robbed whilst working at a clients home

adonis

It might be a good idea for the op to invest in a pressure mat or door wedge alarm to avoid this happening again.

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

With any luck the thief will have been knocked down in his/her attempt to escape - karma and all that

Good luck to you and shame on some posters posting absolute rubbish

Greatgimp

Personally, green tree, it was your own fault because you never set up a mine field and machine gun post by the gate. How irresponsible of you!

withabix

TotallyBroke wrote: »

To Withabix
I'm not sure you are correct there but I will find out from the fire brigade to confirm this.
A fire door is there to stop oxygen from getting into a space where a fire is happening and therefore allowing the fire to continue. It will help to suffocate the fire of oxygen. A fire will move in the direction of two of the main elements. Fuel and oxygen, therefore if a fire door is open with new oxygen feeding the building then it will head towards that open escape route.

I believe and again I will check this through a fire safety assessor, is that the only time a fire door can be kept open is by a magnetic release. The type they use in hospitals, because once the alarm is activated then all magnetic strips release the doors so they can be closed to restrict the spread of fire.

In this particular scenario there is an area that is high on the potential fire risk. There are electrical appliances followed by considerable amounts of heat, there are textile fabrics and also an open fire escape allowing oxygen in. By leaving the door open they are allowing the three elements to work together and possibly create a fire. The fact that staff are not there in the area all the time (hence why bag and keys were stolen unnoticed) makes me wonder how far the fire could take hold before the alarms went off. A serious health & safety/fire breach can cost the individual (the person that wedged open the door) £10,000.

If this was the case, you wouldn't be able to leave the external doors of ANY occupied buildings open.

Supermarkets
Department stores
Offices
Hospitals
Factories
Workshops

etc

You appear to be confusing internal fire doors with external fire exits.

The magnetic catch system used on fire doors in high occupancy/high traffic buildings is to enable their automatic closure when triggered by fire alarm systems. This is to act as a fire break and NOT to cut off the supply of oxygen to a fire.

ben500

withabix wrote: »

If this was the case, you wouldn't be able to leave the external doors of ANY occupied buildings open.

Supermarkets
Department stores
Offices
Hospitals
Factories
Workshops

etc

You appear to be confusing internal fire doors with external fire exits.

The magnetic catch system used on fire doors in high occupancy/high traffic buildings is to enable their automatic closure when triggered by fire alarm systems. This is to act as a fire break and NOT to cut off the supply of oxygen to a fire.

IIRC it is an offence to prop ANY fire door open, the problem with propping a door open is that it may be done in such a way as to hinder the escape of occupants in an emergency situation and this is the reason why the rule applies to external as well as internal, this may have changed and feel free to reference anything to the contrary.

ben500

Greatgimp wrote: »

Personally, green tree, it was your own fault because you never set up a mine field and machine gun post by the gate. How irresponsible of you!

I have to correct you on this point, the setting up of mine fields is prohibited under European human rights legislation, on the basis that whilst it could be considered to be just that an intruder is apprehended and brought to justice, that the severing of limbs is not necessary to facilitate this process and is considered undue punishment in the absence of conviction. Machine gun posts are not permitted outside of a militarized zone. So please get your facts right before posting such misleading statements. :rotfl::rotfl:

ben500

Just for the record there is was a precedent set, I don't remember the case reference details hopefully someone else can post a link, whereby the ombudsman ruled that a policyholder cannot be penalised or the claim repudiated for being stupid (personal lines claim ). Not that I am accusing the op of that but just pointing out that the ruling was made and in the event that someone acts in ignorance and suffers a loss that they cannot be treated as if they had acted recklessly and without regard to risk.

withabix

ben500 wrote: »

IIRC it is an offence to prop ANY fire door open, the problem with propping a door open is that it may be done in such a way as to hinder the escape of occupants in an emergency situation and this is the reason why the rule applies to external as well as internal, this may have changed and feel free to reference anything to the contrary.

Almost any external fire exit door can legally be left in the open position, provided that the means of holding the door open does not obstruct the exit route.

Virtually the only exception to this is a fire exit which opens onto the ground area footprint or intermediate landing of an external escape staircase.

Thus, a heavy object or door stop can be used to prop the door open, providing that it does not obstruct the width of the door opening or the exit route. This is also why fire exit doors must open more than 90 degrees, so that the door hardware and anything holding the door open do not reduce the width of the exit or snag on clothing etc and also to reduce the likelihood and effect of the door rebounding and hitting the person who has just opened it in a hurry.

Fire extinguishers cannot be used to prop a door open, as, in doing so, the fire extinguisher must have been removed from it's signed storage position, which is illegal.

dubsey

I have been back into work today to collect my pay slip (I gave in my notice and my last day was Wednesday) and had a look at the door in question - my bad, it's NOT fire door, just an external exit. It's the one the delivery guys use to collect and deliver laundry so it can be open quite a lot throughout the day.

Although - on the point of fire safety or training, what exactly is that? I was told if there is a fire take all the paperwork outside over by that tree and wait. End of training. The building alarm went off one evening (someone had opened the fire exit upstairs to have a sneaky smoke) and I had no idea at all of how to turn it off. The disabled rooms have panic alarms in them and I had never been shown how to use them, turn them off or what to do in the case of such an emergency. That's one of many many things we receive no training on. So, no, I wouldn't want to stay in our hotel either. But we are part of a huge chain and I know they aren't all the same, it's simply down to the general manager we have and his lack of wanting to spend money on proper training.

Back to the OP, I wish you the best of luck with it.

pickledpink

Hope you advise any potential buyers about your neighbours!!!!!:j