Tom Sutton
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Posts posted by Tom Sutton
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Your responsibility ends at your front door and the commons area including the corridors are the responsibility and property of the housing association. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the housing association to conduct a fire risk assessment of the common area, which they have done and decided that door mats are a hazard, I suspect a tripping hazard therefore not allowed. I believe you do not have any right of challenge other than to speak to your housing association and try to change there mind.
Have you considered having the door mat inside the flat, I do, I live in a house and if I had it outside is would not work.
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I know they will be subject to the gas regulations but why would you think they need to be fire resistant? http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/index.htm
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I see no problems fixing it to the fire door but the small glazed panel it depends on the reason for the glazed panel. It could be a vision panel for the safety of occupants and fixing a ceramic tile could reduce the vision.
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There is no specific requirement that all furniture in offices should be fire retardant however, you are required to provide measures to reduce the risk of fire on the premises and ensuring your upholstered furniture meets BS 7176 or the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 would achieve this.
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Anthony hasn't come back and I cannot find any information regarding fire ratings on clean agents.
What I have found was the only acceptable replacement for Halon 1211 (BCF) appears to be FE-36 because it is the only one accepted in Europe, but even then it is not as efficient. The cup burner test method for BCF gives 4.1 % and for FE 36 gives 6.4%. Although the test is for total flooding it does show how efficient they are at extinguishing fires and as green-foam said you would need half as much more extinguishing agent to extinguisher the same fire.
Check out http://www2.dupont.com/FE/en_US/assets/downloads/pdf/h77974_FE-36_PUSH.pdf also http://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/systems/handheld/handheld.asp it may give some more avenues of research like adiabatic expansion nozzles. It is American website but the research is international and may give you some ideas.
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From AnthonyB he say's
As for replacement, you will be lucky to find a drop in clean agent of comparable performance that's readily available other than for the 1.5kg portable. The Police have gone for 1kg FE-36, it obviously impressed at trials, however due to its niche market the chosen unit hasn't had fire rating tests.Most oversea manufacturers of clean agent are influenced by the more relaxed US codes and use Halotron (not allowed in the EU), but high capacity FE-36 in portables and trolleys are available (up to 12Kg).
Unless you really want a clean agent the way is now high performance powder and high performance foams, although don't knock the 5 kilo CO2 as these can now get a 70B rating (I've even seen higher) which is more comparable with BCF than in the past, although of course the effective discharge range is less.
I can dig some old fire rating info for portable BCF's out tomorrow, although there may not be any for @9kg as many manufacturers didn't go to the expense of fire rating tests for small order sizes, only testing stuff in the 1-3kg range
DuPont says that FE36 is almost effective as BCF but I would sooner hear it from an independent assessor and would err on the side of safety for green-foam's 1.5 times by going for a lager capacity extinguisher.
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I think I would agree with you Simon before the retailer dispatched the chair to you it should have carried a display and permanent label, if label may easily become detached during the manufacturing process then it is not very permanent. The enforcing authority for the flammability regulations is the trading standards and the best guidance is The Furniture Industry Research Association(FIRA) http://www.fira.co.uk contact them, they should be able to give you authoritative guidance.
http://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ Guide to the Regulations
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The guide to the regulations states,
Mattress pads (toppers)
BS 7177 defines a mattress pad (topper) as a product which comprises a cover and filling(s), or filling material(s) alone, designed to be used in conjunction with a mattress or upholstered bed base. Mattress pads (toppers) are mattresses, albeit secondary, as they are not intended to be used separately. Therefore the filling material (foam or non-foam) contained in a mattress pad (topper) must meet the Regulations. In addition the fire safety of the complete product is controlled via the General Product Safety Regulations hence the mattress pad (topper) must also comply with the low hazard category of BS 7177.
Reading that I would say between the furniture regulation and the General Product Safety Regulations both the filling /cover need to conform to one or the other regulation.
http://www.fira.co.uk/document/fira-flammability-guide-october-2011pdf.pdf
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I do not understand the layout you are trying to describe but I can say not all doors required for means of escape have to be indicated by a fire exit sign, only MoE doors that are not in general constant use. Any MoE door can be locked providing it can be opened without the need of a key from the direction of escape side which can be in some cases from both sides but usually from the inside.
I cannot give a definitive response without a physical survey or detailed plans, whether a means of escape route is satisfactory because there are many considerations that have to be considered.
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Is the balcony in fresh air and where does the other escape route lead to. What is your normal route from your accommodation.
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Hi Jill if you wouldn't mind keep us inform on future developments.
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Tom this will need some researching and I have one person in mind who will certainly be able to help.
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I agree fully but as a general rule, final exits doors usually do not need to be FR and there is bound to be other exceptions to the rule.
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The make, model and details of the system would be needed but check out they are having similar problems to you.
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Tony as I have said isolating cause of false alarms is notorious difficult exercise and unless you can create the same situation again it is impossible to be sure of the cause. Is your fire alarm system interconnect and if so how, because if they are not interconnect the only common connection is the mains supply then a spike or mains ripple is a possibility?
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Green-foam I agree fully with what you say but the point I was trying to make was the two circuits in a smoke detector and a spike on the power supplies may have triggered the alarm circuit for a short period, then reset. I know it is likely there is circuitry to aid suppression of voltage transients and RF interference, to reduce the chances of false alarms but maybe it failed in this case.
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You didn’t say if they are domestic smoke detector and are interconnected, I will assume they are domestic smoke detector connect to the mains, if so you first need to know how they work so check out http://www.explainthatstuff.com/smokedetector.html to give a basic understanding.
As you can see there are two circuits the sensor circuit and the alarm circuit. If the sensor circuit had triggered the alarm any contaminate in the sensor chamber would most probably remain and the alarm would have gone into full alarm. However if the alarm circuit had been stimulated by such as a spike on the electricity supply this might operate the alarm for a short period of time. It may also apply if it is an A, B, or C category of fire alarm but do understand isolating cause of false alarms is notorious difficult exercise.
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The planning committee is a group of amateurs (councilors) lead by a professional planning officer who will try to ensure you proposals meet the local planning laws and it will not detract from the look of the local area. If your premises is listed then you will involve heritage lot and may be followed by building regulations.
You or your solicitor should be able to address the meeting and explain how important a means of escape and safety is for your son. You should emphasize that you would consider minor alterations to your proposals and hope there are some sympathetic councilors on the committee.
The only legislation that may be involved is the Equality Act 2010 is designed to protect disabled persons, among others but I am not sure it will be of any use to you. The Building Regulation does require satisfactory means of escape from domestic dwellings including other requirements.
Check out http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/wps/portal/portalhome also Approved Document B - Fire Safety: Volume 1 – Dwelling houses for more information.
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As far as I am aware there is no legislation covering the construction of mobile homes only caravan sites. However there are two standards the UK one BS 3632:2005 and the European standard BS EN 1647:20121 and they both require adequate means of escape which can be doors, escape windows or knock out panels. It appears that you have a choice and also British standards are not legislation they are only recommendations but you need to study the standards to get the full understanding. The local reference library may be useful.
What is most important is treating fire safety with a high priority check out Caravan Safety - Leaflet (new window PDF 225 kb)
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Will each partition have a door leading to ultimate safety (outside the premises) if so, providing the curtain meet the appropriate standard BS 5867: Part 2: 2008 – Curtains, drapes and window blinds then there should be no problems. Check out Contract Flammability Guide for further information.
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As green-foam says follow the instruction and there should be no problems as ovens are designed/insulated to kept the heat in and not radiate it out. Providing a heat resistant glass worktop saver seems a good idea and will certainly improve the fire safety situation. You should also ensure sufficient space around the oven to provide adequate ventilation and do not allow flammable materials to come into contact with the oven like curtains, drapes,tea towels etc. Do not allow the lead to come in to contact with any hot surfaces and check the area regularly for the the signs of scorching as an addition safety check. The most likely cause of fire is food left unattended in the oven and overheating, in this situation don't attempt to open the door just switch off the electric supply and cover with damp towels or fire blanket if you have one, then call out the fire service.
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Personally I would install to a minimum of fire L3 and that is escape routes, unless of course rooms adjacent to the escape routes may cause issues and then it would be L2.
Point of information what has category L3 and L2 got to do with emergency escape lighting?
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The guidance HSG168 Fire safety in construction recommends you conduct a fire risk assessment and the first consideration is to prevent fire starting. To identify possible sources of fire you need to locate, sources of fuel, ignition sources and oxygen (air). There is a small possibility there could be a leak in the area of the gas meter, guys smoking and lighting up and plenty of oxygen, next the big bang, (and I am not talking about the start of the universe) consequently I would suggest you move the smoking area as far away from meter area or other sources of fuel as you can.
Will this area eventually be enclosed if so why not locate it to an area which will be open air when the premises are completed?
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I cannot give a definitive response without a physical survey to determine compartmentation and the layout of the premises but I will try to provide you with some guidance. Normally a BS 5839 part 1 system would be installed in commercial premises but as the Responsible Person you have applied risk management principles and have decided that a part 6 (domestic SD) would be satisfactory in the circumstances of this case.
The situation you describe is an inner/outer room situation and it appears you have adopted a smoke detector in the outer room to solve it. If you choose to use domestic smoke detectors you must have one in the outer room and you may need one in the inner room depending on the audibility in the inner room which would also need to be interlinked.
The inner room off the shop area can be protected by a smoke detector in the outer room (Shop) providing the warning signal can be heard in the inner room, above the normal background noise, then there should be no problems.
At the rear of the premises the inner/outer room situation is less clear and depends on where the rear exit door is located. Use the same principles indicated above, and remember you cannot pass through two outer rooms to get to a final exit door.
Hard wired domestic smoke detectors were introduced because occupants were removing the batteries, to operate other battery devices or to silence repeated false alarms; if this is unlikely to be a problem then battery types could be used. The life of a smoke detector is about ten years, so if you use the ten year battery, both can be change at the same time, also changing the battery every year can be a bind plus that annoying chirping.
Smoke seals for double action fire doors
in Fire Doors and Accessories
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Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/ and there are links to TRADA Q-Mark fire door scheme and British Woodworking Federation Certifire fire door scheme they may be able to help.
You could also try http://www.leaderflushshapland.co.uk/LeaderflushHome/MarketSector/Education/TypicalConfiguration/CorridorpairdoubleactionholdopenFD30.aspx they may also be able to help.