Fire Safety Advice

Fire safety advice is normally provided in the form of a Fire Strategy Document. A Fire Strategy is a complex document specifically tailored to a building. It is one document that groups in one place information on all aspects of the building’s fire safety features including construction, compartmentation, means of escape, occupancy numbers.

Are fire strategies a legal requirement?

Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations requires that a package of fire safety information must be assembled and given to the responsible person of the premises when a building is erected or extended, or has undergone a material change of use,

A fire strategy is commonly used as a means for collating and providing that information, but in many circumstances such information is not provided and this can mean that the Fire Safety measures that are present in a building are not well understood and therefore poorly maintained. This lack of knowledge may reduce the effectiveness of the Fire Risk Management Process.

Why complete a fire strategy?

Completing a fire strategy will identify a premises Means of Escape, Compartmentation Zones, Fire Detection and Suppression Systems, occupancy figures and any other design features specific to the business such as evacuation lifts, Smoke Extraction Systems and Rising Mains. Once identified maintenance schedules can be managed so that the Fire Risk Assessment process is quicker and easier and the management of fire risk more compliant.

TecFire’s comprehensive fire strategy includes:

A policy statement, providing a basis and overview for the fire strategy
The means of escape
Structural fire protection
Protection of the means of escape including fire alarms and detection, smoke controls, sprinklers and other active systems
The evacuation strategy
The management strategy
The fire fighting strategy
Clear plans providing visual representations of fire precautions taken