Posted By Richard Patrick George Hi, Do you feel that the fire extinguisher cylinders colour code according to BS EN 3 is bit difficult to identify in an emergency and why did they change it?

Posted By Adrian Clifton Richard The answer as to why it was changed is in your question. The 2 letters EN relates to the Eurocrats across the water interfering in a system that was perfectly adequate in the first place. This is demonstrated by the fact that the EN is preceded by BS (British Standard). The original BS made identifying extinguisher types so easy and from a distance. Can't leave anything alone! Good job it isn't Friday or I would have had a good old rant. Adrian

Posted By Crim Yes the red colour for all extinguishers does make life difficult, however if you get to understand how the different types operate they may become more easily identified, i.e. CO2 discharge horn, Powder usually smaller than water/foam, Water usually by narrow hose etc. There should also be a coloured band near the top of each one denoting the type of medium contained? I do agree with all above especially ensure you position the correct type for the risk. Also those personnel trained to operate extinguishers should know contents and how to distinguish?

Posted By John D Crosby The original BS actually stated that the predominant body colour should be red but everyone ignored it and stuck with the one body colour denoting type. This was OK as there where many suppliers of extinguishers but eventually the big two joined up and decided to sell into Europe where the red body was the norm. As they had by now some 40% of the sales and 80% of the manufacturing of extinguishers they became the dominant force and thus forced everyone else to comply. It was purely a business decision and nothing to do really with edicts etc from Europe. Take care John C

Posted By J Knight Knee-jerk Europhobes should really take good note of John's post about how this decision was reached. As the second biggest economy in Europe its really ludicrous to imagine that much happen in the EU without the approval of at least some powerful bodies in the UK. Very often the UK government uses the EU to push legislation it knows wouldn't wash from the domestic parliament; I know this happens, a close friend of mine was a telecoms lobbyist in Brussels, and this is exactly how it worked when she was there. BTW, why would you be using fire extinguishers anyway? I've had so many fire officers tell me that in the event of fire people just should get out that I've lost count. Don't care whether they're all the same colour or not, I'm just thinking about how I phrase my bid for sprinklers throughout (Residential Care & Hospices, mainly), John