Fire Brigade advice

[gutterball]

They need vacuumed to clear the dust every now and then, but I'm willing to bet 99% don't get done. With the push button test you need to keep a record of which one was tested and test at another next time, rather than testing the same one all the time. My advice to clients is to pick a date, i.e. when the clocks go back and forward to check and maintain the alarms.

 

[UNG]

I have no problem with fire men doing home safety visits.
by all means stick some battery alarms in and tick some boxes.
i am old enough to remember when the fire service got involved in the installation of fire alarms and the like and would tell you what THEY wanted.
we all knew where we stood then.
they were the experts in fire and were usually helpful in fulfilling your fire safety requirements.
ffwd 20 years and they don't want to know. only to hang you if something's not quite right in their eyes.
at a shopping centre job I do a bit at , me and the manager spotted a flaw in the design of a large unit where the smoke extract as 3 times as powerful in the centre rather than the proposed one in the unit which was about 60m away.
the laws of physics kinda dictated that if there was a fire the centre extract would totally bypass the units smoke extract and drag smoke for 60m through the unit.
totally defeating the purpose of the units system.
did the fire service and the building control come up with a solution.....
did they ****.
it was a specialist problem and they washed their hands of it.

You have highlighted the problem that the introduction of the RRO 2005 for commercial premises created

When the fire brigade moved from a licencing role to an enforcement role they became stuck between a rock and a hard place as they could not advise on something they may later have to take enforement action against

With regard to the domestic sector the biggest problem appears to be the lack of training or knowledge of the building regs and the requirements for smoke detectors in the newer properties, I had a visit from the fire brigade last year offering smoke detectors had a chat with the guy at the door regarding the building regs and how the properties in the small estate I live in all needed mains linked fire alarms as they were all built around 1999 - 2000 he seemed totally unaware of the requirements and went back to the appliance for a chat and they left shortly after

I suppose the key issue is training and keeping up to speed with the ever changing regs and requirements not just in one field but all the related fields that impact on the advice being given and that applies to all disciplines not just the fire brigade