After a busy summer for the tourist industry, with the influx of travellers to the UK due to such events as the Olympics, two separate investigations demonstrate the importance of fire safety in hotels....
"Hotel Fire Doors Warning
On the day that a new programme on fire safety in hotels is to be broadcast by BBC One’s Inside Out programme, the Fire Door Inspection Scheme has revealed its own research into the state of hotel fire doors.
Neil Ashdown, general manager of the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) – a joint initiative of the BWF-Certifire Fire Door and Doorset Scheme and the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers – said:
“I did my own survey of about 20 local hotels earlier this year and saw for myself how low awareness was of the importance of fire door maintenance. Many hotel owners are frightened by how expensive they think maintenance will be. In reality, the moderate cost of a professional fire door inspection and maintenance regime is far outweighed by the benefits of ensuring a safe premises. It also makes financial sense, particularly in a recession, to ensure business continuity. If a bedroom, full corridor of rooms or a function room is out of action, then there is a cost implication to the hotel.” " ...cont
"Hotel Fire Risk Assessments
Was the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Determination on the need for intumescent seals on hotel doors an ‘open and shut’ case?
Fire Seals Association’s (IFSA) Technical Chairman responds to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) determination on the need for intumescent seals in a recent hotel inspection.
The Intumescent Fire Seals Association is, of course, disappointed by the recent publication of a Determination on the suitability and sufficiency of a fire risk assessment in a hotel in respect of the adequacy of the existing bedroom doors.
The determination concluded that a new Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) should be prepared for a hotel where no intumescent seals were fitted to the existing bedroom doors but, on this occasion, the absence of the seals should be recorded and justified.
This would apparently contradict the world-wide trend to fit such seals where legislators and researchers have recognised the assurances that such seals are able to provide in the event of a fire incident, ensuring that a small fire never has free rein over a property jeopardising the lives of many, rather than the few." ....cont
