Hello.

I help manage a charity shop which also has accommodation above it. The flat above the shop has its own entrance and cannot be accessed from he shop at all. We had a fire on our road recently and it worried me as If we ever had a fire in our shop, how would the people above know?

We have a fire alarm system in the shop, but should we link this in to the apartment above also?

Any help or advice would be most welcomed

It depends on the separation between your shop and the apartment above, if it achieves 60 minutes or more, then a link to the apartment is not necessary if it is less than 60 minutes then a link should be fitted to warn the tenant above. 

If you wish to err on the side of caution you could install a sounder in the flat, with a means of silencing the sounder located in the flat without affecting the remainder of the system the problem is getting access to the sounder for maintenance. I would also inform the occupier of the flat they should install a BS 5839 part 6 system depending on the layout of the flat.

Thanks Tom. your help is much appreciated.