What are the proposed changes to BS 5839-1?

BSI are inviting comment on the draft of BS 5839-1, the Code of Practice for the Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems for non-domestic premises.

Proposed Changes within BS5839-1

In the light of a number of fatal fires, the following variations are to be considered unacceptable:

• the absence of a zone plan in premises in which there is more than one zone on any storey, particularly in premises in which people sleep
• the absence of a facility for transmission of fire signals to an ARC in a residential care home, or in supported housing in which the facility is necessary to meet the recommendations of BS5839-6

The changes to BS5839-1 also recommended that, in rooms in which people sleep, preference is given to forms of automatic fire detection other than heat detectors.

The siting recommendations for manual call points in multi-storey buildings with phased evacuation, in which only a limited number of floors are evacuated at one time, have been simplified (“the manual call points should be sited only within the accomodation”).

There are also new recommendations on modifications and extensions of fire detection and fire alarm systems.

The public comment period for BS5839-1 ends on the 16th April 2024. Comment may be submitted via the BSI standards development web portal at: https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/Projects/2023-00932#/section