Fire Safety - The Palace Hotel, Buxton

Guest Fire Safety Review, Palace Hotel Palace Road, Buxton, SK17 6AG Alan Cox 14th April 2019

Alan Cox 14th April 2019

Guest Fire Safety Review, Palace Hotel, Palace Road, Buxton, SK17 6AG The examples contained in this report are items of poor fire safety that I consider do not meet current day fire safety standards that were observed during my stay from the 5th to the 7th April 2019

Fire Risk Assessment This building is subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The Fire Safety Order places the emphasis on risk reduction and fire prevention.

Under the Order, people responsible for commercial buildings i.e. the employer, owner, or any other person who has control of any part of the premises, are required to carry out a mandatory detailed fire risk assessment identifying the risks and hazards in the premises. The risk assessment must be recorded if you have a total of five or more employees. The responsible person for the premises is also required to: •

Consider who may be especially at risk.

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Eliminate or reduce the risk from fire as far as is reasonably practical and provide general fire precautions to deal with any risk.

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Take additional measures to ensure fire safety where flammable or explosive materials are used or stored.

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Create a plan to deal with any emergency and where necessary record any findings.

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Maintain general fire precautions, and facilities provided for use by firefighters.

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Keep any findings of the risk assessment under review.

Guest Fire Safety Review, Palace Hotel, Palace Road, Buxton, SK17 6AG"1

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW It’s important to know that fire certificates are no longer issued and existing certificates are no longer valid. A fire certificate however, may be a good starting point for a fire risk assessment.

Comments This report only deals with common areas of the building that I had access to as a guest and does not include staff or private areas except where there were designated fire escape routes. It is not intended to be used as a Fire Risk Assessment but may form part of the assessment.

Fire spread in historic buildings is often very quick and difficult to control and whilst life safety must be the first priority the historic value of the building should also be considered. Whilst automatic fire detection can play a key role in detecting a fire it cannot stop the spread of fire and this is why maintaining good fire compartmentation is vital in stopping the spread of fire especially in buildings of traditional construction.

Whilst there appears to have been some attempt to maintain fire compartmentation in areas of easy access this does not appear to have been extended to areas like false ceilings and basements. There also appears to be a lack of maintenance on fire/smoke resisting door-sets and these will also play a key role in preventing the spread of fire between compartments.

Reference • Your attention is brought to this document Fire Risk Management in Historic Heritage Buildings https://issuu.com/hspubs/docs/tan-22---firerisk-management-in-heritage-building that gives good advice on improving fire safety.

• This guide is a good starting point to illustrate what your responsibilities are :https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-riskassessment-sleeping-accommodation • This document is another useful reference: • http://cfpa-e.eu/wp-content/uploads/files/guidelines/ CFPA_E_Guideline_No_30_2013_F.pdf

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1.Means of Escape and Fire Separation a) Many of the existing fire resisting doors have key holes that downgrade the fire resistance of the doors and these should infilled to achieve a similar fire resistance to the door.

b) A large number of fire resisting self closing fire doors have damaged fire and smoke seals or do not close effectively and these should be repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

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c) Fire resisting doors preventing from closing by hasp and staple.

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d) Fire doors not kept closed - the one on the right is very worrying because it separated the basement from an escape stair.

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW e) Gaps in fire resisting doors

f) Fire resisting doors with no fire/smoke seals and part of door removed.

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW g) Poor fire stopping - above and below false ceiling/around upgraded fire resisting door.

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW h) Poorly fitting fire resisting doors.

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW i) Poor fire stopping

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW 2. Fire Fighting Equipment Stop valve removed from hose reel.

Recommendations a) The identification, evaluation, upgrading and repair of fire resisting doors is a specialised job and I would recommend that an approved inspector of the FDIS scheme is consulted. Where existing doors have been upgraded by the addition of a fire resisting material these also need expert evaluation to assess the standard of fire resistance. https://fdis.co.uk Please note that I have no connection with this organisation b) Fire stopping is also a very specialised job and you are advised to use a member of ASFP http://asfp.org.uk Please note that I have no connection with this organisation.

GUEST FIRE SAFETY REVIEW c) This is a fairly complex building both for guests and for fire fighting and it is recommended that you consider the provision of fire safety plans to be exhibited in key locations of the hotel see https://www.means-of-escape.com/content/alan-cox-discusses-planninghotel-fire-safety-sponsored-firecad Please note that I have no connection with the sponsor for this article.

This review is issued in the interests of public safety and for the information of the “responsible person” together with the fire and rescue service. It is not intended to have covered all areas of the premises only those that are classed as public areas.

Alan Cox 81, Whitehouse Crescent Sutton Coldfield West Mids B75 6ES Tel: 07808 988868 Email: alanfcox@gmail.com