Place of special fire hazard

The building regulations Approved Document B, ‘Fire safety’, suggests that 'places of special fire hazard' include:

• Oil-filled transformer rooms.
• Switch gear rooms.
• Boiler rooms.
• Storage spaces for fuel or other highly flammable substance(s).
• Rooms that house a fixed internal combustion engine.

Every place of special fire hazard should be enclosed with fire-resisting construction. Any such walls and floors are not compartment walls or compartment floors.

A protected lobby should be provided between an escape stairway and a place of special fire hazard. The lobby should have not less than 0.4m² permanent ventilation, or should be protected from the ingress of smoke by a mechanical smoke control system.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Approved document B.
• Approved documents.
• Building regulations.
• Compartmentation.
• Fire hazard.
• Fire resistance.
• Fire-separating element.
• Fire-stopping.
• Ventilation.