Fire safety changes slash costs for B & B's

[novascot]

The will to change the existing Guidance Document was due in the main to Lobbying by The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland. They had many Members running small B&B establishments and over zealous Fire Safety Officers were expecting Benchmark Standards in these small "houses".

Proprietors said they couldn't afford to make changes, structural or not to comply with the requirements some FSO's were expecting. It was also the year of Homecoming where millions of extra visitors were expected and all bed spaces were required. The existing Guidance was suspended while consultation was made.

The new Guide is using common sense in most areas. Remember these are "small" premises. A glaring problem though is the ommision of the requirement for Water or AFFF and CO2 extinguishers. Dry Powder in the kitchen? With the mess they make there will be no food made for days. As we all know Dry Powder does not cool combustible solid fires and will/could re-ignite. Fires of electrical origin is still the number one cause of fire in buildings. Why no CO2 extinguisher. Dry Powder extinguishers are often used as a catch all trying to save money by only buying one extinguisher instead of two.
Not good practice.

[AnthonyB]

No but cheap compact practice & has been in the DCLG entry level guide for small premises since the outset.

Unless somewhere it would be prejudicial to safety such as healthcare, large public assembly, etc you can't really say no on Fire Safety Order Grounds - it's ABC rated and electrically safe and will snuff a smaller A rated fire fine and melt on the embers - it's the established deep seated stuff it may have problems with (but not to be confused with BC Powder which really was poor).

You know & I know that it may be jack of all trades but master of none and can cause terrible secondary damage, but that's for the user to worry about not the regulator.

Water based & CO2 extinguishers may be better, but the revision is intended to reduce the burden of measures for really small premises & that includes having loads of different extinguishers for specific risks.

I can understand their reasoning & wouldn't throw a fit about it (but would if the place ended up full of BC Powder extinguishers from Halfords - to avoid confusion BC Powder extinguishers should be limited to the  9 kilo Monnex & Purple K units in specialist industry these days)