Hello to everybody and here's my first question

[Maria Kirk]

Hi everybody, found your forum whilst trying to find an answer to a question.  So, here goes - One of our customers wants to know whether you have to have a smoke detector installed in a lift shaft.  So, according to British Standards, do they have to have one installed?

[Thebeardedyorkshireman]

BS 5839-1:2002, 22.2,c) '' Other than in category L4,L5 and P2 systems, if any flue-like structure, open stairway, shaft for a lift, escalator or hoist or any enclosed chute, penetrates one or more ceilings, a fire detector should be sited at the top of the shaft or enclosure and, on each level in the accommodation area within approximately 1.5 M of the penetration. There is a further note inviting consideration for cat L5&P2 system design.
Therefore the answer to your question is: perhaps. Consider the above rule on how the shaft is constructed through the building. Think about the shaft of a scenic lift ( like in the Scofield centre in Leeds ) where you may not need one. Consider the catagory of system design and you have your answer.
Regards
Dave

[Maria Kirk]

Thank you very much Thebeardedyorkshireman.

[Chris Houston]

What the law requires is for a fire safety fire assessment to be undertaken.  This involves the fire risk to be assessed and appropriate control measures to be installed.  Depending on site specific issues a fire detection and alarm system may or may not be required.  If one is required, the normal thing to do would be to install one that complies with the relevant British Standard.  Within the British Standard there are many different ways a system can be designed depending on the site specific situation and purpose of the system.  That said, most categories of fire detection and alarm system would be expected to incoporate detection around lift shafts.

So one can't really answer your questions without much more informations, but I would guess that if there is a system in the building one was probably deemed necessary by someone at some stagel; I would assume that the responsible person for the building would want the system to comply with the relevant British Standard and therefore you probably ought to have one, but I've made quite a lot of assumptions to get the that guess.

[Maria Kirk]

Thanks for the reply.  Having read the answers, we have decided that a detector should be fitted in the lift shaft.

[Chris Houston]

I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but be aware of the differences between asking a contractor to fit a fire detection in accordance with the recommendationsd of British Standard 5839 etc, and getting the caretaker to instal a domestic smoke alarm.

[Maria Kirk]

Chris, no you don't sound patronising, any information given should be seen as help.  The detector will be fitted by our fire alarm engineers and to BS.  What I should have said in my orginal post was, the company concerned are replacing their lift and at the moment they have no detectors in the shaft.  We have advised that we install a smoke detector and also a remote indicator.