Tom Sutton

He/she is, the only suitable fire extinguisher for cooking fat fires is wet chemical. Tests have established that a 6 litre wet chemical extinguisher is capable of extinguishing a fire in a 75 litre capacity deep fat fryer, a simple calculation to work out how many extinguishers you need. Check out http://www.firesafe....uisher-general/ and http://www.firesafe....-extinguishers/ for more information.

The staircase enclosure is part of the circulation area and is required to be a low fire risk, consequently a sterile area. All surfaces, walls and ceilings should meet a "Class 0: surface spread of flame" standard which means any varnish or paint you apply should meet that standard. When you purchase the paint or varnish the information you receive from the manufacturer should state that when applied in accordance with the manufacturer instructions it will achieve the above standard. If you contact the supplier or the manufacturer of Blackfriars varnish they should be able to inform you if it meets the above standard and how it should be applied.

I am assuming you are the Responsible Person in accordance with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Art 3) and consequently are required to implement article 8 to 24, in your workplace. Your workplace is defined in Art 2 which states workplace” means any premises or parts of premises, not being domestic premises, used for the purposes of an employer’s undertaking and which are made available to an employee of the employer as a place of work and includes - (a) any place within the premises to which such employee has access while at work; and any room, lobby, corridor, staircase, road, or other place - (i) used as a means of access to or egress from that place of work; or (ii) where facilities are provided for use in connection with that place of work, other than a public road. If you have control of the common area and are not restricted by the landlord or the tenancy agreement, you are responsible. This type of situation is for the lawyers to determine who has control, and not a fire safety matter other than if an emergency lighting is required or not.

I would suggest you contact Intumescent Fire Seals Association they should be able to help you.

The previous fire safety legislation, the Fire Precaution Act was prescriptive and very clear all new floor coverings in circulation area had to conform to "BS 5287:1988 Specification for assessment and labeling of textile floor coverings tested to BS 4790" and of course "BS 4790:1987 Method for determination of the effects of a small source of ignition on textile floor coverings (hot metal nut method)". However the new fire safety legislation, The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is risk based and not as clear. The general consensus of opinion is all circulation areas have to be sterile which means they have to be a low fire risk, however each fire risk assessor will interprete that in the light of his own experience. IMO carpets conforming to the above British Standards will certainly help to reduce the fire loading and consequently the fire risk. You will need to consult with the Responsible Person (RP), the fire risk assessor, and maybe the Fire and Rescue Service being the enforcing Authority will also have an opinion.

Further to my above submission check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/ for more information.

Upgrading a fire door IMO is not a material alteration therefore not subject to Building Regulation control, check out page 20 of Approved Document B (Fire Safety) or talk to your Building Control department. If a fire door has the intumescent strip under the lippings then they should not be routed as this is part of the fire door specification and the cold smoke seals should be stuck on using self adhesive seals. You can upgrade fire doors in certain situations it all depends on your Fire Risk Assessment, have you spoken to the your FR assessor and the responsible Person?

I am assuming you live in a block of apartments with common areas and consequently the premises the premises are subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and will be subject to a fire risk assessment. The FRA will be conducted by the Responsible Person, in this case most likely will be the owner or the managing agents and that person or persons should be able to assist you. They will have to reassess the FRA in light of your proposals and decide if they are acceptable. I would also keep a written record.

The intumescent strips and seals can be installed in the frame or the leaf of the door. Check out http://www.ifsa.org....Sheet%20No1.pdf and http://www.ifsa.org....Sheet%20No3.pdf.

You can have intumescent or automatic ventilation grilles in fire doors it all depends on the results of your fire risk assessment. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/fire-doors/

The simply answer, is there is no way of knowing, however there are accepted ways of upgrading fire doors and I am not aware yours is one of them. It all depends on why the door needs upgrading and who is requiring the upgrade. If it is an enforcing authority requiring it or some other person then it is up to them to stipulate what methods they will accept.

Hi Harry This makes the problem far more difficult, one possible way is to use mag-locks which have to be connected into the fire alarm and the locks require to be fail-safe to open. The fire alarm in premises "A" activating the mag-lock in premises "B" and visa versa. Not a total satisfactory solution but maybe better than what exists. There is always problems with these 'Right of Way' agreements and are never totally satisfactory, for instance one premises maybe unoccupied when the other is occupied, the only satisfactory solution is an independent means of escape.

All doors on escape routes leading towards a final exit should be quick and easy to open without the need for a key. The final exit door of a building usually presents problems because this door requires a higher degree of security and needs to open easily. Consequently manufacturers have produced many devices to solve this problem. For more information go to http://www.firesafe....nd-fire-safety/ which will explain this more fully.

I agree Harry it is caveat emptor but I do understand why some competent service engineers do use the turnout fee, service fee and replacement items method to indicate their cost because if they go for a fixed price the less reputable engineers will undercut them. If employers examined the contracts more fully then they may find what appears to be a good price, is not so, because if they had employed more competent engineers there could be savings such as them identifying over provision for instance.

If you are located in England or Wales my opinion is you are subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the guidance document is Sleeping accommodation . If you check out http://www.firesafe....ety-order-2005/ this will help in understanding the the order and if you study the guidance document this will help you to implement the requirements of the order. The principle requirement is to conduct a fire risk assessment and this will dictate what you are required to do to comply with the order.

It is like any other service engineer car, domestic appliances and others its the only way they can cost the job, until they know what replacement parts are needed. Put some of the parts down to manufacturers servicing instructions, if the maker says they should be changed annually and the engineer fails to do so, however unlikely, this could raise liability issues. Most refresher courses stress servicing must be carried out to manufacturers instructions. For example Chubb and Gloria require frangible safety pins to be replaced on every service, other parts may need to be replaced due to wear and tear.

Thats a very difficult task you have set there Alan there are very little statistics in such detail but a starting point would be DCLG fire website the latest is http://www.communiti...pdf/1780609.pdf and you could try http://www.esc.org.u...rch/statistics/ regarding electrical appliances. If I get any more detailed information I will post again. As for early detection I am not aware of any, other than isolating the supply using cut off relays using thyristors and it appears the use of bi-metal strips are now finding favour but you will need to research that more fully because I cannot vouch for the information.

Fire safety is not subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act for which the enforcing authority is the HSE. It is subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the enforcing authority is the Fire and Rescue Service. Check out http://www.firesafe....ety-order-2005/ it will it will assist you in understanding the Order. The Responsible Person is required to conduct a fire risk assessment and the guidance document for Offices is the DCLG Offices and shops guide. Your husband needs to look at the FRA which may not require an alternative means of escape it all depends on the construction of the building and its layout.

Hi Dawnne, What do you mean by " in case of fire it would only leave 1 fire exit " in the case of fire all doors are fire doors, if the lead to a place of safety. It concerns me that some people think that only doors with a fire exit sign, are fire doors. Also I assume you play in a hall and in most similar situations you would need an alternative means of escape i.e. two doors. What does the fire risk assessment say?

Check out http://www.firesafe....nd-fire-safety/ for more information.

Checkout http://www.leicester...-scooters.shtml and http://fire.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4795.0 there are others do an internet search for " Mobility Scooters Fire " you may find them interesting.

You need The Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) they are the undisputed experts in this field and if you manufacture upholstered furniture you should be a member. You can also check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations-19881989-and-1993/ which you may find useful.

Are you referring to the Furniture and Furnishing Regs? If so the only size mentioned is, “All words and numbers on the permanent label must be in medium letters of at least 10 point (approx. 2.5 millimetres high) in upper or lower case. The letters must be legible, in durable print, and appear on a label of sufficient colour contrast to enable them to be seen clearly." As for fire resistance of the labels the display labels are removed soon after purchase and the permanent labels are fixed to the underside of the items therefore only need to comply with the following, "The label must be durable and securely attached to the furniture (i.e. cannot be removed without causing damage to the label or the product and must be able to withstand the normal wear and tear of everyday use and misuse). The durability period for permanent labels is not defined in the Regulations. However bearing in mind that any records need to be kept for 5 years and the purpose of the permanent labelling is to link through to those records, a similar period would seem logical. The permanent label has to be securely attached to the external surface of the item. Attachment of the permanent label to the underside of the item is also permissible" You should check out the FIRA website for the guide to the regs and a link can be found on http://www.firesafe....81989-and-1993/

Because of the two flats opening into small lobby the premises are subject to the RR(FS)O and a fire risk assessment should be carried out. This will determine if any work needs to be carried out and if it does then it should be minimal. The trouble is without a FRA it is impossible to say what needs to be done to make the premises safe from fire. The appropriate guide is HOUSING – FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing which is accepted by all the enforcing authorities.

Maintained emergency escape lighting remains illuminated 24/7. It is often used in places of assembly like theatres, cinemas, entertainment halls and such. Non-maintained emergency light remains off until the mains supply fails. If an automatic testing system is not installed both types have to be tested regularly.