Fire Safety in Churches

We've been running events in our church for many number of years with a stated max capacity of 450 (which is admittedly very full). However most events and services have well under 200. Only a few very popular services around Christmas and some external hirer events exceed 250. We've recently had an FRA which has recommended a max capacity of 260 for evacuation purposes. By opening up an external door in our choir vestry the number has been increased to 309. A couple of questions. 1. Are we obliged to restrict numbers in the church based on the FRA given that we feel it may be safe and reasonable to allow larger numbers with other measures in place? 2. We would…

We have had regular visited from a reputable company to test our fire equipment for years. Our building is only just over 20 years old. One of the visits, the company removed one of our fire extinguishers from our main hall saying that we don't need it, we had two in our main hall and now only have one. When our annual fire risk assessment was due, including VAT they wanted £711 and given the fact that we are keen to conserve our finances, after investigating I asked my husband to is the fire marshal at his own place of employment to carry out the risk assessment. Now the company have been back to check the equipment and told us that the fire alarm…

What is the maximum number of free standing non-interlocking chairs that can be in a row, I seem to remember way back in another Church it was a maximum of 4. A guide to the exact regulation would be helpful so that I can bring this matter up with our Church leadership. Thanks for any replies

Hello, I seek your advise please, but also need links to legislation. We have a large church which we hire out for the community. One of our groups who has been in action 10+ years, is very good at fire drills and hot on regulation. However, we have recently found that in fire drills, it is their established practise to "hold back" all people with mobility impairments (and that's about 1/3 of their group) until all able-bodied people are out, and when challenged, stated that this is current accepted practise both for fire drills and for actual fire/emergencies, and backed by regulations. This has made my skin crawl and screams of discrimination. The person in charge…

May I ask your advice on Fire Announcements. Are they needed? How should they be presented? Our situation is that we are a Church (The Salvation Army). We have Sunday meetings with about 200 regular people worshipping in a single session. We also have concerts by our own band & choir - at Christmas our Carol Services attract about 1,000 people from the local area over 3 services i.e. about 350 at each. We also hire the hall to third parties - local choirs, rotary etc who generally "put on" musical evenings. We have during "concert" events as opposed to worship services made an announcement of the fire exits etc. & have recently transcribed this into a Power Poin…

Hi, to assist in completing a fire risk assessment can anyone offer guidance on the most suitable documents for assessing multi storey external plant with open grid stairways and walkways etc. These are open to the elements. The CLG suite of documents has fire safety risk assessments: factories and warehouses, but are there more relevant guidance documents which I can research and apply?? Thanks

Hi, I currently volunteer within my local church, we have just bought and are currently renevating a new building for our services. The children's room has had a new fire exit installed but this is at the bottom of a 4 tred flight of stairs. My dilemma is I need to keep access to the fire door free and clear, but at the same time don't want children falling down the stairs. The obvious thought is a baby gate, but my main concerns are that they can be awkward to open under pressure, and the opening becomes restricted with a gate in place. Any advice thoughts on the best course of action??

At my church we have cupboards in our meeting rooms, three of which are at floor level and one in the top part of a double height room which is accessed by a ladder and used as an archive. All the cupboards have a light but no electrical sockets. Do the doors need to be fire rated? Alison

Hi I am currently updating our fire risk assessment which up to now was outsourced. I hit a snag: Our church has candles near the entrance area which are lit during the day even when there is no staff or warden. With the public having access, how do you handle this risk in a written fire risk assessment? Stuart

I am treasurer of my local residents association. We hold committee meetings in our local church and hold the occasional coffee morning at the church. Can you please advise me whether we should keep a record of those arriving and leaving for fire purposes. Thank you.

I am the administrator of a church which has a meeting room with a a very small room off it- maybe 4 feet by 12 feet that has a sink and a hot water boiler for teas and coffees. We are removing the water boiler and replacing it with a kettle and coffee filter machine. The room has a hatch (with wooden roll-down shutters) for serving coffee and a door which appears to be a fire door and has a closer. However we would like to replace the door with a stable door - and don't think it is necessary to have a fire door on it. The building dates from 1982. Can you advise, please? Ruth

I am updating our Health & Safety Forms used for setting up work experience and would like to ask: - How often are businesses visited by the fire service, is it once a year or less? - ow often should they carry out fire drills? Thank you for your assistance.

Hi there, I have started a new job for the Church of England. the Bishop has asked for a ceramic tile, which has 'Welcome' on it, to be placed on a fire door. I think I can stick the tile to the small glazed panel. Is this OK to do?

Small local church building (Tin cladded) with bricked side ext.... How often do we 'Have' to do full system tests etc? (Besides the regular part-system checks etc) Appreciate your advice

I would value your opinion on hooks that hold open fire doors. There are two sets of doors at either end of an entrance corridor in our church. This corridor is a busy thoroughfare and also used as a "disabled" entrance. To facilitate use of the doors hooks have been affixed which enable the doors to be held open. I would welcome your thoughts on the pros & cons of this. Looking forward to hearing from you.