Lee

A person with severe learning disabilities refuses to move when the fire alarm actuates so staff close the bedroom door and leave the person there due to the fire resistance of the door, is this acceptable in a real fire situation? This is what the support workers have been instructed to do by management. Advise appreciated

Very helpful, cheers guys

Hi folks A three storey block of flats that I visited last week had external balcony access to the flat front doors accessed by a communal stairway to one side of the building only. None of the flat front doors or windows were fire resistant. Due to only having one route of escape and residents that have to pass various other flats to get there, should the windows and doors be fire resistant?

. This is something that bothers me too, its called spandrel boarding, its a layer of fire resistant material sandwiched between two timber boards which is then placed onto the party wall in the loft space. A layer of felt is then placed loosely at the top between the board and the apex of the roof. I can actually push my hand through the felt into the next compartment. I am also told its a cheaper and quicker way than carrying on with concrete block up to the apex of the roof. I have tried to find some info on this with no success but my gut instincts tell me this is no way suitable? what do you guys think? I have attached a photo showing the layer of felt that has fallen away from the top of the board

I have come across a service shaft in a block of flats, it has fire doors on each of the three levels but no fire stopping between each floor, so the shaft is open through each level. should each floor be fire stopped or is it acceptable for the open shaft. I would have thought a chimney effect would spread the smoke and heat through each level

Thanks Tom, what is the fire risk of a server unit? this is the size of a single wardrobe

Need advise on this guys, one of my clients are a small business and are based in a old school building. There is a boiler and server unit situated in a large store room with extensive fire loading. Im not talking about the fire loading here but the boiler is fixed to the wall. It is regularly serviced and secure but should this be in a room on its own which is fire protected? Also ref the server, it has a door missing and is very dusty inside, your opinion on that please?

I have recently carried out FRA's for a care home group, the majority of their homes have dorgard devises on fire doors that lead to the critical escape routes. I advised them to remove them and replace with a more failsafe system wired to the alarm. The service uses have learning difficulties but most are fully mobile. Now they're questioning this as dorgards are freely available to buy and any replacement wired to the alarm would be extremely expensive. I believe these devises are not 100% failsafe as batteries never get replaced on time as these things are the least priority in a busy care home. Is there another alternative available or do you guys think I'm right? I want to give the best advise to my client but I always look at the worst scenario .

I know of a factory which is 20000 sq foot split into 2 parts by a concrete block wall, one side is the production area making plastic component's and the other is warehouse space where only 1 man works for approx. 1 hour per day in a wooden grinding room. In the production area there are 15 workers. There is a very old manual fire alarm system and both ends of the production area but never serviced, in fact the owners are unsure whether it still works although a red light is lit at the side of the break glass point Both areas are open areas and with a high roof, any fire in the production area would be immediately seen by the workers. But the lone worker wouldn't know of any fire in the production area, nor would the other section if there was a fire in the warehouse. I have to point out that house keeping is ok with no fire loading and nothing near any points of ignition. I am wondering what the solution would be regarding the fire alarm. The RRO (article 13)states that there should be fire detection and alarm in place but before any detector would work in this premise I would have thought the fire would have been seen. I don't think the company could afford a brand new fire alarm and detection system but what would you guys recommend?.

Cheers guys, it turns out the responsible person got it wrong, after speaking to the fire authority the concern was the fact if the escape route to these particular bedrooms were blocked, the staff must be able to enter the building through these doors. I questioned the possibility of external key pads with a combination lock but the fire authority said due to a moment of panic the code could be forgotten. I said maybe the code could be the same as the front door? anyway the end result is to fit the mag locks

I'm after a bit of advise from you guys as my colleagues and I have a difference of opinion regarding a issue at a care home. We are currently upgrading the alarm system and looking at the installation of Maglocks. This particular home has been given a enforcement notice by the local fire authority, and they have requested this. The difference of opinion are 2 doors along a corridor, which are close to bedrooms and as some of the residents suffer from dementia the concern is, if they were fitted with maglocks and the alarm was actuated due to a false alarm, fault etc, then these doors would open leaving the residents free to walk outside unaided. At the moment they are fitted with Redlam door bolts. We are informed by the responsible person that the enforcing officer stated it was to allow fire crews to enter the building from that side. I can see both points if I'm honest, would appreciate someone else's thoughts

I am new to the fire risk assessment business and I have been asked to do a fra on a care home that has had a enforcement notice from the fire authority, one being a inadequate fra and no escape plan. The fra I'm fine with but ive never done a evacuation plan. I need to add at this point the home is in 2 sections, the original building with a new build added.. A stay put policy is no good as there are alarm sounders throughout both buildings, the care home staff say its a horizontal phased evacuation but no such plan is documented, so that's down to me. As both the FRA and the escape strategy will be looked at closely by the fire authority this has got me somewhat nervous. Can someone give me a example of one of these please so I can see how they are laid out and documented? Any help will be very much appreciated. My email address is leekevinbrown@sky.com again anything that gives me a idea of what the fire authority wants will be invaluable Cheers

Ive just visited a care home and found the owners have screwed in a wooden kick board on both sides of all the fire doors along the corridor, this is a protected route, , they have used brass screws with washers but have they damaged the door by dong this?

Can someone tell me what the requirements of dorgards are please, these are designed to listen for the audible fire alarm i know but what happens if the fire alarm fails? should these devises be wired in to the electric mains and close automatically? I come across a lot of these that are not wired directly to the system

What are the requirements of having vehicles parked in warehouses or business premises? Vehicles catch fire when parked due to faulty electrics but I come across this regularly with the business owners vans parked in workshops, Business owners vintage car parked in a warehouse etc. Garage premises have customers cars in the garage but even these are a risk of fire surely? How would this be dealt with on a fire risk assessment?

Could someone advise me please, I have visited a premise which has a server installation for the computer systems etc, about the same size as a single wardrobe. It has a secure door etc but it is in a store room with various items such as boxes, foldable chairs etc. There is no air-conditioning in the room either. Is this a problem?

Could someone tell me how to achieve regular fire drills at a tennis club please, it is inappropriate to evacuate paying customers and the premises are mostly occupied with players and members throughout the day. How could a fire drill be achieved without inconveniencing them?

Some great info here Tom , thank you

Ive just recently moved on to doing FRA's for residential properties such as flats and HMO's, ive always used the PAS79 format but I find its designed for more industrial than residential properties. Could I ask if someone could give me a more appropriate format please? My talent on a computer is limited to filling in forms and not designing one unfortunately