I have a very old property dating back to the 18th century. During office hours my employee is a lone worker 9 till 5. The employee lives in a flat above the office. On the first floor is the kitchen and living room, on the second floor is the bedroom. The stair cases are old wooden and a dog leg that twist round. The treds are worn and want to throw you forward. The employee is a compulsive hoarder, with huge amounts of books, knitting items and other items. There is very little open space in the living areas. The premises have an automatic fire alarm. I am getting this upgraded to include a smoke detector in the kitchen, and on the landing of the bedroom on the 2nd floor. The carpet on the stairs has a big hole caused by a cat. I am getting the carpet replaced. There is only one means of escape through the front door of the office. The rear of the property is enclosed. The property is on a high street, with wine bars, pubs, and all that you see on a high street. The employee has lived there for over ten years. My concern is that if someone was to put a fag end in the letter box of the front door and cause a fire in the office, there is no way out of the property. I think the travel distance from the bedroom on the 2nd floor down the old stairs and through the front door is probably more than 18 metres, maybe 20 metres or more. The employee has been instructed to deal with the issue of hoarding and has been offered support. But seems unable to sort out the problem of a huge amount of combustible items. is the risk to life acceptable or unacceptable? I am concerned that the fire risk assessment would be deemed as not suitable or sufficient, and in the event of an arson attack or fire, maybe even a charge of cooperate manslaughter. the human problem is that the employee has been there for over 10 years and sees this problem as an unwelcome attack rather than a genuine fire risk problem. Any help out there please? There are no fire doors in the property and fire would rip very quickly throughout.

Yes the access is through the commercial property. The stairs to the flat come out at the bottom of the office. The employer is also the landlord of the tenant employee, so is responsible for the fire safety of the tenant. The Fire Risk assessment considers the escape route to a final place of safety. I have always worked on getting to safety with 2 and half minutes and a maximum distance of 18 meters.

Didn't we discuss this very same thing a few (maybe a few more) weeks ago?

In my opinion you need to fire risk assess as normal but also consider the occupant of the flat whose access is via a single door between the office and staircase. Ensure provision of a fire door with self closing device and in good state of repair so as to provide at least half hour but recommend one hour fire separation. Ensure the ceiling and other adjoining walls/floors are also in good state of repair so that fire/smoke etc. cannot travel from ground floor to first floor. Especially the under stairs as the stairs are wooden and sounds like they are ready to ignite at the signs of the first spark? Provide an audible alarm to sound in the flat in case of a fire on ground floor. I agree to get guidance from the local frs to the flat occupant, if the fire safety officer pays a visit they may offer further advice regarding the above.

I was reading down and thoughts of Deja Vu were forming!