Relevant British Standards
Relevant British Standards
Approved Document B to the Building Regulations lays down prescriptive requirements for the fire safe design of some of the more common building situations. However, alternative approaches are permitted and may in some cases be the only practical way to achieve a satisfactory level of fire safety in some large and complex buildings.
Fire safety engineering is being used more and more frequently in the UK as an alternative to the application of prescriptive fire safety codes and standards. It offers the designer more freedom to create innovative buildings, and may offer a more cost-effective solution. Similarly BS9999, Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings, offers an alternative approach to achieving compliance and permits, alongside a fire engineered solution, a design approach to be adopted that corresponds to the complexity of the building and to the degree of flexibility required.
BS EN 9999:2008 contains 33 separate references to fire safety for disabled people and an entire section of guidance, Section 46:
General: sections 1 - 0
Disabled evacuation: sections 14 & 46
Horizontal/vertical escape: section 17/clause 18.1/18.8
Fire doors: clause 33.1.6
Stairs: clause 18.5
Lifts: clauses 46.9/46/10
Refuges: clause 46.8 & annex G
Evacuation strategies: section 12
PEEPS: clause 46.7
Test drills/training: clauses 46.11/46.12
Sheltered Housing: annex Q
BS 5839-9 provides recommendations for the planning, design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of emergency voice communication systems in and around buildings and at sports, entertainment and similar venues. It does not recommend whether or not an emergency voice communication system should be installed in a given premises.
BS 5839-9 primarily relates to the use of emergency voice communication (EVC) in assisting both firefighters and those responsible for evacuating buildings or sports stadiums in fire emergency situations, including evacuation of disabled persons. Use, other than in fire emergency situations, by disabled persons and others, although not precluded, is not addressed in detail.
PD 7974-6:2004 is intended to provide guidance to designers, regulators and fire safety professionals on the engineering methods available for the evaluation of life safety aspects of a fire safety engineering design in relation to evacuation strategies and occupant behaviour.
BS EN 54-23 is a European Standard which specifies the requirements, test methods and performance criteria for visual alarm devices in a fixed installation intended to signal a visual warning of a fire between the fire detection and fire alarm system and the occupants of a building.
It is intended to cover only those devices which derive their operating power by means of a physical electrical connection to an external source such as a fire alarm system.
BS EN 54-23 specifies the evaluation of conformity and the marking of the visual alarm devices.
BS EN 54-23 applies only to pulsing or flashing visual alarm devices, for example xenon beacons or rotating beacons. Devices giving continuous light output are excluded.
BS EN 54-23 is not intended to cover visual indicators, for example those on detectors or on the control and indicating equipment.
BS EN ISO 9999 is an international standard that establishes a classification of assistive products, especially produced or generally available, for persons with disability.
Assistive products used by a person with disability, but which require the assistance of another person for their operation, are included in the classification.
Assistive products (including software) are classified according to their function. The classification consists of three hierarchical levels and the codes each consist of three pairs of digits. Like other classifications, for each level, codes, titles, explanatory notes, inclusions, exclusions and cross-references are given. Besides the explanatory text and the classification itself, a table of conversion between the previous (2002) edition and this edition of this International Standard and an alphabetical index are provided in order to facilitate the use of and to improve the accessibility of the classification.