A revision of BS 5839-6 is out for public consultation. You can view the proposed document free of charge or purchase a copy on the BSI website, or you may wish to check with your trade association or professional instituton as they will have received a copy.
This new edition introduces a number of technical changes. It does not constitute a full revision of the document, which will be undertaken in due course. The principal changes introduced by this new edition are as follows.
The scope of the standard has been extended to include not only the individual dwellings within sheltered housing, but also the common parts and facilities within buildings used for sheltered housing.
A smoke detector, rather than a heat detector, is now recommended for installation in the principal habitable room(s) of new premises.
Suitable carbon monoxide detectors are now recognized as an alternative to smoke detectors in the principal habitable room(s) of premises.
New recommendations are included to ensure that, in sheltered housing, fire alarm signals transmitted to an alarm receiving centre via a social alarm system cannot be delayed by other alarm signals originating from the premises of fire origin or elsewhere.
Addressable fire alarm systems are recommended for sheltered housing in which detectors within dwellings are connected to the fire alarm system in the common parts.
