PSI July 2019

FIRE SAFETY
(continued from previous page)
“We’ve lived by BS 5839-6 for almost a quarter of a century
and the standard has served us well; there’s no doubt it has
helped save lives. BS 5839-6:2019 builds on the success of
the original standard”
Implications for the Future
BS 5839-6:2019 is a code of practice for fire
detection and fire alarm systems in domestic
premises, not a set of legal requirements; there is
no penalty if an organisation or individual chooses
to ignore the standard and no date for
‘compliance’. However, the standard is considered
best practice and those who choose to ignore it do
so at their own risk. Certainly, social housing
organisations place great emphasis on it and
complying with it is regarded as essential.
Many RSLs have been moving towards LD2
systems over the past year in the anticipation of
the revisions and we are now witnessing a large
number rewriting their alarm specifications
accordingly and planning upgrade programmes.
With the 2019 revisions we have benefitted from
greater clarity and, in a number of cases, an increase
in the level of fire protection. Of course, with this
comes a need for additional alarms per property
which has an associated cost, not just in alarm units
but also installation. Some of this cost can be
mitigated by using wireless alarm interconnection
technology and by using alarms that have been
designed to be quick and easy to install.
With larger Fire Alarm systems comes issues
over control and maintenance as more alarms will
need to be tested, it’s important to be able to
locate the precise alarm which originally triggered
the alarm. In these cases an Alarm Controller
should be considered (especially important if a
Carbon Monoxide Alarm is included in the system).
These wall mounted devices feature test, silence
and locate features, adding a very valuable extra
measure of controllability to an LD2 system.
We’ve lived by BS 5839-6 for almost a quarter of
a century and the standard has served us well;
there’s no doubt it has helped save lives. BS 5839-
6:2019 builds on the success of the original standard
and, if adhered to properly, ensures greater safety
and even better practice in the industry.
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