Fire Safety – the things we see (Part 4)

From a fire safety point of view, there are many things that we find on site that can make you shudder when you stop and think about it. How about smoke detectors that are really only ceiling decorations because they have been covered for the temporary works (that finished months ago):

The principle is fine, for the duration of the work (although there should be a simple system in place to ensure that it is removed when the work is completed). Surprisingly, this is something that I see a lot of.

In the next picture you will see an isolation point on the wall, to the left of the clock:

You would have to be very tall indeed to reach that with the shelves and the bench in front of it. That is the gas isolation for a kitchen, which also switches off the kitchen extraction. Nice idea, poor execution. Some of you will also have noticed the fire escape route door that is no longer accessible (because of the same shelves and bench). It may be difficult to find somewhere else to site this, but so much fire safety is being compromised that something needs to be done.

The next picture is a domestic smoke detector that kept on beeping, so …

If it is beeping, get it checked out. It probably needs a new battery. The deeper is what are we using a domestic smoke detector in a commercial setting? The clue is in the name: domestic. If you do have domestic smoke detectors in your commercial environment then these should be challenged in the fire risk assessment (FRA). Refer to the fire risk assessment and the corrective actions proposed in it. If you don’t have a fire risk assessment, then contact us without delay.

Even emergency lighting can have it’s design issues. The next pictures show some serious issues with external emergency lighting:

As can be seen, the emergency lighting is suffering from water ingress. In the top case, potentially leading to a short circuit and in the bottom case leading to mold growth to the level that virtually no light can escape.

And finally, another example of a covered smoke detector, rendering the fire safety arrangements for the premises deficient!

If in doubt about Fire Safety, contact us!