclusivity to be lost in the event of the fire alarm signal, as the exclusivity boundary crosses a fire exit. Therefore, in the event of the fire alarm signal, we wish to build in doors (which are normally inaccessible) to become automatically open, such that the public can enter the venue and exit through an approved fire exit. Most of my research brings me to Automatic Door Closers, not Openers - and I am wondering if such a standard product exists? Many thanks

Something I am slightly confused about. I work in an independent living home where there are 4 residents with learning disabilities. We recently had a team meeting which meant most of the staff were in site plus the residents were all in their rooms resting for the afternoon, all with self closure fire doors. the staff were in another room again with self closure fire doors. The alarm went of and all the doors closed, we knew all the Pws were safe behind their doors so we all stayed where we were as we were also protected by fire doors. Our manager said we should have evacuated but I felt wee did the right thing by staying where we were. Could you just advise me on this. …