Over 10 years ago a new classification of fire was introduced for fires involving cooking oils, however there is still some ignorance around the need to have specialised equipment to safely tackle fires in this category and many establishments remain unprotected against this dangerous fire risk

Classifications

For fire fighting purposes fires have been classified, first under BD 4547 and now EN2, according to the main type of fuel involved.

Class A – fires involving flammable solids

Class B – fires involving flammable liquids and liquefiable solids

Class C – fires involving flammable gases

Class D – fires involving flammable metals

Class F – fires involving cooking oils and fats

There used to be a Class E for electrical fires, but this was discontinued as electricity doesn’t burn – an electrical fire can involve any of the above classes, with the presence of electricity being an additional hazard rather than a fuel. Fires where electricity are present are still categorised separately on extinguisher labels so that a non-conductive agent that is safe for use where a live electrical supply is involved can be identified.

Cooking oils and fats were traditionally part of Class B, along with substances like petrol and spirits. However a major difference in how they burn means that normal agents for Class B fires are ineffective. Most flammable liquids, such as petrol or heptane (which is used for fire test rating of Class B extinguishers), burn around 50 degrees Centigrade. However, cooking oil fires commonly start when the oil is heated to past it’s auto-ignition temperature, usually between 285 & 385 degrees Centigrade, but sometimes up to 499 degrees Centigrade. The oil burns at this temperature, but it’s auto-ignition temperature is reduced (by this burning) by about 30 degrees Centigrade. Thus, the fire will be self sustaining unless it’s temperature is significantly reduced. This high temperature makes the fires very dangerous and presents problems when trying to use normal extinguishing methods on these fires. A tble at the end of this article summarises the problems with traditional agents.

Case studies

The following case studies illustrate the problem when using traditional agents.

1. South Mimms Service Area – A fast food restaurant’s fryer caught fire and was immediately tackled with CO2 extinguishers. These had no effect and the fire spread to the ductwork. The entire service area burnt down as a result.
2. Heathrow Terminal One – A fast food restaurant’s fryer caught fire and was immediately tackled with CO2 extinguishers. These had no effect and the fire spread to the ductwork. The terminal was severely damaged. Millions of pounds were lost through damage and disruption.
3. Royals Shopping Centre – A fryer caught fire in one of the units and was immediately tckled with two fire blankets. One was too small, the other burnt through. Despite the rapid attendance of the fire service and the use of a fixed BC Powder extinguishing system the fire was only just contained with great difficulty.

Following lobbying by the fire industry, Class F, a new fire classification, was introduced for all fires involving cooking oils.

A new symbol for use on extinguishers, depicting a burning frying pan with the letter F in the top right corner, was also introduced.

The only type of extinguisher to be Class F rated is the Wet Chemical extinguisher. This contains an alkaline liquid solution of up to 20% potassium salts (potassium acetate, potassium citrate, potassium carbonate) and it is the unique effect of these salts on the fats in cooking oils that is the key to their effectiveness.

Wet Chemical saponifies the oil, i.e. by hydrolysis rapidly converts the burning substance to a non-combustible soap. This process is endothermic, meaning it absorbs thermal energy from its surroundings, decreasing the temperature and eliminating the fire. The soapy scum formed also secures vapours and generates steam, assisting the extinction further.

Even a raging fryer with 75 litres of oil can be extinguished in under 2 seconds, however the entire extinguisher must be discharged onto the oil to ensure a complete crusting of the surface and maximise cooling.

Potassium salts had been used in the US for many years in the form of ‘loaded stream’ extinguishers for greater effectiveness on Class A fires and it was the US who developed the first Wet Chemical extinguishers for cooking oil fires in the 1990’s

Chubb Fire first introduced US made Badger Wet Chemical extinguishers to the UK in the late 1990’s, followed by the UK base of the US firm Amerex and currently there are several manufactures of these extinguishers around the world.

In the UK Wet Chemical extinguishers are made to BS 7937: 2000 and are identifiable by a Canary Yellow panel to the front of the extinguisher and the class F symbol. They bear a Fire Rating based on the maximum size, in litres of oil, the extinguisher can extinguished when used by a skilled operator. A typical 6 or 9 litre extinguisher would be rated 13A:75F (the water base makes it suitable for Class A fires as well)

Because they discharge as a fine mist they pass the 35kv conductivity test for extinguishers and can be used in the presence of energised electrical equipment, although care needs to be taken with pools of agent on the floor.

The cost of the agent makes them slightly dearer than traditional extinguishers and to make them available to smaller establishments are produced in a range of sizes with ratings from 25F to 75F. The German manufacturer Total has a compact 2 litre model with an impressive 40F rating.

Comparison of agents

So many people seem to be asking me ” Do I need Fire extinguishers?” So I hope this post helps highlight that really we should all be safe and secure.

The change in legislation from prescriptive requirements from the state to risk based provision by responsible persons has undoubtedly given more freedom to businesses and also ensured that technical progress is accounted for.

Unfortunately the change has removed a useful safety blanket for responsible persons and particularly budget holders – whereas under previous legislation there was a clear detailed description of the requirements of law and what was needed to meet it (in the Form of the Fire Precautions Act; Blue, Red & Yellow guides; and resulting fire certificates) the current legislation (The Regulatory Reform [Fire Safety} Order and it’s Scottish and Northern Irish counterparts) simply sets out the broad general duties, leaving it to the interpretation of the Responsible Person & their Competent Person as to what provision exactly meets these general duties in their premises.

As a result, conflicting views can be held and those budget holders trying to seek approval for necessary works on the basis of explicit legal requirements have to deal with the fact the detail is not explicit in law – merely implicit in the findings of a fire risk assessment.

So, with respect to portable fire fighting equipment where do we stand in law?

Statute:

It is clear that in all premises a fire risk assessment must be carried out to determine the number, type, and location of fire fighting appliances.

If no risk is present then no fire equipment is required – however, should a risk be present, appropriate equipment must be provided.

The law does not let a lack of training or procedure over rule the need for equipment – if the risk requires it, it shall be provided and persons nominated to ensure suitable training is provided (which can vary from a summary in fire safety training as part of induction to full practical fire team exercises – the risk determines how far the training need go).

There is sufficient case law and guidance in the Government Risk Assessment Guides (increasingly used as a benchmark by courts) to support this interpretation.

Determining the requirements – multi occupied premises

So having realised that some provision is required, it now remains to decide what and by whom.

The underlying factor is risk.

Tenanted Areas

Without a doubt the biggest risk area within premises is in the tenant’s demise.

Considerable amounts of readily combustible materials and ignition sources, plus the largest number of persons are present in these areas.

More often than not the primary risk is class A (flammable solids) along with an associated risk from energised electrical equipment, although some areas may have Class B (flammable liquid/liquefiable solids) risks or even the notorious Class F (cooking oils) risks.

The bulk of fire fighting provision therefore falls to tenants, who must make provision suitable to the risks – usually following the scales in BS5306-8, although in smaller premises the use of small multipurpose ABC Powder extinguishers is considered sufficient in the entry level Government Guide.

Common areas

These areas present the biggest debate and also the biggest examples of unnecessary provision.

Remember – risk is the key.

Most common areas consist of stairwells and landings. A number of these are usually plain concrete fire stairs or sparsely decorated, perhaps with carpet/floor tiles and similar. They are like this because they are protected routes for means of escape and must be fire resisting, free from combustibles & obstruction & have limited surface spread of flame

Do these require extinguishers? No – there is no risk – once the building is well alight and fire doors loose integrity the floor coverings will become involved, but we are well past the first aid attack stage.

What if contractors are working in these areas? Unless they are introducing a risk then there is still no need for extinguishers. If they are, then they should be working under Permit To Work and have been required to supply their own equipment appropriate to the risks they are introducing.

But I have a reception area with furnishing, a commissionaire’s desk & CCTV monitor, etc? This is indeed a risk in which case this area should have a suitable fire point – but the other areas still do not.

What about other common areas? Well these are often areas such as loading bays, switch rooms, boiler rooms, lift motor rooms, building manager’s offices, etc. All have risks present, both ignition risks and fuel sources, so these would require appropriate extinguishers.

What about the Housing Associations who removed extinguishers? Again, look at risk – the common areas in flat blocks (not HMO’s) are often protected routes and contain no risk, so it could be justified. The flats themselves are responsible for their own provision, which being single dwellings contain Relevant Persons, but otherwise are not covered by the Fire Safety Order so it is up to the householder what (if anything) is provided for fire fighting in their area.

Formula One

To suffer one engine fire in your car is unfortunate, to have two… French Formula One driver Sebastien Bourdais managed to cross the chequered flag in 18th place in the Hungarian Grand prix, despite two flash fires during refuelling. It wasn’t the fires that slowed him down however, it was having to make a third pit stop to have fire extinguisher foam removed from the inside of his visor…

Think Before You Speak

Award for this year’s most inappropriate use of the phrase “Fire Extinguisher” must go to US press secretary Dana Perino. In May 2008, the White House announced that it would not sell crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost supply and lower prices. Perino described the oil reserve thus: “It’s like the fire extinguisher in case of an emergency.”

If they are putting out fires with oil in the US, Houston, they have a problem!

Olympic Torch

The world-wide progress of the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch procession was not the smooth-running exercise the Chinese organizers had hoped for. In London, over 35 people were arrested for trying to obstruct the torch procession.

After two men had tried to put out the torch with a fire extinguisher, the torch-protecting authorities decided that it was safer on a double-decker bus. A large naked flame, in a large metal ice-cream cone, on a London bus. Hmmm.

Fire Training Nigerian Style

A second electrical fire at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria in September 2008 shows the importance of fire safety maintenance – and training. When the office’s electrical control room burst into flames, according to the Nigerian newspaper “Business Today”, the civil defense corps allegedly, “Ran away from the scene instead of deploying the disaster management training they are reputed to have gained.”

Quick-thinking security staff grabbed the nearest fire extinguishers, only to discover they were empty. So, one guard ran to a nearby building and borrowed one of their extinguishers instead. It was almost an hour before a ‘rapid intervention’ fire truck arrived, finally putting out the fire.

Whilst praising those quick-acting security staff, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chief Ojo Maduekwe was generally not amused; “The response to the incident was reasonably above average and there can still be improvement.”

Absolutely, Minister!

And Finally…

A German anti-smoker was so annoyed when his girlfriend lit up a cigarette in his flat, that he set off a fire extinguisher to extinguish it. The resulting powder covered her, him and most of the flat by the time the police arrived to the flat, in the town of Bielefeld.

With due concern for fire safety, a police spokesman explained how “It looked like a bomb had gone off in there… He managed to put the cigarette out though.” The anti-smoker is now single, again.

Smoke Detectors: Pull Your Finger Out!

As the recent campaign fronted by Julie Walters showed, a smoke detector without a battery is as useful as a bicycle for a haddock. In fact, it’s worse than useless, because it can lull you into a false sense of security. Luckily, the new generation of 10-year battery alarms and mains alarms take away that worry, and they are surprisingly cheap too.

Not all Smoke Alarms are Equal

There are three main types of alarm that can protect you and your home:

1. An ionisation smoke alarm detects fires that burn fast and with flames, such as furniture or fabrics. So, you should place these types of smoke detectors in your lounge and bedrooms, but NOT next to an en-suite bathroom. (Learn why a little later.)

If this alarm alerts you to a fire, the best extinguisher to have handy would be a 2kg domestic multi-rating ABC powder extinguisher.

2. A photoelectrical or optical smoke alarm detects smouldering or slow-burning fires that give off smoke and ash, rather than burst into flames. This is the best type of alarm to have near a kitchen or bathroom door, as they are not set off by steam or cooking particles. Place them in your hallway or landing, or anywhere near a bathroom door.

Again, make sure you also have easy access to a domestic-sized fire extinguisher upstairs, to save precious seconds running downstairs to fetch one.

3. A mains heat alarm only activates if the temperature rises above 57 degrees C (135 degrees F), so they are ideal for use in your kitchen. They are ideal as they won’t go off every time you fry or overcook a cake, but will alert you to a more serious incident.

Your kitchen fire safety kit should consist of at least a wall-mounted fire blanket and a multi-rated domestic fire extinguisher. If you have a lot of electrical equipment in your kitchen, you might like to also consider a CO2 fire extinguisher, to minimise damage to your expensive fridge or mixer!

Tackling Home Fires with a Fire Extinguisher

When your smoke detector alerts you and your family to a fire, always get the family outside first. If you consider the fire to be small enough to tackle with your fire extinguisher, do so, but don’t be a hero.

If in doubt, always get out, stay out and call the Fire Brigade.

Wrong! The US National Fire Protection Association discovered that in the past 10 years, more than 15 percent of all residential fire deaths, more than 29 percent of all injuries and approximately 30 percent of all residential fires were the direct result of kitchen fires. In the UK, 376 people died in domestic fires in 2005, and over 11,500 people were injured.

Protect Your Kitchen, Protect Your Home

Kitchen fire safety remains a concern for UK authorities. The latest Code of Practice BS 5839-6:2004 recommends a heat alarm in every Kitchen, and new Building regulations require new homes to have mains operated alarms. Yet, there is no requirement to fit any fire detection alarms in your existing kitchen.

Fire Safety: Kit Out Your Kitchen

Providing fire safety for your kitchen is really easy – and remarkably cost-efficient too, with just three steps to fire safety.

1. Feel the Heat

If you love to cook, you’ll know how a kitchen can quickly fill with steam, or hazy smoke from that lovely sizzling steak. Normal smoke alarms would be going crazy by now, which is why most new kitchen are fitted with a heat alarm instead.

A heat alarm only sounds when the temperature rises above 57 degrees C (135 degrees F), the temperature of a fire rather than just cooking.

2. Smother with Love

A fire blanket is just what you need to smother small fat fires in a frying pan, for example. Fire blankets work by excluding air from the fire, and extinguishing it.

If a pan catches fire, turn off the heat and immediately throw the blanket completely over the pan.

DO NOT MOVE THE PAN!

3. Fight the Fire

Your third essential item of kitchen fire safety kit is a 2k domestic fire extinguisher, such as an ABC multi-rated power extinguisher. This extinguisher is ideal for tackling fires NOT involving fats or electrics, such as a burning tea-towel or paper packaging.

Mount your handy fire extinguisher on a wall, so it’s easy to grab and use if and when you need it. If you have expensive electrical equipment in your kitchen, invest in a CO2 fire extinguisher as well, which will reduce any potential damage when sued on or near your electrical appliances.

So, keep safe in your kitchen this year, and may the only smoke be from your partner burning the toast – again.

Fire Safety Signs: What the Law Says

Health and Safety regulations require all owners of premises to use safety signs, quote, “Where there is a significant risk to health and safety that has not been avoided or controlled by the methods required under other relevant law, provided the use of a sign can help reduce the risk.”

All signs also need to conform to the British Standard Code of Practice for safety signs (BS 5499-10:2006)

Seeing Red: Fire Extinguisher Safety Signs

All fire equipment signs feature a red background with white graphics. These familiar red signs indicate where you and your colleagues can find fire extinguishers and other firefighting equipment, such as fire hoses or breathing apparatus.

 Fire extinguisher signs often combine vital information for users on one easy-to read sign. For example, a combination sign might include:

• a red fire equipment sign for an extinguisher at the top
• a blue information sign detailing the extinguisher type
• green information symbols indicating the types of fire the extinguisher can be used on

So, your fire extinguisher sign can be a ‘one-stop shop’ of vital information in an emergency. Now you need to ensure everyone can see it!

Fire Safety Sign Placement

Placing your signs in the right places can give you staff vital extra seconds in an emergency. Make sure that every fire extinguisher has an appropriate sign not just at extinguisher level, but at eye level as well. Remember that not everyone is the same height, so eye level for some is sky level for others! Also consider the needs of any disabled members of staff, whose eye-line may be different again.

Always place your fire extinguishers where they can easily be accessed, and their associated fire safety sign can be seen at all times, so don’t site them behind a door or near a coat rack, for example.

If you have new premises or are renovating your old offices, your local Fire Officer or a professional fire risk assessor will be happy to help with advice on correct and effective placement.

Fire Extinguisher Stands and Signs

Despite modern advances in technology, fire extinguishers are still heavy items. Modern office partition walls and old brick walls in older premises may not be robust enough to support the weight of an extinguisher mounted on the wall. A better option is a fire extinguisher stand , which also protects your fire extinguishers from accidental knocks.

These red, grey or cream rigid plastic floor stands give your extinguishers a safe and sturdy home, and protect your carpets too! For external use, tough steel frame Fire Point stands are also available.

Walking Fire Extinguishers: Do They Exist?

From the number of times office fire extinguishers seem to move from their original positions to prop open doors, etc, you might be forgiven for thinking they had legs! Fire extinguisher signs can help you instantly identify any gaps, as some designs feature a “Missing” graphic.

Simply place your extinguisher in front of the graphic, and if the extinguisher is subsequently moved, you’ll see “Missing” in large letters.

Fire Chief Mike Kobel’s patch is the Eastern Prairie district of Champaign, Illinois, and his particular bétè noir is a disused grain elevator, just across the street from his fire station.

The old grain elevator and the silos are being reclaimed by crews of contractors, and this process is when Chief Kobel’s problems started. Kobel was quoted in the local News Gazette, explaining that when the crews use cutting torches to remove parts, the flames ignite remnants of grain, their oils, and grain dusts, resulting in the smoldering fires.

Kobel is also resigned to the particular problems of fires involving dried organic produce: “Last week, we put several hundred gallons on one area. We knocked it down and the smoke quit. Rest assured, when you’re dealing with a pile of grain, it’s going to start smoking again.”

Site owner Chris Knipfer told the newspaper that he often doesn’t even know about fires at the grain elevator until the fire engine arrives, as the alarm has been raised by drivers on the nearby interstate highway, spotting smoke.

Chief Kobel is certainly using the grain elevator fires as an excellent source of training for his volunteer force of firefighters – and the contractors. He has instructed all contractors on site to put out smaller fires using fire extinguishers, whilst his crew make the most of each incident as training for a potentially major emergency.

For example, when their fire truck was called to a recent incident at the grain silos, the firefighters decided to check if their ladder would be long enough to reach the top of the silo if a fire broke out there. It wasn’t. So, if your company exports 140 foot long fire ladders to the US, you know who to call.

FE-36 works almost as effectively as the illegal halon, is less toxic, and does not deplete the ozone layer. FE-36 also leaves no residue, is non-corrosive, non-conductive, and will not cause thermal shock damage to machinery.

How Fire Extinguishers Containing DuPont FE-36 Work

These extinguishers discharge a stream of gas and liquid droplets that are propelled into the heart of the fire, stopping combustion through a chemical reaction and by absorbing the fire’s heat.

Since FE-36 becomes a gas at -1.4 degrees C (39 degrees F), it leaves no residue behind and after the fire, dissipates into the atmosphere. FE-36(tm) fire extinguishers can be used on fire classes A and B, and directly on electrical equipment.

FE-36 Fire Extinguishers in Europe

Although not yet widely available in the UK and Europe, these extinguishers are used in medical facilities across the USA. In addition, portable fire extinguishers containing FE-36 can be used in sensitive locations such as computer rooms, document stores, clean rooms, telecommunications facilities, control rooms, switch rooms, marine craft and installations, banks, museums, archives, laboratories, and airplanes.

The most common range of fire extinguishers containing FE-36 are Cleanguard extinguishers from Ansul.

In the UK Today

Motorsport participants might also be interested in the Zero 360, an FE-36 extinguisher especially for high performance racing and rally cars from Lifeline.

Also seen in small automatic extinguishers, the defunct Firemaster company’s previous management have set up a new company called Fireblitz Extinguisher and are now supplying 1kg and 2kg automatic sizes again.

“Total Flood” Fire Suppressant Systems

DuPont FE-36 can now be used to replace Halon 1301 in fixed fire protection systems. Fire extinguisher systems with FE-36 come into their own where a ‘total flood’ fire suppressant system is required. This involves ‘flooding’ an entire room or enclosed area with sufficient fire fighting agent to extinguish the fire. (If CO2 gas were used instead, the volumes involved would prove fatal to anyone in the area.)

FE-36 and Hydrogen Fluoride

When combusted, under certain conditions, FE-36 can produce hydrogen fluoride (HF). Whilst this gas is generally produced in small quantities, and the gas itself boils just below room temperature, you should make sure that after a fire, the area is fully ventilated before staff return.

You should also avoid breathing in any fumes from an FE-36 extinguisher treated fire, as on contact with moisture, including human tissue, hydrogen fluoride converts to hydrofluoric acid. This acid is highly toxic and corrosive.

How MRI-Safe Fire Extinguishers Work

MRI-safe fire extinguishers are essentially the same as normal extinguishers on the inside. However, MRI-safe fire extinguisher cylinders must be non-magnetic, as the magnetic field of an MRI machine is strong enough to attract a normal fire extinguisher with bone-crushing force.

It is not often realised but the magnetic potency of an MRI machine stays for a long time after it is turned off. This prevents fire-fighters from entering with something as simple as a metal belt buckle. There have been incidents of people being “sucked” into an MRI with tragic results.

The same rule applies to any machinery with a strong magnetic field, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers (NMR’s). Non-magnetic fire extinguishers should also be used in health centres, clinics, and any premises where magnetic interference might affect the performance or operation of sensitive equipment.

Non-magnetic fire extinguishers are made with a non-magnetic stainless steel or aluminium shell, and non-magnetic fittings such as valves, nozzles and pins.

Specially manufacturerd 2kg CO2 fire extinguishers are the most popular non-magnetic type in the UK, since they can be used to extinguish fires in, on or around electrical equipment, are clean to operate and do not leave any residue after use. The non magnetic fire extinguisher is are available online from Fire Protection Online and is made by Chubb Fire (and also sold under their sister company name of Thomas Glover).

Water Mist Fire Extinguishers

Amerex Corporation of the USA developed their water mist extinguisher for use in clean rooms, telecoms areas and health care facilities. Using distilled water instead of tap water, it has a specially-developed misting nozzle that atomizes the water making it non-conductive.

These are available in 1.75 gallon and 2.5 gallon size but, due to the cost of testing weighed against the demand, are not tested in the UK to BS EN3. However, they have full UL approval in the USA.

As you can imagine, high specification non-magnetic fire extinguishers do not come cheap, retailing at a premium to the standard models. But, they can be found online at much lower prices.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, as it is known (or RRO), is designed to turn almost all the earlier pieces of UK fire safety legislation into one all-inclusive law.

Here is a short précis of the important parts of the Order that concern all those who run a business or institution situated in a building, based on key words used and their meanings:

• Responsible Person: the person who owns or controls the business or premises
• Competent Person: this could be an employee or an outside contractor appointed and trained to carry out fire fighting duties, contact the emergency services, and assist in evacuations
• Enforcement: failing to satisfy the applicable articles of the Order may result in a fine or up to two years imprisonment
• Fire Risk Assessment: if the responsible person employs 5 or more people, or if the premises are licensed, or if the inspector wants it, this vital plank of the Order must be officially documented

Application

The Fire Safety Order applies to all buildings in use, except domestic premises and some kinds of premises that are a specific risk and where other regulations apply. It also places duties on a ‘responsible person’ not only to protect employees but members of the public.

Don’t forget that every building is going to be different – different fire hazards in different places affecting different people.

Fire Risk Assessment

The Law requires that Risk Assessment be done, consistent with most of the new regulations regarding health and safety. It is important to consider how a fire would affect the people in the building, starting with those immediately at risk from the fire.

The outcomes of the Risk Assessments must be presented in writing where five or more people are employed, in line with many other regulations.

Fire Prevention

One of the reasons for Fire Risk Assessment is to lessen the chances of fire occurring. A fire prevention plan should be easy to put together and should be a matter of common sense for most workplaces.

Some measures to consider include making sure rubbish is not stored near the premises, and ensuring that the electrical wiring is tested and inspected frequently.

Fire Precautions

There are a number of general fire precautions required by the regulations but it is important to remember that every workplace is different and every work location has different needs. What works in one building might not work elsewhere.

The most important fire safety regulations to consider include:

• A whistle or an electric fire alarm, or some other kind of fire warning
• Automatic fire detectors might be needed in some buildings, especially if a fire could be a risk to people if it is not detected (such as a two-story building) or there are large numbers of people in the building
• There must be fire extinguishers in the building, not only to maintain exits while people evacuate but also to control small fires
• There must be enough fire exits in the building for the numbers of people who use it and exits must lead as directly to safety as possible
• Exits must be clearly marked with exit signs and they must be kept clear and readily available
• Fire exit routes might need to be protected so that the smoke and flames won’t affect people evacuating the building
• Emergency lighting might be needed in some situations to light exit routes and rooms in the event of a power failure
• Fire equipment must be maintained and looked after, so that they are in working order
• There must be a fire procedure for the building, outlining people’s responsibilities and the evacuation plan in case of fire