Fire alarm systems in Residential Care Premises

Where there is a requirement for the fire detection and alarm system to interface with other equipment or systems, BS 5839-1 refers the reader to the BS 7273 series of standards, to cover the recommendations for interfacing and in some instances applicable recommendations for the location and spacing of detectors and manual call points. BS 7273-4 is specifically relevant with respect to the control of doors, where special arrangements might be needed in residential care premises.

This paper makes reference to both BS 5839-1 and BS 7273-4, where applicable.

Premises with over 10 beds

Generally, BS 5839-1 does not make specific recommendations with respect to the type of fire detection and alarm system that should be used. However, in the case of residential care premises with over 10 beds, (i.e. larger premises) it identifies the need to provide accurate and unambiguous information to staff regarding the location of a fire. The assumption here is that staff may need to take action to assist specific patients prior to the arrival of the FRS.

BS 5839-1 takes the view that the provision of accurate and unambiguous information about the location of a fire is best achieved using an addressable fire alarm system.

The specification for such a system may also need to identify specific requirements for the display and controls of a fire detection and alarm system in Residential Care Premises, to ensure that staff are able to access the fire location information swiftly. For example, there was a recent case where a fire occurred in a metal institution, where a control on a repeater panel had to be pressed to turn on the repeater display. Staff were not sufficiently aware, or trained, in the use of the equipment and as a result undertook a search for the fire, rather than go straight to the room in question, resulting in the death of the patient due, in part, to the additional delay.

BS 5839-1 does not go into the details of the type of displays that would be appropriate for staff in such premises, but in clause 4, Need for a fire detection and fire alarm system and type of system, it states that the fire alarm system should be addressable, for premises for more than 10 people. In the commentary it explains the need for accurate and unambiguous information of the location of the fire and the need for staff to potentially assist in the evacuation of patients.

In considering the difference between an addressable fire detection and alarm system with a non-addressable system, the non-addressable system generally operates much faster, but the addressable system identifies the location of the fire with more precision and many systems incorporate a display which allows clear text location information. It is possible to compensate for the lack of precision of non-addressable systems by the use of smaller zones, or the use of remote indicators. However, this requires a specialist design activity at the specification stage and, it is likely that the resultant system, would be more expensive due to the additional equipment and wiring required.

Addressable systems will generally not require any additional equipment, unless a special display is needed and this may be accommodated by the careful selection of the control and indicating equipment. This may result in restricting the choice of system to one or two specific manufacturers.

With respect to the speed of response, a non-addressable system will generally respond within less than a second, after the operation of the fire detector and system outputs will often activate at the same time that the CIE displays the fire indication. Addressable systems, that comply with BS 5839-1, will only add up to three seconds to the response time for a manual call point and potentially up to ten seconds to the response time from a fire detector. The ten second delay is allowed in BSEN 54-2, so most manufacturers will design their systems’ polling times around this figure.

Therefore, in real terms the response time of an addressable system is insignificant with respect to the display of information and the sounding of the alarm. The advantage of precise and unambiguous information can therefore be used to minimise the search time for staff responding to the fire event.

The arrival time of the FRS is likely to be dependant on the travel time from the FRS premises to the residential care premises, rather than any delays to the calling signal or the response time of the fire alarm system.

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ARC connection

In most cases with residential care premises, or hospitals, it is advantageous to patients’ well-being, to not evacuate them from the building in the case of a fire, or a false alarm.

Alerting staff of the fire, allows them to take immediate action to move patients at risk from the location of the fire, to a safer location that is reasonably near to the fire. The next priority, is to ensure that the FRS arrive as soon as possible to deal with the fire. In such situations time is critical.

Therefore, in the case of hospitals and residential care premises it is necessary to have an effect method of summoning the FRS. In the case of hospitals this might be via a connection to an ARC, or it might be by a telephone call over the public network. Hospitals will often have sufficient staff that one or more reception staff are able to make that call.

Many residential care premises, will be considerably smaller than a typical hospital and while such establishments may have reception staff, it is considered advantageous to use an automatic system to summons the FRS. This will generally be an automatic signalling system to an ARC and the ARC staff will then call the FRS over the public telephone system, to pass on the alarm message.

BS 5839-1 therefore recommends that an automatic connection to an ARC is provided in the case of a residential care premises.

In BS 5839-1, there are further recommendations to not delay the sending of the fire signal to the ARC, if the fire alarm system operates a staff alarm, even if the general alarm signal is delayed pending a local investigation.

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Staff Alarms

BS 5839-1:2017 clause 19 deals with Staged fire alarms - that is a system where it is determined that more than one stage is necessary for the fire alarm in the protected premises.

Clause 19.2.2 deals specifically with Staff Alarms and recommends that staff alarms should only be used where staff are sufficient in number and are fully trained in the action they should take in the event of fire.

19.2.2 b) allows the general alarm signal to be delayed in residential care premises, provided that all staff are made aware of the fire signal. It recommends that there is no delay in summoning the FRS.

This recommendation is based on coroner’s recommendations, where multiple deaths have occurred due, in part, to the delay in summoning the FRS. Therefore the recommendation in BS 5839-1 is that there should be no delay, giving the FRS the maximum amount of time available after the activation of the fire alarm system.

Staff alarms are generally activated in response to signals from automatic fire detectors, but not in response to signals from manual call points, heat detectors or sprinklers. Where it is considered necessary to activate a staff alarm in response to a signal from a manual call point, the person activating the call point, should not be left in doubt that the system has responded and this is usually achieved by the provision of a visual indicator on the call point, which activates immediately.

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Activation of door release mechanisms

Held open fire doors and electronically locked security doors, are generally released in the event of the activation of the fire alarm.  In the case of residential care premises, there is a need to consider the potentially conflicting requirements of accessibility, safety and security.

Fire doors are generally held open for convenience or accessibility, but in the event of fire, they are released to close, to restrict the potential movement of smoke. This would normally be done immediately smoke is detected, rather than to wait for the fire signal to be confirmed, to ensure that the risk of smoke spread is minimised.

In residential care premises where frail or elderly occupants may be present, there is a risk that the occupants might be injured by the closing door. In such situations there may be a need to use a warning signal, in the event of testing the door mechanisms and not delaying the general fire alarm, so as to provide audible warning that the doors are closing.

Where the self-closing mechanism might hinder accessibility, it may be necessary to consider a powered door opening mechanism, particularly on bedroom doors, or doors leading onto a common escape route.

In the case of electrically locked security doors, they are generally released (unlocked) in the event of fire, or using a manual control. Typically red manual call points are provided adjacent to exit doors to activate the fire alarm and release the doors via the fire alarm system; whereas, green manual call points are provided to unlock the doors without the activation of the fire alarm. A push button would be provided to unlock the door momentarily.

Where patients suffering from dementia, might be exposed to risk of harm from falling down stairs, or leaving the premises without appropriate supervision, BS 7273-4 allows the door release controls to be mounted at a high level, where they would be less obvious to the patients. The normally recommended mounting height is 1.2m above the floor.

There is still a necessity to comply with safety from fire regulations, so the locked doors would be required to release on the activation of the fire alarm, but there might then need to be staff procedures to ensure that patients remain safe while the fire is investigated. A security alarm signal on the opening of a final exit door might assist in this, i.e. the release of the door lock is activated by the fire alarm signal, but the door is mechanically held closed by a door closure mechanism and the security alarm activates if the door is opened in the fire condition.

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