HMO fire safety guidance - Harlow Council

ooms in HMOs should be marked ‘Fire door keep
shut’ (see figure C9). Doors to cupboards, stores and
boiler rooms opening onto the escape route should be
marked ‘Fire door keep locked shut’. These provisions
can be relaxed in normal-risk shared houses.
27.6 Where fire safety signs are provided they should be in
accordance with BS 5499 and the Health and Safety
(Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996.
27.7 To comply, directional signs must be pictographic
(see examples C7 and C8 below). The pictogram
can be supplemented by text to make the sign easily
understood, but it cannot contain only text. ‘Pictogram
only’ and ‘pictogram with text’ sign types should not be
mixed in the same premises. Whilst either type of sign is
acceptable, the pictogram with text style (figure C7) is
thought to be more readily understood.
Figure C7: Directional escape sign (pictogram with text)
Figure C8: Directional escape sign (pictogram only)
Figure C9: Notice for fire resisting doors
27.8 Where the risk is such that directional signs indicating
the escape route are considered necessary, they should
meet the following criteria:
• they should provide clear, unambiguous information
to enable people to safely leave a building in an
emergency;
• every escape route sign should, where necessary,
either incorporate or be accompanied by a directional
arrow (arrows should not be used on their own);
• in long or complex escape routes, signs should be
positioned so that a person escaping will always
have the next escape route sign in sight;
• signs should be fixed above the door in the direction
of escape and not be fixed to doors, as they will not
be visible if the door is open;
• signs mounted above doors should be at a height of
between 2m and 2.5m above the floor;
• signs on walls should be mounted between 1.7m
and 2m above the floor;
• mounting heights greater than 2.5m may be used
for hanging signs (for example in large open spaces
or for operational reasons) but care should be taken
to ensure that such signs are both conspicuous and
legible. In such cases larger signs may be necessary;
• signs within the same premises should follow a
consistent design pattern or scheme throughout; and
• signs should be sited at the same height throughout
the escape route, as far as is reasonably practicable.
28. Surface finishes
28.1 In the early stages of a fire, the safety of a building’s
occupants can be affected by the properties of surface
linings and the finishes of walls, ceilings and soffits.
Rapid spread of flame across surfaces allows the fire
to spread more quickly through the building, thereby
reducing the time for escape. This is of particular
concern in escape routes, especially in single staircase
buildings. Arson is a particular problem in this respect:
fires started deliberately can be particularly dangerous
because they generally develop much faster. In multioccupancy
buildings they are often started in escape
routes, as access is more easily gained to these areas.
28.2 In single household occupancy and some shared
houses where the occupiers have exclusive control
of the escape route, the risk may be low. No specific
measures will therefore be required in respect of
surface finishes. However, good practice would be
to reduce the risk further by avoiding combustible
surface finishes within the escape route.
28.3 In multiple-occupancy buildings the risk is usually
higher. Combustible surface finishes should not be
permitted within the escape route and should, as far
as is practicable, also be avoided in other locations.
However, in some HMOs the risk may be lowered by
other fire precautions, such as in:
• two-storey buildings with suitable escape windows
from all risk rooms (see paragraph 14);
• buildings where there is a second staircase or
secondary means of escape which meets certain
standards (see paragraphs 17-18); and
housing – fire safety 31