Evacuation Plans

I work in an office on the first floor within a large building, part of which is an hotel. We have had 'plan' signs put up on our doors indicating only ONE escape route which is the one we would normally use to come into the office. Am I right in thinking that there should be an alternate route shown on the plan? I am used to seeing a more comprehensive map on the back of hotel doors - should this be the case for an office as apparently the fire warden says the current sign is sufficient. Many thanks Anne

Daughter has moved into a shared house in Swansea. There is a basement and three additional floors. The top floor where her bedroom is located has signs indicating the main stairs as the fire exit. In addition there is an external fire escape which is accessed through another student's bedroom. When everyone is in residence that bedroom door will be locked. Is this permitted in law or should I query this with the agents? Many thanks

Hi I am currently carrying out a fire rrisk assessment on a disabled carehome for the severely mentaly ill. I havehowever come accross a problem & looking for advice The issue is the assembly point there are 8 resident's they are moving into the newly refurbished premises , it is adjacent to a busy main rd there is only one member of staff on twilight shift who would not be able to control all occupants accross the rd alone. But the only area they can muster is 8 mtrs from the building in the car park. Is this sufficient distance ? I understand that this is to be a minimum of 16mtrs is thjs still correct? Thanks

I own a 23' x 10' static caravan with only one exit door. I have been told that this is unsufficient for present day standards and should have two exit doors. Is this true or does it depend on the age of the caravan?

Hi there. I am looking for some guidance regarding fire regulations. I am looking to partition a room in a commercial property. The room has a fire exit in it and I'm looking to partition in half it with a curtain. Would you be able to guide me in this matter please? Many thanks Regards Dan

Could you advise me, please, on whether it is permissible for an employee, who has no official role in terms of fire safety, to be asked by a manager to go back into a building after a fire alarm has sounded, in order to help find out where and why the alarm has been triggered? Thank you.

Can anybody help with clarifying the regulations regards refuge points In what circumstances are they required What should they consist of Thanks

Hi In our school we have about 350 pupils. We have a routine whereby staff check toilets etc when the fire alarm is raised but we do not have amy named fire wardens or fire marshalls. Is there a legal requirement to have them? We do frequent fire drills with blocked exits etc and have not found any errors in our system. Thanks for your help. Jane

I am the owner of a freehold flat and as such am responsible for the parking area which is shared with two neighbouring and attached houses. I would like to mark parking spaces but am aware that the car park area is the alternative means of escape if the families in the properties on either side cannot escape from the front of their property. Would you please advise me of the minimum width required to be left clear as an emergency fire escape? Thanks for your assistance. Regards, Steve.

Hi, I am a product design student currently undergoing the research phase of my final year project. My design challenge is to come up with a new means of escape from burning buildings, an alternative solution to the designated fire exits which may be blocked or out of use. the product can be a retro-fit item or a product to be integrated into new building design. At the moment i am still pretty open to which type of building to create this product for, is there any particular type of building where this product is most needed? If anyone has any thoughts and opinions on this project i would love to hear them, and if you have any ideas of yourself which you …

I am having a problem understanding duty of care, as we are being told the only duty of care is to yourself when the alarm goes of in the sheltered housing where I live. There is someone next door, who could need to be told that the alarm is going off and to evacuate, however, the housing association has said don't bother her, just look after yourself. Is this procedure correct?

I am Surveyor tasked with implementing a Fire Risk Assessment for some blocks of flats with 68, 16 and 52 flats respectively in London . They are 4 storeys high. Occupied by over 50's only but not sheltered. Have completed FRA which identifies an action plan. Action plan includes operational procedures required which we are putting in place. Do they have any 'model'evacuation procedures they could send? Do we need a fire cert to be issued for this type of premises when action plan completed? Many thanks

Work in a school, fire evacuation policy has fire Marshalls checking areas for any kids. Im wondering if it's a good idea sending people into buildings that they don't know are on fire or not to look for kids that may not even be missing. Or should the registers be done first to see if anyone is missing? I would be interested in hearing people's views please.

I let a 1 bedroom, single storey cottage all on one floor with a front and back door. The bedroom has no external door and windows that are not big enough to get out of in the case of a fire. Does this room have to have a fire escape directly to the outside. (i.e do I need to fit bigger windows) Thanks

Good Afternoon. Just looking for a little information. I work in an office with 100+ employees. My employer is having some remodelling work done to the office (for aesthetic purposes) and they will be closing off a portion of a fire escape route and leaving a number of staff with an escape route that measures 2 feet in width. If the office is running at fully capacity the number of staff potentially affected with this reduction in route size is approx 19. They will still have access to the fire escape just have to file through this gap 1 by 1. Doesnt appear to be particularly safe to me. Does anyone know the required widths for escape routes. Many thanks i…

We are a surgery and are starting a confidential drop-in clinic for teenagers. As they won't be giving their names, how do we organise evacuation in the event of a fire?

There are about 100 staff working in our office and we have two fire escape routes. According to the regulations the minimum width of the escape routes should be 850mm. One of the fire escape routes is via a concrete fire staircase. We are proposing to have three plastic recycling containers with lids (500wx500dx800h) (for paper, cardboard, tetra pack and glass) on the fires staircase on each floor. They would be emptied daily. I understand that fire escape routes “have to be kept clear at all times”. At the same time, however, even with the recycling bins in place the lowest width of the escape route would be about 1290mm – much wider than required by building r…

Hi I work in a big city centre public library, where for example the footfall last Friday was just under 1200 people. Most of the day there were only 3 people on the library floor and if the fire bell had sounded - we have a big Waitrose store underneath us - we would have been hard pressed to evacuate everyone in under 15 minutes. Is there such a thing as minimum staff per sq foot of public space, as in large department stores? Thank you for your time

We are in a suite on the 2nd floor within a managed building. We have a pregnant lady in the office and we want her to be allowed to sit in the office and not evacuate down the stairs during a planned fire drill. The managers of the buidling have advised that she needs to evacuate the building when we have a fire drill. Is there any legislation or guidance I can refer to in this matter? Thank you

I work as a support worker for a care home in Cheshire. Earlier this year we had a visit from the fire team telling us we had to make several changes to the care home including a fire escape. The company is refusing to install this due to money costs. I am worried as it is putting the residents safety in danger. I do not want to be revealed as the whistle blower but the safety is so bad, the electric is always tripping we have electric heaters on constant, we went 2 weeks without no fire alarms. its not safe at all. What should I do?

Hello there, this is for some advice I would like you to clarify to me if you can in regards to my brother who lives in a council house with his carer. His carer works for a well known company and has a regular risk assessment about various concerns within the house,but what has startled me in reading his assessment into fire procedures is this " if my brother refused to move, even when encouraged to do so, all doors will be closed and he will be kept as safe as possible until the fire services arrive, at that point they will inform them of my brothers whereabouts". This is what has been rote, this can't be legal, what about smoke inhalation. I would be grateful for som…

We had a fire drill at our offices and one member of staff has asked if it is safe to turn lights on using the switch on the wall during an evacuation. Please can you let me know the best response to give. Many thanks Melanie

I work for a trading company and it has been agreed that when there is a fire drill ther is no need for the traders to leave the office due to the nature of their roles and the financial impact it may have on the fire company. One of our fire marshals has just advised that legally we should have a disclaimer in place where the traders agree that the company will not be held responsible if anything happens during the fire drills (Do not have the right to sue the company). Is it a legal requirement to have a disclaimer or best practice?

Hello! I run summer schools for foreign students and I just wanted to check with you the law / rules about when the firs drills should be completed after the groups arrival. Is it that the firs drill MUST be completed 36 hours after arrival? Currently I ensure that each group has a fire drill 24 hours after arrival - but it would help to know what the regulations actually are? Many thanks

Hi all, I am making a fire evacuation plan for a hotel room in a non-English-speaking country. I have drawn up directions on what a guest should do in case of fire, but I'd like to make sure the text is written in good English. Could anyone please read it and say if it is ok? Please familiarize yourself with the location of the nearest evacuation exit as indicated on the plan. IN CASE OF FIRE If an alarm sounded or you smell smoke: 1. Test your door for heat and smoke before exiting. 2. If the door is not hot and there is no or little smoke in the hallway, leave, close the door and proceed to the nearest evacuation exit. 3. Should the do…