Fire-rated General Access Stairs

Fire characteristics in Building Regulations are made up of two types, ‘Reaction to fire’ and ‘Fire resistance’.

In medium-rise buildings, the common flight stair may act as one of the routes of escape in the event of fire.  The implications of this for the safety of the occupants of the building and the emergency rescue services demand a higher level of accreditation.   In recent years it is recognised that appropriately certificated timber options has an increased role to play in applications of this nature

Scheme Requirements

As a consequence, in addition to the requirements for General Access (Common) Stairs, Members will need to achieve independent third-party certification of their Fire Protected General Access (Common) Stairs by the Scheme’s certification partner the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB)[1].

A company must meet the requirements of Level A (in the case of Single Occupancy) OR Level B (in the case of Multiple Occupancy), AND

Fire protection certification

The BWF Stair Scheme certification partner for fire protected stairs is BRE Global. Certification can be provided for stairs tested successfully to the method determined under project BD2569 commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

Guidance from the BWF on Fire Protected Staircases

Fire Performance of Escape Stairs Guidance Document: BD 2569: This is the guidance document to the final research report for the project ‘Fire Performance of Escape Stairs’ commissioned by Communities and Local Government and carried out by BRE