London Fire Safety Guidance for Houses in ... - Harrow Council

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Fire stoppingIt is essential to ensure that fire, smoke and combustion gases are unable topenetrate fire resisting walls, partitions and ceilings by way of openings in thestructure made for the passage of essential services such as drainage, wiringand ventilation, or via gaps at junctions between partitions and walls andwhere partitions/walls meet ceilings/floors. If these openings are noteffectively fire-stopped the required fire resistance of the dividing structuremay be lost, thereby prejudicing the means of escape.The critical points are:~ Where services pass between risk rooms or betweenrisk rooms and the protected route.~ Where partitions dividing risk rooms from each other orfrom the protected route meet perimeter walls andceilings/floorsThe following solutions are available :~ Enclose the services within fire resisting construction~ Effectively fire-stop the openings in the dividing structurethrough which the services pass~ For gaps in wall/ceiling junctions simply fire-stop thegapsLondon Fire Safety Guidance for Houses in Multiple OccupationVersion 2: 06/06
Surface FinishesWALLS, PARTITIONS, CEILINGS AND SOFFITSIn the early stages of a fire, the safety of a building’s occupants can beaffected by the properties of surface linings and finishes to walls, partitions,ceilings and soffits. Rapid spread of flame across surfaces allows the fire tospread more rapidly through the building, thereby reducing the time forescape. This is of particular concern in escape routes, especially in singlestaircase buildings.Classification of materials and products for surface spread of flameTwo British Standard tests exist;• BS 476: Part 7: 1971/1987/1997 “Method of classification of the surfacespread of flame of products”.This details a test for determining the rate of spread of flame across theexposed surface of a material/product. It classifies performance from Class 1to Class 4 (Class 1 being the highest performance/slowest spread of flameand Class 4 the lowest performance/most rapid spread of flame)• BS 476: Part 6 “Method of test for fire propagation of products”This details a test for determining the ease of ignition, rate of heat release infire and other properties of materials and products. It gives a Class 0 rating forthose materials/products which are found to be of limited combustibility or tohave a low fire propagation index.When assessing materials/products for their suitability in a particular HMOlocation, it is necessary to ensure the material/product’s classification meetsor exceeds the minimum required. (Class 0 will satisfy Class 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4locations. Class 1 will satisfy Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 locations but not Class 0locations, etc. This can only be done by reliance upon a valid test report froma UKAS (ex NAMAS) registered testing house. The report will detail theproduct and give it a classification from 0 to 4. (Class 0 will quote Part 6 of theabove British Standard and Classes 1-4 will quote Part 7.) For proprietaryproducts it is essential to ensure that the product installed on site does notdiffer in any way from that in the test report specification. Minor differences inthickness, substrate, colour, fixings, adhesive etc. may affect the rating andperformance.Standard required in HMOsWith the exception of small areas of wall surfaces the surface finishes ofwalls, partitions, ceilings and soffits should meet the minimum standard in thefollowing table.London Fire Safety Guidance for Houses in Multiple OccupationVersion 2: 06/06
Page 1 and 2: London Fire Safety Guidance for Hou
Page 3 and 4: Two Storey HMOsRequirement Fire res
Page 5 and 6: Secondary meansof escapeNot require
Page 7 and 8: Three and Four Storey HMOsRequireme
Page 9 and 10: Secondary meansof escapeNot require
Page 11 and 12: Five Storey HMOsRequirement Fire re
Page 13 and 14: Extinguishersfire blankets&Secondar
Page 15 and 16: Five or Six Storey HMOs(Secondary e
Page 17 and 18: CupboardsstoresandWhere in staircas
Page 19 and 20: Fire Detection and Alarm SystemsINT
Page 21 and 22: impaired, standby supplies, manual
Page 23 and 24: Houses Converted to Self-Contained
Page 25 and 26: Bedsit -Type Houses in Multiple Occ
Page 27 and 28: Houses Where There Is A Mixture Of
Page 29 and 30: Mains wired smoke alarms with batte
Page 31 and 32: BRITISH STANDARDS RELATING TO FIRE
Page 33 and 34: DoorsTECHNICAL POINTS APPLICABLE TO
Page 35 and 36: FramesSize: Should not be less than
Page 37 and 38: identical to those in the door manu
Page 39: made for independent and protected
Page 43 and 44: Material/ProductA Brickwork, blockw
Page 45 and 46: Staircase LightingNormal staircase
Page 47 and 48: Secondary Means of EscapeINTRODUCTI
Page 49 and 50: Via RoofEscape may be via the roofs
Page 51 and 52: Unacceptable Means of EscapeThe cur
Page 53 and 54: Recommended maximum travel distance
Page 55 and 56: Diagram 1 : Escape in more than one
Page 57 and 58: Initial dead endIn any situation wh
Page 59 and 60: from any point at which that angle
Page 61 and 62: Glossary of Fire Safety TermsAccess
Page 63: Suitably qualified person See Compe

London Fire Safety Guidance for Houses in ... - Harrow Council

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