Do you own a holiday let/self-catering accommodation or have paying guests? Do you know that the Fire Safety Law has been amended?
Recently we were invited along with Plumis to attend a webinar hosted by Alistair Handyside, the Chair of PASC UK, he was keen for us to explain to his members how Automist® Hydra could help them overcome the amendments to the Fire Safety Order and the impact it may have on their ‘open plan’ accommodation.
PASC UK is The Professional Association of Self Caterers, with over 1,100 members; representing over 50,000 short-term letting properties in the UK.
The webinar focused on section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) which has made amendments to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), which will see the enforcement of new fire safety guidance on October 1st, 2023, to all buildings which are regulated by the FSO. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (“the Fire Safety Order”) is the main legislation that controls fire safety in all premises in England that provide accommodation for paying guests.
The stance from the home office has created much concern amongst self-caterers because a large proportion own premises which are two-storey single staircase open plan accommodation or accommodation with inner rooms, which cannot be structurally altered or extended to provide a protected escape route or additional escape stair. It is, therefore, necessary to investigate what ‘compensatory measures’ could be applied to these premises types.
A typical example of a two-storey holiday let with an ‘open plan’ ground floor.
Open plan ground floor with Automist® Hydra installed (blue circles), enabling the ground floor to remain open plan and avoiding further structural work to enclose the space.
How Does Automist® work?
When Automist® Smartscan is triggered by a ceiling-mounted multi-sensor wireless or a wired detector, all the linked spray heads begin scanning. They start measuring the temperatures within the room using an infrared sensor. The scan is looking for an exceptionally high-temperature reading or a differential increase between scans. Once the temperature exceeds a threshold that head is deemed to have successfully located a fire and the pump turns. It then delivers watermist to the location of the fire.
View Yusuf Muhammad, Director of Plumis Ltd explaining the Automist® system here.
For reference please see the guidance below:
https://www.bluelightsafety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9281_Sleeping_Accomodation_v2-1.pdf
Bluelight
For more information about Blue Light Safety or Automist® fire suppression – email info@bluelightsafety.co.uk or call 0330 353 0053.
