Fire Safety - Use of Notice-Boards & Flyposting

Notice-boards
Communication with students via notice boards is traditional and popular.  However, open notice boards are vulnerable to arson.  A fire on a notice board can facilitate the rapid spread of flames and the production of a significant amount of smoke.  There have actually been two instances of  notice boards being set on fire in Birkbeck.  Therefore, our most critical escape routes  -  staircases and dead-end corridors must be maintained free of the fire hazard presented by open notice boards.   The following guidance should assist schools and departments to decide what kind of notice board they can have in various areas of  our buildings.

a) Prior to the installation of new notice boards in any corridor consult Birkbeck Health & Safety Services about suitability.  Requests to our carpenters will usually be referred to Health and Safety Services but the responsibility is that of the school or department.  Inappropriately placed notice boards have been removed.

b) Notice boards in stairwells, stairwell lobbies and dead ends must meet strict fire resistance criteria  i.e. they must be enclosed, lockable and built of class '0' fire resisting material - these are expensive!

c) Open notice boards in corridors with escape in two directions are allowable but must meet these criteria:
i)  The corridor has smoke detection in the section that is to be used for notice boards.
ii) The boards are located away from heaters / radiators.
iii) Only one side of the corridor is used for notice boards - and the other side is clear of obstructions. This avoids a fire crossing over to an opposite notice board
iv) The corridor is more than 1050mm wide at its narrowest point. This allows persons to get past in reasonable safety.
v) The board must be suitably managed - placing excessive amounts of material on boards may contribute to the seriousness of a fire and anyway, overloaded notice boards are not a useful way to display important material.  Untidy boards tend not to get read and are therefore self defeating so remove old material regularly.

 Fly-posting 
Sheets of A4 (and also decorative posters) stuck onto walls and doors can be unsightly and can also be arson fire risks. The following guidance should help but  check with Birkbeck Health & Safety Services if in doubt.
a)  No material other than essential College information, such as safety information, is allowed on  the walls and doors within high risk areas - staircases and dead end corridors.  If your office door is in a staircase or dead-end then you cannot have posters on it's door.
b) Informative and decorative posters are allowed on office doors other than as mentioned in (a) above but these should not spread to the walls of corridors. Any posters etc on walls are liable to prompt removal.
c) Some allowance is made for hirers' directional information for their delegates in two way routes but this is liable to be removed early if undated. 
d) All other fly-posted material found anywhere is liable to immediate removal.