British B&Bs under fire
I am gathering evidence for a nation-wide discussion on Fire Regulations and B&Bs.
Just to whet your apppetites: a clutch of them are under immediate threat of closure unless they install, under pressure from their Fire Services, very sophisticated and expensive (£3-£8k) alarm systems that are linked to a computer screen. In fact, should this handful close the threat will then hang over thousands and thousands of them.I understand that one of the main purposes of the system is to reveal the source of the fire!
I suspect that institutional madness is gripping the Fire Services, as it grips those Councils who chop down good trees because they may pose a Health and Safety threat. (See previous blog). If a house, equipped with fire alarms, detectors, fire blankets etc, is unsafe for B&B guests it may well prove also to be unsafe for visiting grand-children. The logic is unstoppable.
Does anyone have views, experience, information? Please try to make it specific to Fire Regs and B&Bs! Thank you.
posted by Alastair @ 11:44 am
8 comments
8 Comments:
Sounds very worrying, as prospective B&B owners I'd love to know the full story.
Any more info and we'll post it on this blog. thanks for all your comments domestically challenged!
Oh, how have we survived as a race for many centuries without health and safety? How did we ever manage to leave our homes without the dead hand of the government over our heads, protecting us? I must say, however, that I find it admirable that people take chances and set up B&Bs and other such establishments considering the barrage of regulations running counter to their efforts. The worst of it is that I'm not surprised by this horror but I for one would gladly 'take a chance' and 'brave it' in a quaint cottage without all this equipment. Despite looking out for my welfare, this health and safety culture is fast eroding my state of mind!
Alastair -
We are now at http://the-eco-house.blogspot.com/
H
(AKA Domestically Challenged!)
Unfortunately, I have no concrete information to offer, but have strong views. We stayed at a lovely Sawday B&B recently where the fire officers had visited and ordered an extremely expensive makeover which sounded to us ridiculous. No one in our area has harrassed us in this way yet, but we dread the day when they will. I'm afraid that it would be our death knell. Running a B&B is for us something very personal. We open our home to potential friends - and it's quite true that Sawday people are a special breed. If these regulations come into force, I would hazard a guess that the B&B volume in the Special Places to Stay series would have to cease publication, as half the entries would cease to operate. This is particularly true of rambling old houses of character where following the new regulations would prove expensive. Fortunately, our place is compact, and almost cottagey. Yet implementing the new rules would probably be prohibitive. I hope that a campaign headed by a high-profile person like you, Alastair, might just do the trick. Let's not be wise after the event.
Nice to see! :)
There is an article in yesterdays Telegraph, page 22, by Rowan Pelling "The fate of our charming B&Bs lies in the hands of bureaucrats." It describes exactly what you are highlighting. A successful B&B under threat of immediate closure unless an elaborate system is installed forthwith.
Has anyone collated statistics on fatalities and injury through fire at B&Bs? I have had several attempts to find any, and so far have found none. Which is not to say accidents don't happen or statistics exist, but the problem must be extremely small. Larger establishments, hotels and guests-houses, already having to comply with legislation, have many incidents recorded however. B&Bs seem pretty safe places on the whole.
What with all the fire-fighting equipment, all our cats and dogs safely penned up outside, and all our guests having to register their every personal detail before being allowed in or out, our 'charming' premises will soon be resembling Gulag 23a, not so much 'Byde-a-wee' as 'DunTourism'.
I hear guests arriving - must away and don my hygenic mask and rubber gloves to frisk them for matches and lighters before they come in. Welcome!
Thank you for all your comments. Alastair is away at the moment far from the world of blogs, computers, emails and mobiles on a retreat in Mount Athos - one can only hope that the monastery is kitted out with a full set of fire doors and smoke alarms.....
If you would like to read Rowan Pelling's article as referenced by the rubber-gloved host, AmaryR, you can do so here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/06/04/do0404.xml
I will make sure that a serene Alastair reads all your comments when he gets back and he'll be delighted to see that his original posting has provoked such interest.
Post a Comment
<< Home