Fire Risk Assessment: Doughty's Court, Lincoln

Building details                       

Assessor	Andrew Jefford
Checked by	Andy Jefford – Date: 28/04/2020
Area	250m2 footprint
Number of floors	6
Occupied floors	6
Number of occupants	50
Is customer landlord?	Yes
Type of alarm	Category L3 System

Live fire log book	Next due date
Risk assessment	27/04/2021
Fire drill	N/A
Fire extinguisher maintenance	07/11/2020
Fire safety training	N/A
Fire marshal training	N/A
Fire alarm service	Records held offsite
Emergency lighting service	Records held offsite

Description of property

The premises is a grade 2 listed building converted to a residential block of flats. It is of brick construction with steel reinforced concrete floors to second floor level columns and staircases. The top three storeys are suspended wooden floors. The staircases at either end of the building are reinforced concrete. It has a shallow pitched wooden roof finished in welsh slate roof tiles.

There are 5 storeys that house 31 one bedroom flats.

There is a protected lobby at the main entrance with a hydraulic powered lift and central protected concrete staircase that gives access to all floors. It is not a firefighting lift. The lift motor room is on the ground floor.

There is a protected emergency stair case to the rear of the building that is accessed from all floors. It is locked until actuation of the main alarm panel.

There is a laundry room on the ground floor with a reinforced door and frame offering 30 minutes of fire resistance.

There are refuse chutes on all floors above ground level inside a designated room protected with a door that offers 30 minutes of fire resistance.

The doors to both staircases offer a minimum of 30 minutes of fire resistance.

The front doors to all flats, office and utility rooms all offer a minimum of 30 minutes of fire resistance.

There is a common roof void. Access is locked and it has automatic detection linked to the main panel.

The alarm system is automatic. There is automatic detection in all flats, the means of escape, utility and motor rooms, roof void and common areas.

There are manual call points at all final exits and all storey exits. There are hush buttons in all flats but must be activated within 30 seconds of an alarm actuation in that flat.

There is emergency lighting in the means of escape.

There is a passive ventilation system that will operate on the floor of an alarm actuation and close down on other floors. It vents through to roof level.

There is secondary extraction in the kitchen and bathrooms of all flats and is comprised of protected ducting with fire dampers in place.

On actuation of an alarm there is a full evacuation policy. The alarm system is linked to an alarm receiving centre. If contact is not made with the block the control team will call 999. If the alarm is left unattended the fire service will respond.

The stairway is not lobby protected.

The stairway has been provided with a manual means of ventilating the stairway, openable windows. The stairway is not lobby protected and forced ventilation to the corridors.

Due to Covid 19 social distancing measures flat doors were not reviewed. There appear to be no previous issues, so there is no reason to believe this has changed.

Risk Assessor's summary

Undertaken in accordance with Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

People at risk

The building is occupied by residents that will be familiar with the premises. The previous assessment stated “The alarm is linked to an alarm receiving centre and if not reset the control centre will call 999. The emergency services will attend if the alarm is not reset.” The evacuation procedure for the premises is simultaneous evacuation. The procedure is posted near call points.

Sources of ignition

The common areas are generally free from electrical installations. The distribution boards are located within a fire resisting cupboard. There are electric storage heaters in common areas. There did not appear to be lightening protection. Smoking is not permitted in the common areas.

Sources of fuel

The common areas of the building are kept free of combustible materials. There are accumulations of combustible waste in areas accessible to the public. There is an extensive CCTV system which provides basic arson prevention. Waste bins are stored in the bin store and outside the building.

Sources of oxygen

There are no additional sources of oxygen present. Ground floor laundry is restricted by access control fob. The cupboard is accessed from the refuse chute room. Services pass over the chute room and enter a void above the corridor. The previous risk assessment stated, “There is a common roof void”. If this is taken to mean that it is un­compartmented, this is a departure from accepted building standards. Both Approved Document B Volume 2 (Paragraphs 8.22­8.24) and BS 9991 (19.1.1) state that the compartment walls, which includes those of flats and vertical and horizontal escape routes, should continue up to the roof. The previous assessment also states that there is detection in the roof void. It may be that a fire engineering approach has considered this and deemed this satisfactory. The mechanical ventilation it is assumed that the ventilation system also provided smoke extract. In which case, it should be triggered by the fire detection system and only provide extraction on the floor affected (verified). Main stair and first section of corridor, manually openable windows on all levels.

The building is provided with a fire detection and alarm system. In all common areas there is detection, call points at all floor and final exits and audible alarm devices. The system as a whole broadly conforms with the requirements of BS5839­1 category L3 and BS5839­6, Grade A, category LD3. All fire facilities are maintained by Sunfish. There appears to be emergency lighting to all parts of the common areas. There are no records of testing or maintenance. There are fire exit signs clearly indicating the escape route.

All fire facilities are maintained by Sunfish including extraction, lifts are serviced on a quarterly basis.