Fire Exits

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could help. I am looking into opening up a new bar in Congleton, Cheshire and I need some advice on fire regs. The building is an ld restaurant over three floors. we would only be using the ground floor with has two entrances on either side. We wanted to position the bar on the back wall which would be infront of one of the entrances. This door leads to a cellar type area and then outside to the street, There is also a front entrance with an existing fire exit sign. Really what I need to know is whether I need to have both doors publically accessible or whether I can have one for staff and deliveries only. If none of this makes sense I …

Hi all, I hope you can help me. We have a small community centre which has one main door and one fire exit door. Currently the fire exit door is also being used as a normal entry/exit door as well (which I understand is fine). The fire exit door has push bars. We would like to upgrade the fire exit door (in fact replace it!) with one with door buzzer/camera on the outside. That way access via this door can be granted remotely from an intercom once person has been identified. I am thinking of electronic fail open locks for this (which we would lock manually overnight when no one is in the building). The other concern is that we no longer want push bars on the i…

Hello Im looking to extend my childcare business by moving the out of school club upstairs in our premises. If I did this it would mean there were only windows and the one stairwell downstairs. Is this sufficient for fire escapes? If not, what would it require please? We open 07:30 til 18:00 mon to fri, for ages 4 - 14. Thank You Nicola

Hi,I walk in a large technical site which has 3 designated fire doors which are also used as a daily entrance/exit doors. As the place I work is a technical site,security is of the upmost importance and entry is strictly limited and entrance is by way of a card. One of the doors has developed a fault which means it does not automatically lock,this is being investigated,but meanwhile it has been manually locked. My query is whether this falls foul of the law,I will state there are 2 other exits closer to the offices.

Hi, I was looking at the building code and regulations regarding fire safety in mind as I am looking to lease a small retail shop and wanted to know more about number of exits required for basement levels for public use. The shop is not large at all, about 11ft x 27ft with an stair leading down to the basement with a head height of no more than 6'2" once you're in the basement. I did have a look at non-domestic fire escapes in basements and it said I need two 'storey exits'. Does that mean if I had 2 staircases in the internal shop that would suffice, or does it need to be two external exits i.e. like a cellar door? Alternatively, if I didn't use the basement as public …

I have an enquire regarding new windows that Southwark Council have put in my property and I worry that these do not fulfill fire safety regulations. I was under the impression that windows installed into a property had to meet some sort of fire regulations. The reason I am questioning this is because last year four people died in a block of flats in Southwark and the windows were said not to meet fire regulations as they melted within 10 seconds when the regulations stated it has to be a minimum of a minute. The council deny this is a regulation. Please can you let me know if there are fire regulations for councils installing windows in the UK. Many Than…

I part of a community group consulting on a library building with residential accommodation above the library. The library has a basement room with DDA compliant lift and stair access, however the fire exit on the ground floor does not have direct external access. Is this acceptable? I note: Disabled people should not use any part of a building where it would be difficult for them, even with help, to escape in the event of fire. Use of basements by wheelchair users, where there is no basement level exit, is likely to be an example of this. Activities which might take place in such areas should be moved to different areas, so far as reasonably practicable, to avoid exc…

Good Afternoon, What do you class as '1 Unit' in your calculation of Exit widths ?

If I have an exit closed off for a few months in a licenced premises and the exit now directs people into a building to an emergency exit and the distance is 40/50 metres. Is this legal? It could take them towards a fire and not away from it. People will, as you know just follow signs and they would not know where the fire was. This involves 2 rooms that can hold 60 each.

I have been asked to investigate the signage requirement for exits in our church. Please could you direct me to the present law.

My son is a Tenant with a housing association and shares a small apartment block with three other Tenants. He has been told that Fire regulation do not allow him to have a door mat. Is this true?

We are fitting new external doors to a building with push bars as they are fire exit doors. Is there a legal requirement that they must be RED? or can they be any colour, ie our company colour? Thank you,

I'm currently volunteering in a charity shop where the fire door is regularly locked overnight with both bolts and keys. When I'm in, I usually get in for 1000 after the store opening at 0900, and the fire door out the back is still locked and bolted. I brought this issue up with one of the volunteer managers who told me she didn't care and the place could burn down for all she cared. I then raised this with the paid manager, who told me that a fire door can be locked and bolted, so long as it's easy to unlock during a fire, then he demonstrated how it took him four steps to unlock the door. I'm concerned as to whether or not I've been lied to by the managed about the…

dear sirs i have flower pots outside my door on bottom floor distance from stairs is 28 inches iam told this is a breach of health and safty act? but they have been outside for the last 13 years can you advice me please?

hi, im just looking for a bit of advice. i rent a house and the back door has broke and wont open, my landlord is messing me about coming to fix it. is the back door being jammed shut a fire hazard?

I am due to open a new showroom of roughly 200m2 split by a dividing wall (with an access door) in the centre of the room, creating 2 100m2 rooms. Do both rooms require a fire escape?

i work in a bakery of which i have to use an office as part of my job, there are 3 offices which are joined by a single door, if a fire was to start blocking my office door this would leave me with no way to get out as the other office doors are locked which if left open could lead me to a point of escape but this is being blocked leaving me vunreble , can this doors be allowed to be locked or are they meant to be open as part of an escape route.

I run a pub with living quarters upstairs I have 3 young kids there is no fire escape and no fire extinguishers in the pub is this legal as the fire escape as been cut off to make a smoke room and who do I report it too thanks

We have locks on our fire doors which require you to break the middle section to be able to open the fire door, are these ok to use as we had an Auditer who say otherwise. Sharon

In a two storey office accomodation, the nearest exit for me is on the ground floor (witihin 20 paces of my usual sitting position) which is a partially glazed door with a twist lock (easily openable). However this is not a fire exit. After a minor altication with our office manager over the use of the nearest exit and a fire exit, could you please advise if it is ok to use the nearest available exit during the event of a fire/fire drill. Many thanks

I was wondering if there is such a thing as a panic bar that can be fitted to an inward opening door? I can't change the door but it's recently been designated a fire exit. Any advice gratefully received.

Could I ask advice, please? An electircal fault in communal stairway lighting causes the circuit breaker to trip frequently. This activates the emergency lights, draining down the batteries and leaving the stairwell that serves 6 flats in complete darkness until the circuit breaker (in a locked cupboard) is reset. The stairwell is the only route into and out of the block of flats and this has been the situation for nearly a year. Could I ask for some help in finding whether there is some regulation we can wave at the landlord to require them to find and repair the fault? Would the regulatory body be the local authority or fire department? We are in Tower Hamlets and the l…

My question is that should external metal fire doors have a entry method ie door handle?

Is it within the regulations to fit a door closer to a outward fire exit door which has an internal single latch push pad and an external mechanical keypad codelock?

What are the construction requirements for a Fire Exit door which opens to the outside. Can it have vision Panels?