Fire Safety - Do we need Emergency lighting in our Constrcution site cabins?

[TWDB]

Hi All,

Have a question on Fire Safety - and specifically the requirement or not to have Emergency lighting system in Construction Cabins

Are they required? is it dependent on duration the cabins are there? when to porta cabins become Permanent?

Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken

Any help as always appreciated

Thanks (Have a great XMAS all)

T

[Messy]

How long is a bit of string?

A single open plan portcabin office in a illuminated car park - probably not.

The same one used as a workshop, or inside a warehouse - probably yes

A 6 storey stack of 36 cabins in close proximity to a 24 storey building site - er, yes every time

[stephen1974]

I would have thought it comes down to - if it all goes pete tong can you see your way out. No? Then you need lighting.

[witsd]

I'm curious as to what you mean by "Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken"

I would have thought that these kind of judgement calls are exactly what an FRA is supposed to identify – weighing the potential benefit against the practicality of thing to do?

[bernicarey]

I'm curious as to what you mean by "Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken"

I would have thought that these kind of judgement calls are exactly what an FRA is supposed to identify – weighing the potential benefit against the practicality of thing to do?

My thoughts exactly.
The FRA should have given an assessment of the existing hazard level and the measures to mitigate that down to a more tolerable level.

As presented here, the question seems to be questioning the results of the FRA.

[witsd]

Yeah, I'm assuming that the FRA has come back with the recommendation to install the lighting, and someone has uttered the classic "Yes, but is it a legal requirement?"

[stephen1974]

Now now 'reasonably practicable' and all that... cost is a factor. The budget wont stretch to emergency light. All employees can have an emergency glow stick instead.

[bernicarey]

Hi All,

Have a question on Fire Safety - and specifically the requirement or not to have Emergency lighting system in Construction Cabins

Are they required? is it dependent on duration the cabins are there? when to porta cabins become Permanent?

Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken

Any help as always appreciated

Thanks (Have a great XMAS all)

T

More details required.

Is this a generic FRA of Cabins in general, or specific cabins on a specific site?

Sorry to sound a Pedant, but as Messy indicated, it's hard to give a professional opinion with only part of the story. The more details provided, the better the chance of a practical answer.

Had you not said "Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken" my answer would have been do a FRA!

At the moment it sounds like you've got an FRA and don't like the recommendations.
So who did the FRA?
Are they a suitable person?
If they are, then their opinion is the one you've paid for, so tough; suck it up and get on with their recommendations.
If you don't like the FRA recommendations, well then you have a problem.
Back to "Did you get it done by a suitable person?"

There's even a question as to the size of the cabin, the number of exits and the amount of furniture or other obstructions inside that might impede egress.

Back to my opening comment, 'More details required'.

[Essex]

If your FRA states that emergency lighting is required then it is required. It must then meet BS 5266.

I am guessing that your cabins are used during the hours of darkness and act as office like(?) so this would mean that emergency lighting is required. Also if you have fire extinguisers, first aid points, steps, exit signs or any other safety signs these all require illumination in the event of a power cut so again would need emergency lighting.

If the cabins are just for storage of materials and are more or less a cupboard then I would say the FRA is incorrectly advising you.

[hammer1]

I'm curious as to what you mean by "Question comes from a Fire Risk assessment undertaken"

I would have thought that these kind of judgement calls are exactly what an FRA is supposed to identify – weighing the potential benefit against the practicality of thing to do?

Exactly, so many times I see assessors raise a action with a question rather than a action plan, might as well do it yourself...

[witsd]

Yeah. Sure there are some situations where the assessor cannot possibly assess the cost of an action, in which case you really have to recommend that the company "considers doing X", but that certainly shouldn't be a go-to response for something as minor as fitting emergency lighting.