If a fire was to occur, does the presence of extinguishers reduce the life safety risk? You will know the answer to that, particularly given your comments in your penultimate sentence.

The other consideration is that of property protection. In the event of a fire, what is the likelihood of a fire being discovered in its early stages and then someone successfuly using an extinguisher?

Does red suit your colour scheme?

Greetings, SBH.

This is an area that has had lots of study thrown at it.

Going by your description, I assume that you are looking at an open structure and (I'm guessing) that there aren't any specific, fire-rated, air handling systems.

There are a number of questions (construction material, how high are the ceilings, how many floors, density of parking, etc.) that you need to consider when drawing up your plan and policy. The easiest way would be to make sure that your attendants assist with the evacuation rather than getting involved with the fire-fighting - at least, you will have some incident control and liaison with the emergency services when they arrive rather than adding to the casualty count.

You will probably be required, if only by the insurance companies, to have extinguishers present. However, if your policy and training are consistent, I see no reason why you can't put extinguishers in a locked store to which the attendants have access (in theory) but your training states that they shouldn't use them.

High density, low-ceiling parking can lead to rapid fire spread because of the possibility of ceiling jets developing - even when the structure is open-sided. If this applies, I would suggest that your policy includes information to customers to move away from the scene further and faster than they be inclined to do, move everyone to a safe place (e.g. your stairways), contact staff and/or call emergency services, beware of running fuel fires (on the surface and getting into drains) - you know the list better than me.

The only consideration that may run against this idea is if there are places where your staff may have to fight their way to safety using extinguishers. If you eliminate such situations, the "no use" policy is consistent and can probably be justified in court.

Fair enough, Chris.

What happens later when lung damage becomes apparent? Are you (to paraphrase the TV ad) just going to say, it's fate or are you going to say, "I absolutely didn't deserve that" and then sue on the basis that the company didn't tell you not to use the extinguisher?

You might let it pass, but in these litigious times - and until the promised, "common sense" approach kicks in, would everyone else?

I'm might do the same as you; however, if the Fire Service is close by, circumstances would have to be pretty extreme for me to get involved.