Posted By Paul Leadbetter One of my clients has an intruder alarm system which doubles as a fire alarm (which has a different sound) when manually activated from the main panel. While I have misgivings about this being the only method of raising the alarm (and which is being addressed through a review of the fire risk assessment), is it acceptable to have the alarm systems combined in this way? Paul

Posted By Neil Pearson Hi Paul, I'm sure someone with more expertise than me in fire safety will jump in, but there's no absolute requirement for an alarm. It just becomes more appropriate the larger the premises. A small shop might have no alarm at all - people are simply briefed to shout "fire" if they dicover a fire. It really does depend on the assessment.