Hi Guys, My site has a large number of fire exit designated throughout however fire safety has not been managed massively over the years and I'm coming across a number of doors on site that have old non compliant fire exit signage on them but some are not functional. When asking the supervisors in the area they inform that they have been closed off by the company many years ago and no longer in use but I do not see any reference to this in any documents. The supervisor in question is good and helpful employee so i know this isn't a feckle response or pile of fibs to the safety man. The problem I have is how do identify what are acceptable exit routes/doors and what aren't anymore. Cheers

Check your fire risk assessment or revise your FRA taking into account the MOE in question.

Thanks for your replies, sorry I have been away and not been able to see this thread i started. If we have previously blocked of an existing fire exit in an area for a suitable reason do we need to get permission from Fire Authority or Building Control to make this change or can we simply do this via fire risk assessment and providing an alternative exit? I'm new to the site and have come across 4 fire exits at various locations that have been sealed. Signage has not be removed from the door, there is not documented reason for closing them off, in one area the supervisor informed me that the door had been sealed and that the fire exit was now the sliding door adjacent the signed fire exit. Although this is not locked it does not make sense to me why a normal easy access fire door has been sealed up and replace with a large sliding door that is not identidied as a fire exit. Really i want to know is do we need permission to change or remove an existing fire exit or can we simply do this through our FRA?

Is there nay reason why the sealed doors can not be re-instated i would look at this option first it better to have to many final exits than not enough. But Phil is right you can make the decision yourself by means of fire risk assessment but my view is that the cost of reinstating the fire doors should not be the reason driving the FRA to exclude these doors. also if number of employees in crease or different layout to the premises then you may well have reinstate them at a later date anyway. Phil

I agree with Jane. If the door has been sealed, the first thing I would do is rip down any signage claiming that it is a fire exit. Take a tour of your facility amd imagine there is a fire and people are trying to get out, consider if the lights were out and the smell of smoke in the air would you, or more importantly a stranger to the premises, understand where to go? Based on the signs you have in place, from anywhere in the building could you find your way out not knowing the layout? Most likely 9 out of 10 of the exit routes for your building are standardised or otherwise the safety sign instruction on direction cannot be misunderstood likely ensuring correct evacuation. For that 1 route, however, in a premises of 100 workers 10 may well be taking it to proceed to a place of safety, 5 of these may interpret the correct instruction and evacuate, 4 may guess a course of direction and be lucky and finally 1 may neither comprehend nor be lucky. This 1 proceeds down the mis-signed corridor, down the stairs at the end of it and proceeding along another until entering into a room with no other exits. This 1 is only found after the fire in the building has been extinguished but not before they died from smoke inhalation. By sending people to a door that does not open but which is identified as a fire exit you are leaving yourself wide open to prosecution and potentially manslaughter charges if the worst case scenario were to happen.