fire safety regulations

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triciamonty

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A ground floor shop with a floor area of about 300 square feet,has one door/entrance off the street.There is a large window on the front of the premises beside this door ,one inner wall has seating for customers,the opposite wall has barbers work area i.e mirrors,stools etc...A recent visit the from fire officer he says there should be a fire exit on this premises,he couldnt/wouldnt say where exactly.Any opinions ?Also as a rented unit is it up to landlords to do this??????
 
Does the building need to comply (with Building Regulations) or is this an issue under the Fire Safety Act?
You (or someone - whoever is responsible for ensuring the building is compliant) may need to employ a Fire Engineer. There are ways of doing fire engineering to comply with the Building Regulations, so that only one exit will suffice - e.g. sprinkler system, extract system, particular types of fire alarm, width of corridor to the front door etc.

It will need someone extremely competent to do this however.
 
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1640,en.pdfmore info needed

Firstly did you receive written correspondence, what exactly did it say?
 
The building Regulations cover the requirements. Check out Technical Guidance Document B that provides information for the Building Regulations 2006, it is for Fire safety in buildings.
Can be downloaded from the Dept of Environment website.
 
Hi triciamonty,

Here is http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1640,en.pdf (Technical Guidance Document B 2006) of the Building Regulations.

You need to read pages 1 to 6 completely before reading advice offered here.

The below section is relevant and the underlying principle for proposing solutions.


ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matter at hand.

===========================

Alternative Solutions

0.1.4 The detailed provisions set out in this
Document are intended to provide guidance for
some of the more common building situations. In
other situations, alternative ways of achieving
compliance with the requirements of Part B of the
Second Schedule to the Building Regulations may be
appropriate. There is no obligation to adopt any
particular solution contained herein. The use of
alternative design solutions, standards, systems or
methods of fire protection to those outlined in this
document are acceptable, provided the level of fire
safety achieved is adequate to satisfy the
requirements of the Building Regulations.

Alternative approaches (see 0.2) based on fire safety
engineering may be employed to satisfy the
requirements of the Regulations. These may be
based on a fundamental analysis of the fire safety
problem or involve a comparative analysis between a
provision of this technical guidance document and an
alternative solution. Where appropriate,
compensating fire safety measures should be
considered and evaluated. A qualitative assessment
of the alternative design may be adequate in some
cases, but generally quantitative analysis will also be
required.

===========================
 
triciamonty said:
A ground floor shop with a floor area of about 300 square feet,has one door/entrance off the street.There is a large window on the front of the premises beside this door ,one inner wall has seating for customers,the opposite wall has barbers work area i.e mirrors,stools etc...A recent visit the from fire officer he says there should be a fire exit on this premises,he couldnt/wouldnt say where exactly.Any opinions ?Also as a rented unit is it up to landlords to do this??????
Click to expand...

Hi triciamonty,

It sounds like the Small Shops provisions may apply.
We will need to know the Fire Officer's exact comments.

The floor layout may be too cluttered to allow safe egress.
He may have been referring to an exit sign as opposed to an exit

The layout is the normally responsibility of the occupier unless it was rented as a barbers already fitted out - that may go back to the landlord.
The fire exit sign is the responsibility of the landlord unless the lease wording makes this was part of the fit out.
If the current Occupier is sub-letting from a barber that may complicate matters in terms of responsibility

Occupier should appoint a competent professional at this stage.
It could be short and sweet, with just a slight re-planning and an exit sign.
Or the Fire Officer might require a formal submission of plans and written undertakings.

The Fire Officer has informed the Occupier to start things moving so action needs to follow.
The Occupier should inform the Owner or Landlord of the requirements as relayed.
Sometimes the first response is a request for clarity from the Fire Officer.


ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matter at hand.
 
lowCO2design said:
more info needed

Firstly did you receive written correspondence, what exactly did it say?
Click to expand...
No fire officer justed walked in,the shop is 14 foot by 24 foot,ground floor, one entrance in/out from the street .The wall on the right is the barbers counter,wall on left is the seating area .The back wall has a door into a toilet area.There are no hazardous/flamable materials in shop.In this instance where could you put a fire exit ? Any more undue expense and this place will close with 2 jobs,
 
triciamonty,

The shop will face some expense out of this.
I have to say on the face of it this sounds as though there is a crossed wire here
The cheapest resolution may be to ask a professional to inquire of the Fire Office what he wants and nail this in writing.


ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matter at hand.
 
triciamonty said:
No fire officer justed walked in,the shop is 14 foot by 24 foot,ground floor, one entrance in/out from the street .The wall on the right is the barbers counter,wall on left is the seating area .The back wall has a door into a toilet area.There are no hazardous/flamable materials in shop.In this instance where could you put a fire exit ? Any more undue expense and this place will close with 2 jobs,
Click to expand...
so he hasn't given you anything in writing?

contact his office's and confirm this, for a start
 
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