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B&B Fire Risk Assessments

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Meerkat:
Since the simplified guidance came out for B&Bs and smaller guesthouses http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/payingguests.pdf has anyone noticed a difference in the approach from Enforcing Authorities?

I'm aware that before this Guidance came along there was a tendency among some F&RS to "over-spec" the requirements, especially for small B&Bs.  So how has the approach changed since this Guidance was published and what differences in regional approaches have people seen either before or after the Guidance?

I'm particularly interested to hear any stories that demonstrate over-the-top requirements that may have been successfully challenged - preferably not through the courts!

Meerkat:
15 views and not a single answer  ???

Surely I'm not the only one dumb enough to be doing FRAs for B&Bs?

Meerkat:
Continuing the theme of talking to myself in this thread…

I’m wondering about the rationale behind specifying smoke detection actually in the bedrooms in a B&B.  I recently visited one that is effectively a well-built five bedroom, two storey family home with a single staircase.  Only three of the five first-floor bedrooms are to be let and they all have sturdy doors opening onto a common landing.  The escape route than leads down the stairs straight into a large hall from which the main house front door opens into the garden.  There is an alternative escape route through the dining room and out to the rear of the house.

The building already has a system of linked, mains-powered domestic smoke detectors with battery back-up, which cover the whole of the upstairs landing, stairs, hall and the rear lobby to the alternative exit.  I will be recommending a heat detector in the kitchen, but what is the rationale behind the apparent requirement for the installation of additional smoke detectors in all the guest bedrooms as implied by the “Paying Guests” Guidance leaflet linked in my first post in this thread?

Fire risk in all bedrooms is low.  No smoking, no portable heaters, no candles.  The only electrical appliances are either brand-new or regularly tested kettles, hairdryers, bedside lamps and TVs.  This being the case can it be acceptable to make a choice NOT to add extra detectors in the bedrooms on the grounds that the risk is low and the escape routes are already covered or are we simply going to fall foul of the first Enforcing Officer that comes along with the Guidance in his hand?

Your thoughts and any experience of this area which anyone has would be most welcome!

Wiz:
Surely the requirement is to provide the earliest possible warning of a potential fire to the occupants of other rooms?

If a fire starts in any bedroom, occupied or not, if there was no automatic detection in that room, then the first warning is likely to be when smoke escapes that room and is sensed by detection in escape routes and that is likely to be too late for sleeping occupants of rooms other than where the fire started, to safely escape.

Meerkat:
I'd wondered if that was the rationale...  I suppose I've been thinking along the lines that individual detectors would not be required if this was the layout of an office-style building, (i.e. the bedrooms were offices!) becasue detectors in the escape routes would be considered sufficient.

The big difference here of course is that people will potentially be asleep in the bedrooms and thus take much longer to respond to an alarm and I can see that's reason enough in itself.  Sounds like we're going to be looking at detectors in the bedrooms too then!

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