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Are you asking for the required sound pressure levels to give adequate warning or are you asking about environmental protection?

The UK law does not require Callpoint Signs or Fire Action Notices.
Where callpoints are not readily visible signs may be useful in indicating their position.
There is a legal requirement for employees and relevant persons to be provided with information regarding fire safety e.g. action in the event of fire. Fire Actions Notices are an effective way of providing that information.
The Fire Risk Assessment should identify the need, type, location and the content of any fire safety sign or notice.
Guidance is available from http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw/

I full support Graham's comment. Most fire industry trade associations make TPC a prerequisite for membership. This gave FIA a problem when they started up the Fire Risk Assessors section as there was no comparable scheme in existence. So they wrote one. It was passed to BAFE last year and hopefully it should emerge as a full Fire Risk Assessment company scheme some time in 2011. I just wish we could explode the myth that TPC= Expensive. TPC is actually quite cheap compared with the cost of doing the job properly. We need to educate end users that cheap does not equal cheerful when it comes to fire safety.

Going back to the top of this thread - One good thing to come out of this is there are now many people, who "dabble" in fire safety, questioning whether they want to get good and carry-on or get out! Either way we are improving the breed.
Phil Martin

You would be well advised to do separate risk assessments for each discipline (e.g. environmental protection, H&S, Fire, etc.). This would establish your processes, procedures, training requirements and so on. At this point you could combine some aspects such as periodic inspection of premises, training needs and management reviews.

Anoop,
In one of your earlier posts you mention an evacuation time of 4 minutes. I have often read or heard Fire Safety Practitioners trot this out as if it was an emphatic rule. I have struggled to find its origin. It is often stated and frequently applied but where does it come from?
PhilM

“BS 5306-3:2009 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Commissioning and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers” has just been published. This replaces BS5306-3:2003. Please note the change of title. It now contains the word “Commissioning”. All newly installed extinguishers should be “Commissioned” by a competent person. This was designed to combat a trend for users, now “Responsible Persons”, buying cheep extinguishers from general wholesalers, catalogues and the web with the worrying result that many extinguisher installations are insufficient, inappropriate, ineffective or dangerous.

Dear Deep Blue,
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about the roll of “British Standards” in fire safety. Where we are talking about maintenance the law says –

“17. —(1) Where necessary in order to safeguard the safety of relevant persons the responsible person must ensure that the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of the premises under this Order or, subject to paragraph (6), under any other enactment, including any enactment repealed or revoked by this Order, are subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.”1

That’s great; it tells us we must do it but doesn’t tell us how. That is where British Standards comes in. In fact the term “British Standard” is misleading. The documents we are referring to are on the whole “Codes of Practice”. These codes of practice (COP) are published by The British Standards Institute (BSI) and, hence, referred to as British Standards. The COP are written by committees made up of stakeholders from both sides of industry to ensure that the codes are technically competent but do not represent the interest of the trade. On the whole these COP are a list of “recommendations” and use the word “should” whereas the law is a list of “requirements” and uses the words “must” and “shall”. As there is no alternative, Central Government, Fire Brigades, Insurance companies and other bodies regard the COP as an unerring guide to good practice and advise compliance with them.

Take a hypothetical example where you had decided not to have your extinguishers maintained in accordance with BS5306:3. A small fire broke out which could have been dealt with easily with a portable extinguisher but the extinguisher didn’t work. The small fire caused a few hundred pounds worth of damage but when it escalated it caused several million pounds worth of damage. An insurance company might argue that as the larger part of the loss was due to your deliberate act, they would only be liable for the smaller part of the loss. If some one died in the fire the Fire Brigade would probably prosecute you under criminal law which would probably result in a gaol sentence!

You may know better than the people who wrote the COP. The problem is trying to convince a court of law of that. In the interest of a quiet life you are probably better off just sticking to the COP.

Ref 1 = Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

Hope this helps

Phil

Frank,
Broadly speaking extinguishers have an unlimited life. Some types (CO2) need to be hydraulically tested. If the extinguisher is regularly serviced this would be at ten years from new. That’s probably where the “Ten Years” you mention comes from. Because hydraulic testing is a specialist operation it can not be done on site. Common practice is for service companies to offer a service exchange. You get a second hand cylinder which has been tested, fitted with a new valve, repainted and refilled. Often these are indistinguishable from new apart from the date stamp on the cylinder bodies.

The following free downloads may help with fire safety:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/151543.pdf
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/322721.pdf
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_App_Doc_B_v2.pdf
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADM_2004.pdf
The first two give general advice and the second two are to do with building regulations.
Phil

Linda,
The general rule is that extinguishers should have a “Basic” service every year and an “Extended” service every 5 years to comply with BS5306 Part 3. A Dry Powder would require an extended service which would include a test discharge. Test discharging and refilling a DP extinguisher is a messy and time consuming operation. There are also quality issues with some extinguishers. The simple solution offered by most extinguisher service organisations is to “Offer” a service exchange. They take your old extinguisher and leave you with a factory recondition one. This is to everyone’s advantage but the service company should make this clear at the time, obtain authority and recorded it on the service report. Your service company may have acted in good faith.
Phil