Fire Exits

Hi - I have a small opticians practice and the consulting room is upstairs, to comply with NHS regs I need to be able to get disabled/infirm patients upstairs. I was wondering if a stair lift would be the answer? The stairs are narrow (88cm approx. width) and have a bend at the bottom but they provide the only access to the first floor and therefore would be our fire exit. I would be grateful for some advice before I start looking for new premises! Kate

Hi I don't know if anyone can help but I wondered if it is written anywhere what the maximum height of a step would be through a fire exit? I can't find any info on this if anyone can help me I would be grateful

Dear Sir/Madam I would be most grateful if you could advise me on the law regarding the need for a fire escape as a second exit for a flat located on the third floor of a building from the time that I took out the tenancy in 1996 onward. Somebody has told me that the law was changed a number of years ago and the requirement for efficient smoke detectors has replaced the requirement for fire escapes as a requirement for flats on the third floor of a building. However,if this is the case then I need to know what were the requirements prior to this change in the law. I would be grateful for any advice that you may be able to offer on this matter. Kind regards G…

Hi, I need to secure my front door and am fitting an audio access control unit which be locked until i release the lock. Because I have jewellery on site i do not wish to have a "push to exit" button or a Break Glass unit by the front door, because it obviously defeats the object of security. I do however intend to have a on/off key switch in the back office (about 3m away) which will have the key in constantly which disables the bolt. Please advise if I will be compliant with regs?

Please can you give me some advice - we would like to replace a couple of emergency exits in our health centre. The doors are only used in the case of an emergency and are not access points to the building. In obtaining quotes from various suppliers we have been given conflicting information - please can you advise if we are able to install UPVC, composite or aluminium doors? Is this a matter of preference or would there be one preferred from a safety perspective. Many thanks

Our three sets of metal stairs are going to be repainted where paint has worn off and I have been instructed to have the nose of the steps painted in a white fluorescent paint as an aid for a visually impaired employee. I have yet been unable to find a white fluorescent paint, only green or yellow, but my question is does it need to be fire retardant?

Hi All In a residential care home with electro magnetic locks can you advise on the following. The home has areas with people who have mental health issues. As such these wings are secure and staff and visitors enter via key pads - entering the numbers. The locks fail to the open on power failure and on operation of the fire alarm system. To escape staff can aid residents out. I have noticed some homes also have green break glass overrides adjacent to the door as well. Are these additional overrides really necessary? Thanks

Hi We are having a new main entrance / exit door fitted to our apartment block. We have 12 flats over 3 floors, these doors are the only entrance / fire exit from the communal areas. All flats have French doors on to small balconies (not sure if that’s relevant) Existing doors open outwards but are awkward to use therefore they are being changed to open inwards. There is also a secondary set of inner timber / full glass panel doors creating an internal porch that doesn’t appear to be of any real purpose. It is proposed they be removed. Will this comply with current regs ? Can Fire exit doors open inwards ? Thanks in advance. Da…

Our village hall has a double door that is a fire escape, one door latches to the door frame and the other latches the the first. Occasionally someone leaves the first door unlatched to the frame then just lets the second door close to this. The result is that both doors are free to open and this leaves the hall open all night. Is it allowable to put a closer on the first door so that it will latch to the door frame on it's own? The second door will not need a closer. I hope this makes sense, Best regards Alan

hi just a quick question I work in [supermarket name removed by moderator] and would like to ask about fire exits there is a fire exit at the end of a 20foot long corridor double doored with a fire alarm next to it, the corridor is hatched completely and all the appropriate signs are up but I was told that we are allowed to store bread stacks in plastic trays along the whole length of the corridor as long as it dosnt stick out by more that a metre ,so there is a combustible material in an enclosed 20foot corridor sticking out by 1 metre in a 3-4 metre width corridor and it also obscures the fire alarm at the end of the corridor. many thanks

Hello all Just after some clarification. I recently completed a fire risk assessment to a residential property for disabled persons, the property was three floors with an open staircase with a dead end situation resulting in single direction of travel, L2 fire alarm in place with fire doors to all bedrooms. The travel distance to reach the final exit was measured at 23m from the top bedroom. I made a requirement for a sprinkler system to be installed to protect the escape route, bedrooms etc. Due to rural location the fire service have a response time of around 20 - 30 minutes. Whilst I was happy with my assessment, I had a visit by the fire safety inspector fro…

Can you please advise me if fire door seals should be fitted to a final exit fire door, as logic tells me no, because if the seals swell in heat the door would not open and trap people in a fire. Also could you please advise me if there is a minimum width of an final escape door. Regards John free ringtones download, samsung ringtones, mp3 ringtones downloads

Some fire doors where I work have no push bars on them and have bars and bolts on them in working hours . Someone as complained about them being used as an entry and exit so bars and bolts are on all the time is this illegal and if so is there a legislation I can mention?

We have recently carried out a refurbishment of a shop unit and put a break glass on the door frame exiting the building. The architect has asked for it to be removed and put somewhere else because it doesn't look nice, can this be done? The only other place is 2m away from the door which would take you away from the escape exit.

Do final exit doors leading outside the building need to be made of wood / FD rated or is steel acceptable?

Hello, I am after some advice about an idea I had to make use of our external fire escape. We are a 9 story mixed commercial and residential community building. We have an internal and external escape route serving all floors. The external escape route is the residential primary escape while the internal is the commercial primary means of escape but it's possible for anyone to go by any route if they need to. As I say, we're a community building so we have people living and working in the same space. We are landlocked so we don't have any outside space, apart from the roof. I had the idea of using the fire escape for a community garden. Is this allowed? We…

Hello.Our landlord does not allow us to keep our shoes near door(in a small corridor) because fire entrance must be clear she told.Is it true?How many pair of shoes i can keep near my door? With regard Vanda

Hi My landlady says I can't leave the chassi of my buggy in the communal entrance hall. I take the buggy apart and put the seat inside the flat but I would like to leave the chassi downstairs folded as I don't have space for it inside and it's quite heavy. Please advice I'm happy to send photos.

Could you please recommend some sort of quick release, but secure, locking device? Our business site currently has security fencing with metal gates that are closed with a sliding bar and secured with a padlock. Padlock keys are kept in nearby, external, key boxes for use in an emergency. The use of such keys has been deemed as 'not ideal' in the event of an incident.

How many fire exit doors are required from a kitchen in a portacabin?

We live in a shop with flat above, at the back of our property we have two fire exits, one for the shop and one for our flat. Directly opposite us with only a narrow lane between us is a busy car wash. The car wash needs to utilise the space outside our home and also other businesses. There is a yellow line in front of of all exits. They can not function without using this facility and the parking enforcement are allowing them to park. Sometimes our exits have cars in front of them most of the day. I have contacted the local fire safety officer and she says it is a parking problem. Please could you give me advice on this issue, how can we keep our exits clear.? We are mak…

Good Morning, I am happy i all my Fire Exits are correctly located, the right type of door and all have the right amount of space available for the safe egress of all employees. My Problem is, exactly what signs/notices should i have on both sides of the door? On most of them i have the dual sign 'Fire Exit, Keep Clear'. Do i need this on both sides of the door/exit?

Hi, We have an internal fire door that forms part of the exit route. However when the building is unoccupied we need to lock the door from the outside for security reasons. Can we use a push pad one side and lock the door after we exit the room?

Hello Just wanted to know I work in a small store with the front door is the only door and its the fire escape, but between the store front and were us technicians are there are two doors one that is locked with a pass key for employees. We also have no window escapes there is a glass hammer but the windows are about 30CM tall ant close to the ceiling covers in metal bars which cannot be removed. the premises is rented and we do have extinguishers many thanks

Hi, I am enquiring about fire exit doors. Does the perimeter of the building have to be a certain size before it would need a fire exit door fitted? Regards, Katherine