Health and Safety
Taking care with materials, equipment and work procedures and dealing with hazards.
Fire safety
Smoke and toxic fumes – not the flames from house fires – generally cause fatalities. Fires from upholstery foam, bedding materials and plastics will smoulder and produce toxic gases but few flames, while fires from burning wood or cooking oil will produce hot, fierce flames.
The design process of a new house or alteration work must include fire safety consideration. This may include:
- installation of smoke alarms (mandatory)
- installing heat detectors
- specification of a domestic fire sprinkler system
- the selection and specification of furnishing and bedding materials to lower the potential fire hazard.
Heaters and other appliances
All appliances that burn gas, oil, solid fuel or any other combustible material must be installed to ensure that:
- the combustion process does not raise the temperature of any adjacent building element to a level where its performance is affected
- the accumulation of combustion gases within the building is avoided (see passive ventilation and mechanical ventilation).
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Smoke alarmsSpecifying and installing smoke alarms and installing domestic fire sprinkler systems.