Posted By shaun mckeever Richard, fire risk assessment as you know is primarily about assessing the risk to life from fire. That is the likelihood that a fire will occur and once it does occur the threat to life. You have said that there are control measures in place but you must be asking yourself what the risk is to the occupants if a fire does occur. None of the existing control measures you have mentioned will contain or suppress the fire. The detectors may well detect the fire and then raise the alarm but this does not mean that the occupants will be immediately alerted. What time delay for occupant response have you factored into your assessment? What fire growth rate have you allowed? What smoke density within the single escape route have you allowed? Your argument to the fire officer that the guidelines only say 'should' is in my opinion not the correct approach. Your argument should not be about what the guidelines say, they should be about putting convincing arguments that the occupants will be safe if a fire should occur. You should be able to say the occupants will be alerted for a fire anywhere in the building (a Category L1 system?). You should be able to say they will have sufficient time to safely evacuate. This means allowing sufficient time for them to wake up after maybe having had a few drinks, recognising that the noise is the fire alarm, getting dressed, getting their children dressed. Don't forget that some occupants may have a disability of some kind. Once starting their escape they will enter the staircase which must remain smoke free until after they have escaped. You could easily be talking 20 or 30 minutes before occupants start making their escape. Will your staircase be free from the effects of fire for long enough to allow the occupants to escape? I have successfully designed a fire strategy with a smaller sprinkler tank located in a basement for a single staircase 10 storey building although this was an office not a hotel. In the circumstances you describe I think it very likely that some compromises will have to be made. It would be difficult to provide acceptable solutions. Without knowing the buildings I would suggest looking at possible alternative exit routes, possibly pressurisation. You have already mentioned sprinkler systems but water mist systems might be a better alternative.

Posted By Adrian Watson Whilst I agree totally with the above postings, Article 8 only requires that the measures are reasonable in the circumstances. Regards