Kitchen door on hold open device

[nearlythere]

No just a toaster and kettle.

Then in my opinion it is not the type of kitchen environment which would be classed as an area of high fire risk. You can place a kettle and toaster in any office and it does not constitute creating a normal kitchen type environment.
To me a kitchen is very different to a tea room.
A toaster produces heat from elements. So does an electric blow heater and these are usually moved about an office. You cannot suggest that an office with a device which effectively operates in the same way as a toaster is an area high fire risk.

[Big T]

Its not even classified as a kitchen then, just a tea area.

[kurnal]

Approx 117 watts output per slice of toast. Frightening stuff.

Yes not  a huge risk but I have attended one care home fire where the whole kitchen was gutted following a fire in a toaster. Anyway back to the question- a hold back device sounds reasonable to me in the circumstances, though the staff rest area would be better sited away from the ward. Can you imagine being stuck in bed and feeling grotty and smelling all those slices of toast being burned?

[CivvyFSO]

Yummy.

I have been somewhere where they smoke logged a whole kitchen with a baked potato. Some student thought it took 30 minutes in a microwave.

I appreciate that there are risks greater than just toast being burned, but good risk management would involve moving the roll of bounty away from the toaster, and not having the toaster under the notice board etc.

[Midland Retty]

I recall once a student who popped in one of those american style pop tart thingame wotsits in the toaster. Nothing unusual about that aside from the fact he left the wrapper on.

Half the kithen was devastated and the student ate cereal there after !

If i remember rightly dont the HTMs say kitchens / tea rooms should be 30 mins FR?

[Davo]

Retty
You can't beat police officers here.

1. Jacket spud on 8 hrs (mistook the dials), when he saw the smoke, unplugged the MW and lobbed it out the (first floor) window

2. Officer fancies cheese on toast. Shucks, no grill. I know, butter the bread, put the cheese on, and turn the toaster on its side, should work a treat.....you can guess the rest.

davo

[Galeon]

Sounds like 'Home Economics' needs to be put back on the school curriculum

[saddlers]

Big T, if you are laughing at inspecting officers, it is no wonder they have got you changing your heat detector for a smoke detector. Maybe if you put some reasoning behind your decision and explained it to the FSO he may be more inclined to accept it.

All,
On the issue of the fire door, it may be that the door is purely there to maintain compartmentation (under licensing/insurance) and therefore as long as it operates to maintain the compartmentation it would be fine. It may not be a means of escape issue.

[AnthonyB]

We are answering the same question twice here- it's also in the Healthcare section - please combine the threads.

Firecode permits Ward kitchens to use swing free closers

[Colin Meech]

I read this thread with interest.  It took ages before the two truly important questions were asked, but then we started to get some decent analysis.
I would generally, for an average building suggest that the overriding issue is "what do you mean by kitchen?"
However, we are talking in-patient accomodation in health care premises, so against my normal attitude I must agree that 'Fire-Code rules, OK'

I used to cause great argument years ago by pointing out to people who insisted that any room called a kitchen required 'high risk' classification.  The old 'blue Guide' put it quite well.  it suggested that a real kitchen required a 60 min door, BUT specifically excluded that use / door from being 'upgraded'.  I would therefore ask "does that kettle justify the installation of a new 60 min door-set?"  result, mumbling.

In this case, however, it is not the nature of the use of the room that is the issue, it is the location and the nature of the risk to the occupants of the adjoining spaces.  Those are therefore the factors that should be analysed in my opinion.