Are we being conned?

[JeanClements]

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 and detection units are obsolete and after 10 years they should be changed. 

As our building has been regularly checked for the past 20+ years, why is this the first time that we are hearing this? 

I can't help but thinking that as this is the same company that wanted to charge us over £700 for a risk assessment that the wool is pulled over our eyes in order that someone can make some money from us. 

 

[Mike North]

Smoke detectors degrade with age, the NFCC recommends 10 years

NFCC reminds people to replace smoke alarms every 10 years - NFCC

As for the removal of an extinguisher, with out the building size and complexity I wouldn't like to comment, but there should be a minimum of 2 per floor

[AnthonyB]

As I assume you are talking about a commercial fire alarm system, then the NFCC advice is not applicable. 10 years is used to get people to replace equipment based purely on a single manufacturers recommended life span and warranty period. The appropriate British Standard for fire alarms has no lifespan as long as the equipment passes service. An independent scientific study where the Government were a stakeholder concluded (based on extensive tests and experiments) that, dependant on type, a detector can remain serviceable for 25-30 years.

As the system is approaching these limits it would be advisable to start gradually replacing the detectors now, thus spreading the cost of replacement over several years.

A fire marshal is only trained to assist in the evacuation of a building in a fire (after anything from just 30 minute to 6 hours training) and not in fire risk assessment so there is a risk anything they produced could fail to be suitable and sufficient for the purposes of the legislation. It is possible for Responsible Persons to do their own FRA, but they need to be in line with the accepted guidance - I would urge you review your in house assessment to ensure that is in line with the appropriate guidance which is here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-small-and-medium-places-of-assembly  If it follows this and meets the guide then it should be OK - remember the risk assessor is legally liable in addition to the premises Responsible Person if the FRA is substandard, however the fire safety legislation does state that if you have followed the linked guide you can be deemed to have complied with the law.

If you do decide to use an external specialist ensure the actual assessor  are registered here https://www.firesectorfederation.co.uk/fire-risk-assessment/fire-risk-assesment-directory/ and is not from a fire protection company to avoid a conflict of interest.