Posted By Ashley Williams Paul the fire precations regulations covering the workplace were updated in 1997 and then added to the management regulations 1999. As for extinguishers, Ive spoken to a few people within our local brigade who would much rather people didnt use them. After all there is nothing worse than them having to rescue a have a go hero. We have to have extingushers, but they are best left fied to a wall. Ashley

Posted By Zyggy Turek I can see an interesting debate coming out of the original query, so I will express my own personal views. Like Ashley, I have spoken to a number of senior Fire Officers who are questioning the desirability of employees using fire extinguishers. "Training"usually comes in the form of standing in the car park & squirting a water extinguisher into a paper bin fire or for the more adventurous, a tray of burning liquid with AFFF. Unfortunately, this bears no resemblance to a real fire in a building which is probably rapidly filling with smoke, and as the Brigade will tell you, the small fire may soon become out of control. As we all know, there are different types of fires, different locations and therefore different ways in which to tackle them. In a different life I took part in a number of controlled natural gas fires, and on one memorable occasion when assisting in a demonstration for a group of Russian engineers, two brand new extinguishers failed on me but luckily I was in no danger ( any ex BG safety bods out there?). Like any training, you soon forget any skills taught unless you are using them on a regular basis and I would sooner face the prospect of rebuilding a building than explain to the Coroner why one of our employees didn't make it.