Green Building Forum - Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Danb1203 — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:49:08 +0100

Hi everyone,

I'm currently conducting research about the Building regulations Part B..... I was looking along the lines of finding faults within the regulation for my dissertation.

I was wondering if anybody on here came across some problems associatted with this part of the regulation? and would you consider that by better education around this part of the regulations would make any difference?

Thanks for looking

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

tony — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:52:45 +0100

My two points would be that many of the domestic fire regulations for single houses are unnecessary as the smoke alarms are so good that in the event of a fire no lives are in danger.

Fire sprinkler systems are just being allowed as an alternative to safe exit routes this too is good but there could be longer term complications.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

funcrusher — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:05:13 +0100

'cost -effectiveness of Fire Regs' is an old chesnut. The truth is they are vastly over-elaborate and vastly exceed in cost the benefit. EG Prof Moore of London Business School did an authorative study looking at changes in casualty rates as regs tightened. Billions spent on upgrades produced absolutely no gains!

In fact the Fire Research Station established long ago that fire, its causes, and casualties are largely related to social class and age, and NOT the construction of the property. Only the old, infirm, lunatics and unattended small children are at significant risk in rewsidential accommodation.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Mark Brinkley — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:04:26 +0100

>>Maggie,

>>Only the old, infirm, lunatics and unattended small children are at significant risk in residential accommodation.

So no point in bothering with regulations for that lot then.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

tony — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:02:21 +0100

There is a very high risk of children injuring their fingers in domestic doors with fire closers fitted. Nothing was ever done about this and they may soon become history as many families disable them.

Window locks as a very big danger too --- quite a few people have been killed because of them. Unable to open the window to get out in an emergency.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Joinerbird — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:42:45 +0100

Im glad they ditched the door closers on protected stairs as of course, it only takes a human to wedge the blummin thing open.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Charlie Duke — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:55:11 +0100

1. If designing a new house it is not always possible to have a conservatory if this stops a ladder reaching a f/f bedroom window above it. After the house is built and occupied though one can be added under Permitted Development (if under 30 sq m) with no restrictions. This could obviously cause escape problems.

2. In 3 storey with the required protected staircase it is no longer necessary to have the upper floor sills between 800 & 1100mm above floor or even provide windows big enough to get out of, but they are still required at f/f level. Don't know if this is a problem, but to imprison people on the top floor seems thoughtless, especially if a long ladder were available.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Danb1203 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:01:59 +0100

Hi,

thanks for all your replies - they've been great.

New i'd get some ideas from the forum.

thanks agains

i hope you know that now everybody has been Sooooo helpful - i'm going to have to bother you lot again if i have any queries.

Danb1203

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

ken davis — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:01:35 +0100

ssh! don't tell anyone but it is perfectly possible to obtain planning approval on buildings that do not comply with part B.
this throws up the whole issue of the planning and build regs actually needing to be one joined up process. have a look at what the regs say about 4 storey houses and means of escape. the most efficient and desirable house type probably still is the georgian terrace (4,5 and 6 storeys) but the extra cost caused by build regs means we can not maximise use of urban land etc etc.

Fire Regulations: - New legislation or Better education?? Dissertation topic

Bluemoon — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:35:26 +0100

I looked into house-fire statistics so that I can answer questions from interested parties, when I try to build a wooden house. I found that about 20% of fires are malicious, insurance scams, family feud and vendetta etc. Of the rest, about a third are caused by the use of tobacco products. a fifth begin in the kitchen due to cooking accidents, and many of the remainder are caused by faulty portable electrical appliances. Unsupervised children cause some fires. Oil lamps, candles, and matches are banned in well-run households.

As nobody here smokes, we don't eat fried food, have no young children, (thankfully) and we have few old appliances, in each case fitted with the correct fuse. and as far as I know haven't upset the Mob, I think that taking sensible precautions will keep us as safe as is humanly possible.