Commercial Part 1

The British standard for fire alarms in UK businesses is BS5839:part1:2017. The Fire safety Order 2005 requires businesses to provide adequate fire safety measures. All but the smallest workplaces generally require some kind of fire alarm system.

Fire alarms are designed to meet a specific category i.e.
(* MCP – Manual Call Points, AFD – Automatic Fire Detection)

LIFE PROTECTION CATEGORIES

Category	Activation Method	Alarm Devices (sounders)
M	MCP (Manual Call Point)	Throughout
ENHANCED M	AFD where specified +  MCP	Throughout
L4	MCP + AFD (Automatic Fire Detection) on escape routes and escape stairways only	Throughout
L3	MCP + AFD as L4 + AFD in rooms opening onto escape routes	Throughout
L2	MCP + AFD as L3 + AFD in other areas of high risk	Throughout
L1	MCP + AFD throughout	Throughout

 

PROPERTY PROTECTION CATEGORIES

Category	Activation Method	Alarm Devices
P1	AFD throughout	Where required
P1/M	AFD throughout +  MCP	Throughout
P2	AFD where specified	Where required
P2/M	AFD where specified +  MCP	Throughout

 

LIFE PROTECTION CATEGORY L5

Category	Activation Method	Alarm Devices
L5	AFD where specified	Throughout
L5/M	AFD where specified +  MCP	Throughout
For category L5, the person or organisation doing the specification or the risk assessment takes on the legal responsibility.For complex systems, this requires serious design ability, risk assessment procedures, knowledge of fire safety engineering and professional indemnity insurance.

 

The installation company should not choose the category of the system. You should provide the designer with your chsoen category (usually determined by your fire risk assessment). The designers job is to ensure the system  technically meets the prescribed category.

See this short video for a brief overview.

Commercial fire alarms require certification at the following stages: Design, Installation, Commissioning and Handover. Many electricians and unapproved contractors are simply unable to certificate these four modules.

The best way to ensure competence of a fire alarm company is via third-party certification such as the BAFE SP203 modular scheme.