What is the British standard of fire protection?

When it comes to fire safety in commercial premises, a lot of the regulations likely to affect you can be found in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. However, that’s not the end of the story, because many fire safety products and services also need to conform to British Standards. 

Below, you’ll find some of the key British Standards that apply to fire safety. It’s extremely important when engaging the services of any fire safety provider, whether they are supplying, installing or maintaining key elements of your fire safety system, that you check that they are complying with these standards in everything they do.

BS EN 54 – for fire alarm and fire detection systems. Different parts of the standard apply to different types of system or different components within one system. For instance, Part 3 applies to the sounders within fire alarms while Part 20 applies to aspirating smoke detectors.

BS 5839 – this also applies to fire alarm and fire detection systems, but specifically relating to the code of practice for their design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance in non-domestic premises.

BS 5306 – for fire extinguisher installations, covering everything from the minimum number of extinguishers needed per square metre to their maintenance and recharging.

BS EN 16763 – this specifies minimum requirements for fire safety service providers and those of their staff who are involved in the “planning, design, installation, commissioning, verification, handover or maintenance of fire safety systems”.

BS 9999 – this is a complex but very important series of standards that relate to fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings. Together, their goal is to achieve a “reasonable level of life safety” in the event of a fire in a building. 

BS 5499 – this covers fire safety signage, including for fire risks, escape routes and fire doors, although these are also covered by the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996.

BS EN 1634 & BS 476 – although there are individual standards for all the individual components and elements that go into a complete fire door, these are the standards that verify that all those components meet their own standards and that together the finished door has been tested for fire safety.

Meanwhile, there is a series of standards that cover the design, installation and maintenance of various fixed fire fighting systems, including:

• BS EN 12845: automatic sprinkler systems
• BS EN 13565: foam systems
• BS EN 14972: water mist systems
• BS EN 15004: gas extinguishing systems
• BS EN 16750: oxygen reduction systems

Although not governed by a British Standard, fire risk assessments are covered by what is known as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS), developed and published by the BSI (British Standards Institute). PAS 79 lays out a methodology for carrying out a fire risk assessment together with a format for recording the results.

Here at Scutum London, we are committed to providing only the very highest standards in all we do in the field of fire safety, from supplying only products that meet their relevant British Standards to carrying out installations and maintenance to approved levels.

Take a look at our comprehensive list of accreditations to discover how seriously we take ensuring that we remain compliant with all the latest certifications, licences and qualifications required to provide fire safety products and services.

If you’d like to know more, or you’d like to arrange for a free site visit to discuss your own commercial fire safety requirements, then please get in touch with the team at Scutum London now.