FireNet Community
FIRE SAFETY => Fire Risk Assessments => Topic started by: Tom W on October 04, 2010, 09:48:25 AM
-
Im sure a lot of you consultants travel quite a lot, thus stay in quite a few hotels.
Im sure you cannot (as I cannot) turn off your risk assessor part of your brain.
What do you do if the accomodation you have booked is lacking in suitable fire precautions? How far do you go?
Any stories to tell?
I once stayed in a hotel where the tv had a nail put through the on switch as this was the only way to keep the tv on, the PAT sticker said 1998. Needless to say I didn't stay there that night and I informed the hotel manager.
-
Id point out any issues i found, advise them to sort them out, hand them my card and leave! If it was really dodgy I wouldnt stay overnight
-
Personally, I never even give it a thought. I go to the bar, have a few Taliskers, get room service and go to sleep. I take the view that I am more likely to die driving to the hotel than die from a fire therein. Is this how you spent your honeymoon, Thomas?
-
I unwedge any wedged open fire doors and take the wooden wedges back to my room to stop them doing it again :P I have certainly reported dodgy electrics in the room to the hotel management.
I might add that this is usually not in the UK!
-
If they are nice wooden wedges, I keep them for kindling!
-
I always go and find the manager, tell him what he is doing wrong and why (in my usual commonsense and pragmatic manner ;)) offer him free advice and training and then give him my card.
If they dont come back to me I do them a lousy review with whatever agency they use and never go back.
Picked up a number of jobs this way too!
-
Whilst doing my NEBOSH CDM thing, the hotel being used had Dorgard devices on the staircase doors and on carpet. Needless to say when the FA went off and we all evacuated the doors stayed firmly in the open position. I had acaht with the manager and he said it was okay as the FRS had been around the week before and signed them off. Had a chat with them as well and they went back. Funnily enough whislt walking around the building with the trainer we saw and he took photographs of a painetr hanging off of the balcony painting the window. Trainer went mad and had a little chat with the manager.
-
somehow toddy i doubt youd just sail into the bar without regard to the fire precautions in the hotel. talisker aside it wouldnt be a very good advert for your company if you sailed into a dodgy unsafe hotel and said nowt. then again suppose you might be criticised for trying to tout for business if you said something. you cant win. my missus goes mad at how i tut at some of the hotel we stay in and keeps telling me to forget about work when im not at work but i just couldnt rest in an unsafe hotel.
-
I like the sound of Mrs Clevey. She seems very sensible.
-
Clevey, are you supposed to take your wife to hotels then?
-
I like the sound of Mrs Clevey. She seems very sensible.
She can be but dont tell her i said that
Clevey, are you supposed to take your wife to hotels then?
ocassionally you have to else they get upset
-
I like the sound of Mrs Clevey. She seems very sensible.
She can be but dont tell her i said that
Clevey, are you supposed to take your wife to hotels then?
ocassionally you have to else they get upset
How long do you normally leave her there for C? ;)
-
I had the pleasure of enjoying Leith St Edinburgh at 5am this morning standing outside a large hotel. We were kept outside for about half an hour whilst staff and fire brigade repeatedly tried to silence and reset the apollo protocol addressable alarm. Finally they gave up and let us all in with the system left in fire mode. I had expected trouble on booking in as I remarked to Mrs K as the silence and reset buttons on the panel were all but rubbed away.
Noted doors wedged/ defective on 4 of the 5 floors we had to descend and the main staircase was lit solely by maintained escape lighting as not one of the primary light fittings had a bulb in. Perhaps work in progress?
Will give my card to the manager after breakfast!;)
-
I had the pleasure of enjoying Leith St Edinburgh at 5am this morning standing outside a large hotel. We were kept outside for about half an hour whilst staff and fire brigade repeatedly tried to silence and reset the apollo protocol addressable alarm. Finally they gave up and let us all in with the system left in fire mode. I had expected trouble on booking in as I remarked to Mrs K as the silence and reset buttons on the panel were all but rubbed away.
Noted doors wedged/ defective on 4 of the 5 floors we had to descend and the main staircase was lit solely by maintained escape lighting as not one of the primary light fittings had a bulb in. Perhaps work in progress?
Will give my card to the manager after breakfast!;)
Sounds like a nice posh joint K.
Is that the best you can do for Mrs K, the woman who has had to put up with you for so long?
-
Prof
You really will have to put up your prices, Mrs K deserves better ;D
Try looking for one with some stars next time, I'm told they are better ;D ;D
davo
-
This one had plenty of stars. A roof would be nice though.
-
Prof
The moral of the tale is............don't book the top floor ;D
davo
-
I always take the fire extinguisher out of my car and carry it in my bag, the batteries come out of my camera I use for FI, I then put them in my 2 smoke detectors I always carry with me. I place one SD in the corridor between my hotel room door and the nearest storey exit and I also place one in my room as I do not have any battery HD yet, (i've been looking for some on ebay). I then get out the fire escape signs photoluminescent of course and place them along my shortest and safest route including any alternative, but as you can imagine this takes a bit of time and you never know some of them may be BS and others could be Eurosigns for petes sake. I also at some point during all this write in my notebook, 'speak to the manager' and if he or she is not available the senior member of staff who is available. Once I have done this I may order room service and after eating well I set about completing the task by taping the entire escape route with photoluminescent tape to afford myself an even better chance of escape. Of course it goes without saying that if I come across an external staircase I will set about removing all of the moss off the handrails and I pay particular attention to each and every step, even if they are a bit slippery I may even wipe them dry with some of the towels from the bathroom, I'm not daft I don't use them all in case I need a shower after all that hard work. Once I have checked the lighting levels with my light meter and made sure the door handle on my bedroom door won't come off in my hand due to poor maintenance I sit down and write my escape plan and post it on the inside of my bedroom door. I'll also try to find time to take my note down to the senior member of staff, if the managers not there, and ask to see the maintenance records for the fire alarm and emergency lighting systems (which I know they already haven't got) but I won't go mad and ask for all the other maintenance records as I don't want them to think I'm being nosey.
However, after all that I wonder why bother, as usually once I've done all that it is usually time for breakfast and I realise whilst my wife has had a really good nights sleep, I however did not.
My doctor has referred me to a very good clinical psychologist .........and I just hope they understand......
-
Interesting, thanks for your comments.
-
I always take the fire extinguisher out of my car and carry it in my bag, the batteries come out of my camera I use for FI, I then put them in my 2 smoke detectors I always carry with me. I place one SD in the corridor between my hotel room door and the nearest storey exit and I also place one in my room as I do not have any battery HD yet, (i've been looking for some on ebay). I then get out the fire escape signs photoluminescent of course and place them along my shortest and safest route including any alternative, but as you can imagine this takes a bit of time and you never know some of them may be BS and others could be Eurosigns for petes sake. I also at some point during all this write in my notebook, 'speak to the manager' and if he or she is not available the senior member of staff who is available. Once I have done this I may order room service and after eating well I set about completing the task by taping the entire escape route with photoluminescent tape to afford myself an even better chance of escape. Of course it goes without saying that if I come across an external staircase I will set about removing all of the moss off the handrails and I pay particular attention to each and every step, even if they are a bit slippery I may even wipe them dry with some of the towels from the bathroom, I'm not daft I don't use them all in case I need a shower after all that hard work. Once I have checked the lighting levels with my light meter and made sure the door handle on my bedroom door won't come off in my hand due to poor maintenance I sit down and write my escape plan and post it on the inside of my bedroom door. I'll also try to find time to take my note down to the senior member of staff, if the managers not there, and ask to see the maintenance records for the fire alarm and emergency lighting systems (which I know they already haven't got) but I won't go mad and ask for all the other maintenance records as I don't want them to think I'm being nosey.
However, after all that I wonder why bother, as usually once I've done all that it is usually time for breakfast and I realise whilst my wife has had a really good nights sleep, I however did not.
My doctor has referred me to a very good clinical psychologist .........and I just hope they understand......
Is that all you do? youre not taking this seriously are you
-
Hi Cleveland,
I actually ask my hotel booking service if the hotel has an automatic fire alarm, they usually don't know and ring me back, if they don't confirm I won't stay there and often when I travel abroad I do actually take two battery operated SD and CO detector, now that is sad.
I have stayed in a hotel less than 5 years ago in the UK, where there was only a Cat M system and this was barely achieved. By that I mean the EEL in the corridor serving my bedroom was a rewired headlamp from a frogeyed sprite. The alarm bell was again what looked like the inner workings of a very old telephone coil, striker and small brass bell, no cover.
Frightening, but I had nowhere else to stay that night - seemed like I was on one of the hammer house of horror sets. I reported it
-
Its an interesting one
I remember reading a book that explored a theory.
If you had a kid and he wanted to play round one of his friends house but you had to decide which one.
Friend A has a swimming pool
Friend B has a gun cabinet in his house
You would chose Friend A as it seems safer although statistically they are in more danger around the swimming pool then the guns.
Im sure Colin would love to fill you in on the chances of you actually being harmed in a hotel fire. Its very remote.
I think its also down to the principle of them taking a lot of money from people for lodgings and not wanting to spend the money on protecting you
-
Chance, risk, probability. All different concepts.
It is a fact that very few people die in hotel fires these days. But is that sufficient data on which to base an argument that hotels are safe? Is it not like those Responsible Persons who think they need not invest in fire safety because they have never had a fire?
I have stayed in one recently where due to poor management and maintenance there is no doubt that people would be at serious risk if a fire did occur. I normally stay in others where I am satisfied that if a fire did occur everyone would be able to leave safely and unscathed.
If the swimmingpool was infected by Beri Beri, legionella and typhus then the gun cabinet would be the safe answer.
1- How likely is it that a fire will occur
2- And if it did would anyone be harmed
are the angles from which this should be argued.
-
I was thinking more drowning in the pool rather than diseases that is more likely to occur rather than a shooting.
I completely agree with you about the naivity of some people, i have never had a fire so it is less prioritised