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Scotland & Northern Ireland Regulations

YOUR GUIDE TO FIRE & CARBON MONOXIDE LEGISLATION IN SCOTLAND

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in London the Scottish Government announced new fire and safety standards to ensure all households including homeowners, private landlords and social housing are protected against fire and carbon monoxide.

From 1st February 2019 the new legislation requires all households to have at least:

One Smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes
One Smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
One Heat alarm installed in every kitchen
A Carbon monoxide alarm detector where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance such as boilers, fires (including open fires), heaters and stoves or a flue.

Homeowners who do not comply by February 2021 could be subject to comments about the properties non-compliance on any home report or receive an order from the relevant Local Authority requesting they bring the property up to standard. Housing associations whose properties are not compliant by the effective date will have the relevant action taken against them by the Scottish Housing Regulator.

Allowance has been made to permit tamper proof long-life lithium battery alarms to be installed or mains-operated alarms with battery backup. Regardless of the type installed all smoke and heat detectors must be interlinked and ceiling mounted.

It is the property owner’s responsibility to meet this new standard. Households with alarms already fitted will need to ensure that they are interlinked so they will be alerted immediately no matter where the fire starts.

YOUR GUIDE TO FIRE & CARBON MONOXIDE LEGISLATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland has Technical Booklet E: 2012 which has similar legislation as the building regulations BS 5839. It requires that all households should have at least:

One Smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes
One Smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
One Heat alarm installed in every kitchen
A Carbon monoxide alarm detector where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance such as boilers, fires (including open fires), heaters and stoves or a flue.

It is now law in Northern Ireland to fit a Carbon Monoxide alarm near any appliance that burns any type of fuel (gas, wood, oil or coal) except for a cooker. Typical installations include near the boiler and/or gas fireplace/multi-fuel burner.

At Hispec we have a range of fire and CO detection products that will meet these standards.

SMOKE ALARMS