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Hi! I am looking for guidance to give staff when evacuating our office. I would like to allow people to take their laptops with them as this is critical to our resiliency plans. I want to advise, "IF SAFE TO DO SO, undock and go: do not shut down or finish work - sling the bag over your shoulder to keep hands free." Some people are saying that the law says take no belongings and there's no room for interpretation. I believe that just as ladies are allowed to take pocketbooks/ purses people can take a laptop bag and allow for a safe evacuation whilst having common sense rule the day (e.g. we don't prohibit people taking a jacket if it's cold/raining).

I am making an enquiry on behalf of my husband who works for a local voluntary organisation. The premises are located in the upstairs rooms of a terraced propery. The shop occupies the ground floor and the entrances are separate and not connected. Basically there is one entrance/exit for the offices - down the stairs and out onto the street. There is only one full time employee but a number of volunteers in and out at various times with a maximum of 12 on the premises on training nights. He is unable to raise his query with the HSE as they no longer have a phoneline available to answer questions of this nature. But he feels that, with only one exit (apart from the window) the premises are unsafe from a fire perspective as there is no backup means of evacuation. He is trying to find out what the HSE guidelines are regarding permissable number of people working in an office with no fire escape. Are you able to give him any information please? Many thanks for your assistance Regards

In an area of a building where people are barefoot ( public swimming pool) is there any obligation on that place to provide protective footwear for evacuation to an outside assembly point away from buildings? Is the provision of overshoes or socks required?

I used to work for large company where I was a fire marshall/ floor sweeper. The rules stated that roll call was not required as floor sweepes were employed to ensure cleared areas. Staff could be anywhere on site and could go to various fire points. My new company insist on roll call against swipe card system (which is not foolproof and a list has to be printed out ) and staff may not be in office. Can you confirm actual regulations on this as I believe our current system could put fire people into danger looking for unaccounted staff. We dont sweep floors. I am not a marshall now but still concerned