Fire Exits

Hi. Double door fire exit has one leaf out of order. The fire exit serves area of building that's disused but could still be used by contractors. Leads from disused auditorium. Is it better to fix the faulty leaf or ok to have one leaf out of action? Regs refer to occupancy factor going through exit and now the area is disused, only contractors and any staff that's gone into area in this area now.

No reference to roller shutters is included in BS 7273. It has been proposed to install a roller shutter door that is going to be a designated fire exit. The roller shutter will provide the only exit from an external enclosed area that forms part of the escape route away from the building to a place of ultimate safety. I am considering accepting is as long as the installation complies with BS 7273 with the following three fail safe requirements: 1) It auto opens on power failure. 2) It auto opens on FA actuation. 3) A release mechanism is included in the installation with an emergency release device (green box) next to the shutter. Your thoughts please?

Hi, Please help. We have a maglock entrance door to our building. I have recently had an external company come in and carry out their maintenance. Their remedial works are to fit an interface to the door so in the event of a fire this becomes fail safe. This i understand, but is this a legal requirement to make the door fail safe. The door has a green push button to activate it, but this would not deem it fail safe. Please advise

I live in a small block of flats (23) there is a bin store you have to pass through to get to the fire exit. With the changes in bin collection they start to get over full towards collection day with the potential for bin bags to fall to the floor and block exit. I have mentioned several times to landlord but seams in no rush to sort out. Is this breaking any regulations ? Would like to know so I could include in next letter to them . As it is I always worry a bit as to the right of this store are the gas meters for the whole Block and pipes are behind mesh’s panel you see in pics, but obviously that has passed when built. thanks in advance

My query concerns a building used as a small/medium place of assembly with one exit to the public realm and a second exit to a rear walled garden (with no openings in any of the walls). In principle, is it permissible to consider a walled garden a place of safety for the purposes of fire evacuation? How deep must the walled garden be relative to the height of the building in order to qualify as a place of safety? I can only find rules of thumb for the depth of the standoff distance, ranging from 1 x building height all the way to 2.5x the building height. Is the governmental guidance silent on this aspect - leaving it to building operators to decide, or is there somet…

Hi All, if a pub has 3 final exits, all 3 open inwards, is the occupancy 60 for each door or 60 in total please?

Hello Can someone help me with my query? Is it illegal to use a fire exit door as an entrance/exit door for general public as a daily use or should fire exit door be kept as emergency exit only in case of fire etc? I would be grateful if someone can clear this matter up for me. Regards Jennifer

Hi All, can someone let me know what legislation exists for a large public building with over 200 fire doors, including magnetic doors etc. How are these supposed to be checked at a frequency of a month etc? is there law or just guidance and best practice, 2 floors only but huge, 200 staff and around 450 members of the public in most days. rob

Good morning, Is there any mandatory law on how often these should be tested for functionality please? Guidance may offer time frames but from an enforceable stand point where would this be?

If a 20ft by 8ft shipping container is converted to a small coffee shop is one door, used for entry and usual exit as well as fire escape, enough to meet regulatory standards?

Hi there, any and all insight would be greatly appreciated - as this is far from my area of expertise! We're in the process of setting up a new business in the form of a wellness centre. We're creating a platform to put two cold plunges on, which will be situated close by to a fire exit. The platform will be 180mm in height. We intend to have a short ramp up to the platform that covers the whole width (around 4m), along with a ramp where the fire exit is situated, otherwise the platform will be wall to wall. I hope the above makes sense, keen to understand if we are compliant with fire safety regulations before we commence with the build! Let me know if …

Hi, I should start by saying that this is not a project that i am working on but I happened to visit a building that I have previously worked in and noticed something's and just wanted some information about if what they have done is legal. I used to regularly work in a studio theatre with an audience capacity of 350. The audience area has 3 fire exits including the main entrance to the theatre. The backstage area has one large door into the theatre space which is held open by a fire alarm operated magnetic release mechanism. This is designated the fire exit from backstage however there is also another small door from backstage that goes in to a fire escape route …

Good afternoon, I have an enquiry about a mesh fire exit door on a roof, the measurements are 1,500mm high x 500mm wide. I wondered what is the smallest width and height a door can be? Kind regards Lauren

My local Church has a hall multi use that is used by preschool Monday to Friday, out of these times it’s used by slimming group and othera, the fire doors are fitted high level handles that the children can’t get hold of but they block one of the fire doors with a children’s kitchen set. It’s been said to them that this needs to be removed once all the children have left the premises (is this acceptable ) but they are not doing this. I have said to the minister that he needs to make sure it’s done. But this isn’t occurring. My main question is their argument there is two other fire exits from the hall I have been told Ofsted not brought this up on their visit.

Two different scenarios, both 2 story, ground and first floor flats. Front doors in one are to the front face of the block and approx 60cm apart. Another block the doors are on the side face and are 90degress from one another. All doors are to fresh air but due to their proximity to each other would Fire doors be required under guidance? I can’t add photos because I don’t know how?!

We have some fire exit staircases on our site. I am looking for what regulations exist for the checking of these. Do they need to be examined and if so by who? can we carry out basic checks ?

Hope someone could offer some advice on a query I have. We have a set of doors that lead directly to the public path, these are locked when we are not open to the public. There is an alternative way of ingress and escape. When we are open to the general public, the main doors are open inwards and locked into position, access is via a set of automatic glass doors that overlap our main doors. We would like to make our street doors readily available to use as a fire exit by installing some push bars, etc. The question is, would it be a problem if they invade the public path? One of the directors is questioning if there is a risk to the public if this door is opened out…

Locked myself out from a shop that has a Fire exit doorat the back of the shop with push bars inside and steel/metal door outside . Left my car keys etc in shop . Is it difficult to open the door from outside do i need a specialist locksmith ?, can it be easily broken into as concerned at it being broken into ? Please assist someone

Hi all, I recently came across a youtube video on PSA 67:2021 which seemed to have some far-reaching consequences that I hadn't previously considered. In addition, I can't find much information on the internet so I was curious whether other people are encountering the same topics: In particular, the video is saying that the use of maglocks and green BGUs typically can't be used as this would put requirements beyond that of 'requiring people to manipulate more than one mechanism'. As in, one mechanism for the green BGU and another mechanism for the door handle. So a secure office door would need to have a solenoid lock similar to a hotel room door rathe…

I have recently purchased a bungalow (in Scotland) with an attached garage that as it stands isn't integral. The problem is that garage sits considerably lower than the bungalow itself, so the height for any potential door is reduced to around 130cm. My question is - is it still possible to put a fire door in to make the garageintegral and still meet building requirements? Obviously I would probably have to get a custom door made. Or is it the case that there is a minimum height requirement for fire doors? Any answers are very much appreciated!

Hi, I have got a fire escape route on the outside of a building, with goes over 3 separate windows. The windows have openings but do not obstruct the route of escap. What are the regulations on the windows? Do they need to be fire rated windows or any specifics regulation? Thank you in advance. Kind regards Neil

Can an entrance/exit with glass fire proof doors and with Fire Exit signs above it, have curtains (fire proof) drawn across them during use of the space? for example a Community Center.

Hi I am a manager of an independant living scheme for the elderly in Rastrick, Brighouse, West Yorkshire and I have 2 tenants that are wanting a mobility scooter and i have been told by my line manager that to store them in a communal area i would need to get a fire officer to do an inspection on the court, could you please inform me who i would need to contact.

I live in a 3 storey town house where there is only access to the garden at the rear. This is to say that the neighbours at either side have built hedges, fences and sheds, only allowing me to exit the property from the front. Also at the rear there is a wall and then a 10 foot drop in to a beck. this is probably about 10 metres from the rear door. Does this contravene any fire safety regulations

We have a three storey commercial (office) building. It has an internal protected fire escape with the offices on either side. To one side of the building it has an external fire escape. The external one is very old and does not comply with current standards. This would be in the six figures to be redesigned, manufactured and installed. Can the external escape be take out of service and use the one internal escape. Obviously the signage and strategy of the building will need to be changed.