Can anyone point to where it says that there MUST be at least two water fire extinguishers on each storey of an office building? We have a building - (3 storeys, two small offices per floor, one small kitchen and WC's, low risk office type environment) - which currently has one water and one CO2 on each landing and one extra CO2 in a small Comms Room (7 extinguishers altogether). There is a single protected accommodation staircase which is the only means of escape. In the event of an alarm staff are told to evacuate rather than attempt to fight a fire. Adding an extra water fire extinguisher on each landing seems a bit unnecessary, especially when each landing is less than 3 square meters. We are now being told that new advice says there must be two water per floor irrespective of building design/layout etc or our risk assessment. No one can tell me where this advice is coming from or where the need originates - any comments or pointers to the document where this requirement comes from would be welcome, I would like to read it for myself. Thanks in advance.

I wonder where that advice came from, if you can find out please let us know. Is there a fire risk assessment or were your current extinguishers sited by the extinguisher provider ? Whoever did the fire risk assessment will have decided on what you have at present. What you have appear to be reasonable for what you describe, it all depnds on the risk, if it is electrical and combustible you may be OK.

You may need to check the fine print regarding your premises fire insurance. Insurers tend to go by British Standards etc which can be more than the minimum required by law etc!

BS 5306 in its opening para 1 talks about the..." suitability and siting of portable fire extinguishers ..... and are used for the protection of buildings and other premises and their contents." Para 6 then goes to mention ... "on each storey there should be at least least two extinguishers..." IE Property protection driven. The Fire Safety Order (article 8) requires "general fire precautions to ensure SFARP safety" But there is a requirement to protect ensure the premises are safe for relevant persons in Article 8 part b I consider the provison of Fire fighting equipment does not make the premises safe and para b does not require them. IE to comply with fire safety order you can risk assess for life protection a very different provision of fire fighting equipment than the BS for property protection but check what insurers think.

Just to add a little more you should think of: Travel Distances BS 5306-8:2012 Following Max Distances to site an extinguisher from risk Class A Extinguishers - 30 metres Class B Extinguishers - 10 Metre Class C Extinguishers - 30 Metre Class D Extinguishers - (Expert Advice) Class F Extinguishers - 10 Metre " The fire rating is found by multiplying the floor area in metres squared (m²) by 0.065. Therefore for a floor area of 200m² the fire rating is 200 x 0.065 = 13A." Use the above quote from mssy as a gospel. cheers G

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