Gloucester restaurant owner fined for fire safety breaches

The owner of The Connoisseur Tandoori Restaurant, Abdul Hamid Choudhury, pleaded guilty to ten charges at Gloucester Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 were brought to the attention of the fire service whilst they attended a fire at the property in the accommodation that was situated above the restaurant in November 2009.

Mr Choudhury was fined £2,900 in addition to costs of £1,500 and a victim surcharge of £15. The offences for which he was found guilty ranged from a kitchen that was sited in an escape route, failure to have fire resistant doors installed and the failure to have smoke alarms fitted. It was also found that workers at the restaurant had not been given any fire safety training.

Red the full story: www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/safety-breaches/story-12811891-detail/story.html

Briton Door Closers

One of our key fire safety suppliers is Briton, a renowned manufacturer of quality door closers. The Briton overhead door closer range provides door closing solutions to suit all projects, door applications and budgets.  From the simplicity of a mechanical non-fire door closer for basic functionality, to a microprocessor controlled low energy operator for special applications e.g for doors required to satisfy Part M of the Building Regulations, there are Briton products to meet your needs.

The Briton 121CE compact overhead door closer is suitable for the most popular door sizes.  It has all the characteristics of performance, durability, functionality and quality that specifiers and users have come to expect from a Briton door control.

  • Low usage: 2,000 -15,000 cycles/a
  • Fixed strength size 3

The Briton 1100 series trimplate closers are designed to provide a mid-range product with choice of the most popular options, in a concise, cost effective package.

  • Medium usage: 5,000 -25,000 cycles/a
  • Adjustable strength sizes 2-4

The 2000 series offers adjustable and fixed power sizes providing a comprehensive package of solutions to suit the most popular door sizes.

The Briton 2003V was designed to help you meet the requirements of BS8300:2001 for DDA use, it has variable power allowing easy on-site adjustment to meet both access and fire requirements.  As well as making access easier for all users, it has all the benefits you have come to expect from the Briton 2003 – reliability, ease of installation and full certification.   Further enhancements have been made for this upgrade and the Briton 2003V features both adjustable back check and the award winning Accufit installation system as standard. A closer will only perform correctly if it is fitted correctly, so ensuring accurate installation is essential to meeting the requirements of any legislation.

  • High usage: 100,000 -1,500,000 cycles/a
  • Adjustable strength sizes 1-4

A recent addition to the range is the Briton 2700 series, a precision manufactured cam-action slide channel closer, in a compact, overhead, surface fixed unit. Providing exceptional ease of use by reducing the resistance encountered when opening the door, the Briton 2700 Series bridges the gap between the requirements for fire and smoke control and ease of operation required for accessibility.  As with the 2003V the 2700 door closer comes with the Accufit installation system to ensure correct fitting.

Briton Electromagnetic Door Controls

Linked to the building’s alarm system, electromagnetic door controls eliminate the illegal practice of wedging doors open.  This dangerous practice prevents a fire door functioning as it should in stopping the spread of flames and smoke in the event of a fire.

The Briton 996 Series is a range of fixed power closers with an integrated electromagnetic hold open mechanism. When connected to the building fire alarm or detection system each unit can be set to either ‘hold-open’ or ‘swing-free’ operation. In either case the power of the closer can be temporarily disabled to allow free passage. When de-activated, the electromagnet disengages and the door closer closes the door in the normal manner to maintain fire safety.

The new Briton 1130B.TE has been designed to hold the door open during normal use whilst connected to the building fire alarm or smoke detection system having an electromagnet in the slide track. On sounding of the fire alarm, or in the event of a power failure, the electromagnet will be deactivated and the door will close in the normal controlled manner.

Lorry blaze involves 24 tonnes of cheese

A lorry, traveling along the A359 in Somerset, caught fire last week causing the load of 24 tonnes of cheese to be lost in the blaze.

The fire is suspected to have been caused by a fault on the lorry. The driver was on his way to have the fault repaired at a garage at the time of the blaze.

Four fire crews attended the blaze and the A359 at Galhampton Hill was closed for several hours.

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