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Does an office need fire fighting equipment?
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jimm2434  
#1 Posted : 09 January 2013 16:36:13(UTC)
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jimm2434
I work for a company which has a range of offices throughout the UK, which are used by the public. The offices are used mainly for admin with some training, they all have automatic detection, fire alarms and two escape routes. As a number of fire services now teach do not fight the fire, just evacuate. Do we require to have the extinguisher or would it be acceptable only to teach staff evacuation strategies.
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smitch  
#2 Posted : 09 January 2013 16:54:01(UTC)
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smitch
I am a believer in having extinguishers in place; they allow suitably trained individuals to tackle a small fire and stop it becoming a big fire (for example; small fire starts; all persons evacuate, fire brigade called and take seven minutes to arrive; how big could the small fire have become??)

Fire extinguishers could also be of use in evacuating (knock fire back to aid escape).
As for your question, then the requirement to have or not to have extinguishers should be determined by your fire risk assessment, you insurers may also have a vested interest in whether you have extinguishers (and trained operatives) or not .
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smitch  
#3 Posted : 09 January 2013 16:56:04(UTC)
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smitch
oops.........should have read "..........your insurers........"
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Seabee81  
#4 Posted : 09 January 2013 18:02:04(UTC)
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Seabee81
Have you considered fire marshals?
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imwaldra  
#5 Posted : 10 January 2013 10:00:04(UTC)
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imwaldra
Well done for asking this brave question! The answer is of course linked to your fire risk assessment - but the risk of a fire in a 'no smoking' occupied office environment with good electrical fault protection should be extremely low.

If you have extinguishers, there's the cost of routine maintenance plus the fact that someone present needs to have basic training in how to use them. The alternative of ensuring that all present know how to raise the alarm (if a fire isn't detected automatically) and evacuate in response to the alarm seems pretty sensible and proportionate to me!
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