Marks & Sparks

[Guest]

Does any one know why M&S place fire extinguishers in front of their entrance doors (inside the shop) whenever the stores are closed ?
I appreciate that it may just be good practice, and having worked for M&S as a contractor, I know that they have very high house keeping standards (there was a time when they used to polish the MICC cables so often that they had to be replaced at regular intervals) but was wondering if the extinguisher thing was based on a particualr incident or just an in house rule.

[wee brian]

Nothing to do with fire safety its just so people dont walk into the doors. Fire extinguishers are ideal for this as they are stored near the doors and are bright red.

[Guest]

Is that all!  How disapointing.

[potter 2]

i think m& s are those nice silver ones  cuz they wont play with  the BS  and every couple of years  someone asks  "why are they free standing on base plates"

[AnthonyB]

BHS is the one with Stainless steels in base plates which are acceptable to BS5306.

The stainless steels are still in use as they refuse to rust and a lot of the BHS stores still have the original L&G branded models from the early 80's

L&G - thats dragging up the past....Dunford, Read & Cambell, Minimax, etc

Plus BSEN 3 isn't law and I have no objection to non-red extinguishers, if they're thick enough not to know its an extinguisher then they obviously aren't suitably trained & competent to actually use it!

M&S use 5.5 & 6 litre Thomas Glover waters, often stuck at the corners of stores and with no base plates, stands, brackets or signs

[MShaw]

They might not use conventional signs to indicate the location of their extinguishers, but if you look on the pelmet of the shopfitting above an extinguisher point you will notice a small red marker post (looks like a peice of 2x2 painted red) which is the in-house extinguisher ID system.

A further scan around the store at pelmet level will reveal other extinguisher locations.

[AnthonyB]

IIRC a red rectangle was used for a extinguisher point & a red disc for a break glass call point.

At one point BHS, M&S and Littlewoods all used this system

[colin todd]

Its so if there is a fire at night and entry is forced there will be a bank of FEA right at the door.

[potter 2]

see i was right  (wrong shop though) weve discussed them again.
.The missus dragged me round the shops earlier.couldnt see the little marks on the walls for 50% off signs..she called me an anorak,,so i bought one.. .happy new year

[gm137]

When I worked at M&S, I was one of 6 members of staff 'on call' out of hours - in the event of a fire / burgalar alarm, we were automatically called out and had to respond (bleary eyed) to the 'crisis' - usually no more than a mischevious fly nosing around a detector head. Company safety regulations require that 2 water -type extinguishers be placed by each doorway, to be at hand for personnel entering the store.

[Brian Downes]

So that PC George Dixon when patrolling on foot in the early hours of the morning can discover the fire, break in, tackle the inferno with the extinguisher provided, and in the finest traditions of the police service get a medal,medal medal!

Police assisted by the fire service tackled a fire...

[colin todd]

I rather like that idea!!! The modern police service is much more customer focussed in my experience than the ''modern'' fire servce, and they have a better understanding of the legislation they are mean to enforce.