I sit on 4 of the BS fire alarm and detection committees, and I can confirm there are many people on it who are very knowledgeable with years of experience with in the industry. There is representation from all sorts of bodies and organisations including the Fire & Rescue services.
And this is the thing that gets on my goat, why do they bother if they are going to ignor what is decided, and often the reps from the F&R ask for certain things to be in it.
I recently had a meeting at my local Fire & Rescue offices, because they had told a client of mine that that BS are only recomendations and should be taken with a pinch of salt. At the meeting the officer denighed he had said that but then went on to tell me that he did not agree with them and would not ever tell some one to comply with a British Standard, because they were too safe and not cost effective, and then went on to tell me that quote " for gods sake BS5306 even states that you should always have two extinguishers". When I asked him why he thought that was in there, he said it was so companies could sell more extinguishers!!!.
