Fire Exits

As an electrician I spend a great amount of time working on emergency lights, I have a concern it involves the batteries that are fitted to most new emergency lights . On various internet sites Li-ion batteries are shown exploding when set on fire. I have worked on various sites where the corridor lighting consists of multiple maintained emergency lights containing these batteries and I wonder are rules in place to protect people from the explosive reaction and/or is there no acknowledged risk.

HI, I am looking to add Freedor closers to Flat entrance doors at a residential care home for ease of access for frail residence. However in the case of a fire the resistance will be restored and the doors close as designed. But this will trap the frail residents within the flat. I am waiting for a FRA to say there is a stay put policy, however, in an eventuality that there is no stay put policy, do you count on adrenaline to kick in for the resident to save themselves? In a block of flats with frail residents how do you enable them to exit a flat in a fire or emergency situation whilst retaining the integrity of a closing fire door?

Hi, do locks on wooden fire doors from flats going to the stairwell need to be thumb turn ? if so what type are suitable for wooden doors ? also if one separate flat has its own Upvc exit door going directly outside does that need to be thumb turn ? Thanks

Advice please, work in a school and they want to secure the fire doors that lead from the corridor to the dining hall, there are alternative exits to outside from inside the hall, my thinking was the doors Could be secured but only by Push Bar / Push Pad / or Thumb turn which would allow immediate exit for anyone in the hall needing to use without a key, but would keep people out when not in use?

Hello, We are a tattoo studio on the first floor of a commercial property. Its fully self contained, with our own front door, which opens outwards and we then step inside a fully protected stairwell (1 hour fire protection). This route is the main point of entry, exit and escape in the event of fire. We do also have an external steel staircase further into the unit but this is used only as secondary means of escape In the event of fire. At any one time we may have around 30 people in the building. I am trying to design the best solution for the front door, so it can open easily in the event of fire but also be fully secure externally from break-in. The fron…

ago. I agreed to remove the access over the rear garden, in and out of the back gate, at all times, to access only as a secondary means of escape, in an emergency. This is fine, but I've looked at the deeds today, and I've noticed that the title that once said the property consisted of the first floor flat, and the staircase leading to the flat, now just states the first floor flat- the staircase has gone!! It is a purpose built flat, and the staircase has always been there (the freeholder and I recently had a new one put in) and there is a door (obviously. It's in my kitchen) The freeholder lets me use the garden anyway at the moment, but this right will be removed when …

Hi All, Just had a query as to whether people count themselves as a block for fire lanes and exits. I work in a theatre and am currently had this debate. For some shows we have people dancing in the isles and I’ve said that’s blocking a fire lane. Others disagree as if they hear the alarm they would just leave. My point is however we can’t have a large group of people stand in front of an exit as that’s blocking a fire lane so how is someone dancing in a lane any different? Hope that makes sense and someone can clarify. Thanks,

I work for a football club and obviously we have quite a few fire exits however when deliveries are made for the bars ect the delivery is stacked in front of the doors which clearly show fire exit on the doors and a running man above the doors, I was told these doors are only fire exits on match days? Is this correct fire exits can be designated on specific days

Hi, I’ve been asked to replace an existing door and frame to a fire door, and frame. I’m just wondering would the frame be ok fitting into the same position onto the staircase like the picture. Or cut into the staircase so the frame sits down tight to the step. thanks

Can anyone give me some general advice on acceptable travel distance in school corridors. I have a building built in aprproximatley 1990 which has two large open plan cloakrooms (signifciant fire loading) with two adjacent rooms -breakout rooms/offices (you would have to pass through the cloakroom to exit the building) onto two long 30/35 metre plus open corrridors to final exits with no fire breaks. I have read the tables in building regs and understand there are vairous travel distance anyway in low/medium and high risk corridors with numebr of directiosn of travel i.e. 18 metres and 9 metres etc, etc. although they would not have applied at the time when built. …

Why is there a difference on advice for subdivision of corridors In building regulations it states "Where a corridor exceeding 12 m in length connects two or more storey exits, it should be subdivided by self­closing fire doors". However in the local government fire risk assessment guides it states a corridor that exceeds 30m in length should be subdivided. Why is there such a difference and which is correct?

My church has leased and moved into a storefront building with 3 rectangular connected units. Each unit has a double door entry and a push door final exit in the rear. Every exit door is marked by a combo LED exit sign. You can enter from one unit into the next through large cased openings. The first unit, we are using as our sanctuary (church service) space. The other units will house a bookstore and an event space. We’d like to build a stage and green room in the rear of the sanctuary (church service) unit. The stage and green room would make the final exit in that unit no longer a clear path exit for everyone in the building, because of the stage, equipment, wall, door…

Hi, I have a project where the intention is to change a the usage of an under stair room from storage to Electrical Plant and, I presume, will now require a fire door fitted, however due to restrictions the maximum height is 1.8M. Is this sufficient height for a fire-door? Thanks

We have been requested by a client who has asked us to provide an estimate to have internal secondary glazed units installed to the window openings, the bathroom window currently serves as a designated fire escape, are we permitted to fit an internal secondary glazed unit to this opening ? I have contacted both the h.s.e., fire authority and building regulation, all have refused to provide anything black and white, or clear in that matter, I really appreciate any advise on this I understand your time is very precious. Many thanks

As all doors in the external envelope of a building can be used as a final exit when do you not have to put a crash bar/push pad type mechanism on a main entrance door or other frequently used door to a school building? E.g. some doors have a digital lock on them which has a lever handle internally.

Good Morning, I am the health and safety manager for a large retailer, and i am based at the head office and main distribution centre. Our office consists of ground, 1st and 2nd floors, and we currently have an issue with storage of items under the ground floor of both fire exit stairwells. They are not large amounts, but before i communicate for this to stop across the business, the stair wells are also protected by a sprinkler system, including under the affected ground floor stair wells, does this make a difference as to if items can be stored here or not? i would have said no, but if anyone can advise, before i send out communications, i would appreciate it. …

Dear Forum, I am a charity trustee, searching for a consultant to advise us on an escape route from a rented community workshop/meeting place . A staircase, a door and a landing are the problematic issues. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please? We are in Somerset. Best wishes.

My normal window fitter told me that he can not fit an Final Fire Exit Door for me, because this can now only be done by companies that are specially certified to do so. I have looked on line for such a company, but can't find anything. Can anyone signpost me in the right direction? Kind regards

HI, we are currently refurbishing a building, which we are converting from a shop (circa 1900) into a childcare facility for 3-11 year olds. In Wales. There is one main open space on the ground floor, which will be play space, leading to a toilets. hen upstairs to two further playrooms and a kitchen, with a toilet and utility room leading off the kitchen. The kitchen is along the landing just from the top of the stairs. There is a second floor which will be an office and staff room. My questions are: Do all internal doors need to be fire resisting? Does there need to be a fire escape for the first and second floor? We are installing new ceilings with …

Hi, I am hoping somebody on here may be able to help shed some light for me, as I cannot seem to get a definitive answer by myself. I know that according to the offices and shops fire risk assessment guidance, that all doors etc. on the escape route need to be able to resist the passage of smoke and fire to enable escape, my question is this: If an escape route is an enclosed hallway, and this hallway has office rooms leading from the sides of the corridor, does this mean that the doors on the offices need to be fire doors, with intumescent strips installed or something equally as effective, or is it just the fire doors at either end of the corridor that ne…

Hello I have a refurbishment project involving the conversion of the 1st and 2nd stories of a 3 storey building to apartments. For the 2nd floor apartments we have to provide a fire escape route horizontally across a stepped flat roof then vertically down a flank wall. We own the flat roof, and there are no opening in the flank wall. We will need to provide fire-resisting construction as well as edge protection to the flat roof. Could anyone please point me in the direction of a specialist/supplier/manufacturer that could assist in the design and supply of the system, especially the vertical escape? The project is based in Cornwall. Thank you for an…

My husband and I have just moved into a rental flat which has living room/kitchen on the ground floor and 2 bedrooms down in a basement level. Both bedrooms have double sliding doors out to a mini contained patio (5' x 4' and 9' high) covered with a metal railing on top at ground surface level. This railing/fencing is not removable. The landlord advises the doors and fire/smoke proof for up to 30 mins. Obviously I'm super concerned about what to do in the event of a fire upstairs if we are downstairs. We could exit to this mini patio but we wouldn't be able to get out from there and would rely on being rescued by the fire dept. The other concern is that there is no …

Hi folks. I design door hardware, and am looking for some info after an hour of googling with no luck. Every "fire door keep shut" sign I see seems to be blue. I cannot find a definitive answer as to whether the sign needs to be blue. All online guides and even the BS 5499 documentation seems to say they ARE blue, but not that they NEED TO BE blue to meet the standards. Can anyone tell me definitively what the rule is? If it does need to be blue to meet the standards, does that mean a non-blue sign is as worthless as no sign at all? Thanks in advance, Felix

Hi, so I live in a building that has five flats in it. There is only one entrance/exit which is the main door on the ground floor. The other weekend this door, which is also the fire exit, broke and all residents were either stuck inside or outside for two days. There was no emergency number to contact the letting agency or landlords. They didn't even check emergency Tweets. They didn't respond at all until Monday. I believe the door was fixed Tuesday. We were completely trapped. There are no windows big enough for an adult to climb out of. The flat doors, however are 'fire doors' designed to keep fire within the flat (I think). Fortunately a guy living the…

Is it possible to use solar panels to provide an electricity supply to 2 number emergency light fittings in a remote storage building?