Fire Compliance
In the UK, property rental is heavily regulated, with legislation changing regularly. With complex laws, and robust penalties for non-compliance it pays to let our professional property management service take care of fire compliance for you, so you don’t have to worry about it. Landlords have legal obligations when it comes to fire safety in their properties, and it can vary depending on the size and type of property as well as the use of the building. Headway UK can guide you through the best options or do it on your behalf.
Current Fire Regulations
The fire safety order (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005) makes it mandatory to carry out a detailed assessment identifying the risks and hazards in a commercial premise. By law, if you are responsible for the premises, you need to make sure that a Fire Risk Assessment has been completed by a competent person. Additionally, your Fire Risk Assessment must be recorded if you have a total of five or more employees or your business has a licence under enactment in force. The responsible person for the premises is also required to:
- Consider who may be especially at risk.
- Eliminate or reduce the risk of fire as far as is reasonably practical.
- Provide general fire precautions to deal with any risk.
- Take additional measures to ensure fire safety where flammable or explosive materials are used or stored.
- Create a plan to deal with any emergency and where necessary record any findings.
- Maintain general fire precautions, and facilities provided for use by firefighters.
- Keep any findings of the risk assessment under review.
The Furniture and Furnishing (Fire & Safety) Regulations apply to beds, mattresses and soft furnishings made after 1950. Everything that comes under this remit has to meet modern fire resistance requirements. This means that furnishings have to be labelled correctly, if labelling is incomplete and does not indicate compliance, then there needs to be a check with the manufacturer, Headway UK are happy to do this on your behalf.
The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations oblige landlords to provide one smoke alarm as a minimum for every storey of the rental property. In addition a carbon monoxide alarm needs to be fitted to any room that uses a solid fuel appliance. When a tenant moves into a property, they should have a signed receipt to confirm that all smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are working correctly. If the alarms stop working, it is the landlord’s responsibility to replace them.
The Q1 Watermist Suppression System
Headway UK also provides and installs the Q1 Watermist Suppression system for enhanced fire protection in your home or business. This system was designed specifically for use in the care sector and for assisted living facilities, or any locations that need adaptable fire solutions.
This highly rated Swedish fire suppression system offers a reliable fire defence set-up for any building. If the system is activated by fire in the premises, a high-pressure water mist is discharged that will put out the fire, with minimal water damage to the building and any objects inside the space.
As the Q1 unit requires no permanent installation, or fitted to your water supply, this drives down the cost of running it, and it needs only minimal maintenance. The unit can be installed in one place or in multiple locations, but one unit can be installed in an at risk area, then nozzles can be added to cover other areas in the building. It can be moved to different locations without any risk, making it a cost effective solution to fire safety in a care home or rental property.
Its high-pressurised water sprinkler will put out fires quickly and effectively, which increases the chances of survival for anyone living in the property. Headway UK can also install the Q1 fire suppression system with independent detectors, and it’s control system can be linked to external fire alarm systems.
If you have limited space then Headway UK can install a Q1 mini fire suppression system, which does not have a separate water tank, and is connected to the domestic water supply.
If you are interested in Headway UK installing this fire suppression system in your home or business property, then contact us now.
Catching a fire when it starts saves lives
*The Q1 unit has been subject to successful fire testing at VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland (2009) and passed its original testing at SINTEF (Now RISE Fire Research
Association) Test report #102201.38 of October 3, 2007. The report contains an evaluation of the results reached with Q-Fog AB’s system Q1 in trials performed at SINTEF NBL in
October 2005. The tests were performed as a part of the project: “Water mist systems in care homes – A mapping of what effect mobile and easy movable water mist system has
on fire safety in care homes”.