British Standards 5839-1 2002
In England, Scotland & Wales, the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (as amended) require that where necessary to safeguard employees in case of fire, workplaces must be equipped with appropriate fire detection and alarms; in premises that require a fire certificate under the Fire Precautions Act 1971, this Act also requires that premises are provided with adequate means of giving warning in the case of fire.
BS5839-1 2002 sets out the standards which fire alarm systems are recommended to comply with in order to support the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations. In October 2002, BS5839 was amended to also include recommendations for fire warning systems for hearing impaired people. Back in November 2000 Stephen Brown from Clarion Data Communications Ltd instigated a review of the original British Standards. Working with the On-Site Communications Association (OSCA) and numerous paging companies, it eventually concluded in C S Todd & Associates producing the information for the now released 2002 British Standard 5839-1. Previous to this there were no standards for the hearing impaired and many “self appointed” authorities operated within the market, resulting in numerous products sold and installed that were totally unsuitable for the application. The new British Standards includes a section dedicated purely to fire-warning systems for hearing impaired people. (Section 18).
Do Systems For The Hearing Impaired Have To Comply With BS5839 Standards?
From a strictly legal perspective, fire alarm systems for the deaf in smaller commercial premises do not have to comply with BS5839. However, non-compliance has a number of significant implications:
- Employers Liability Insurance
- Employers Duty of Care
Employers Liability insurance
Employers Liability insurance is a compulsory insurance policy which all employers must buy to protect themselves against, for example, employee claims for accident, injury or death whilst at work. In many cases, the protection of property with a BS5839 detection and alarm system permits insurance companies to offer reduced premiums. Failure to ensure that a modification to the alarm system continues to be compliant with BS5839 – for example, the installation of a fire alert system for the deaf, could result in a claim being rejected either partially or totally.
Employers Duty of Care
All employers have a duty of care towards their employees and with the regulations under the Disability Discrimination Act, they also have to demonstrate that they have extended this duty of care equally to disabled and able bodied persons. In our view, if it is necessary to provide an alarm system to BS5839 standards for able bodied employees, then it would be discriminatory to install an inferior system for the hearing impaired.
Differences between BS5839 Systems and Others
Despite these standards many leading companies in the market claim compliance, however simple investigations reveal that their systems fall seriously short of meeting the recommendations. If in any doubt; firstly ask for written confirmation and then investigate further. Clarion staff are happy to provide consultancy service free to assist you in these matters. In systems that do not meet the recommendations of BS5839, it is quite normal for the system not to have standby power supplies and/or self-monitoring facilities. The failure of the equipment is therefore never identified until an event occurs, resulting in no alarm and no communication to the deaf person. This failing is also identified during the periodic testing of the fire alarm. The in-operable equipment would place the company in a potentially serious discriminatory position.