Control room evacuation routes

[karl]

I presume there are a couple of powder and CO2 extinguishers in there?

 

We've got CO2 extinguishers in the control room. When we use follow spots they are operated from the control room. Other than that there's the lighting desk, sound desk and sound computer plus two wall mounted electric heaters. None of these sit close to the door to the stairs so exiting the control room itself shouldn't be an issue.

 

Where are your dimmers?Are they in a rack room or (like ours) inside a cupboard inside the control space? I guess that in theory ours could go bang and block one exit ( spiral staircase to auditorium inside an enclosed spaceSo we would then use the door at the other end.

 

The dimmers live in enclosures under the stage so that's not an issue in this case. In the old days they did have the big resistive dimmers with levers and crank wheels in the control room and I believe it used to get like a sauna in there. Thankfully those days have long gone! The positive legacy is we do have a spacious control room.

 

As far as I know there's never been a formal assessment.

I really cannot believe that anywhere that has access by members of the public, especially entertainment venues, has never had a formal fire risk assessment. That's just mind blowing.

I'm talking about the control room specifically. I know the public areas, stage and dressing rooms have been assessed but the control room seems to have been glossed over. The control room seems to be a bit of a no-mans land, it's not counted as front of house but neither is it really thought of as back stage.

[Junior8]

The fact that the staircase has doors at both ends hints that it has not been overlooked as I mentioned earlier. The Yellow Book is very clear on the measures needed for single staircase escape routes.

[karl]

The fact that the staircase has doors at both ends hints that it has not been overlooked as I mentioned earlier. The Yellow Book is very clear on the measures needed for single staircase escape routes.

Possibly, although I suspect the layout and doors pre-date the Technical Standards by several decades.

[Jivemaster]

The doors may predate the book but if they satisfy the book then they are good.

[dbuckley]

Back in the days of carbon arc projectors / celluloid films etc

It was nitrate based films, which had a tendency to catch fire very dramatically and ruin a projectionist's day. The booth was engineered to have fireproof walls, two exists, both with fireproof doors, and the port glass openings to the auditorium had automatic metal covers, so the booth could (and would) burn, but the fire would be contained in the booth. The fireproofing was steel and asbestos.

 

Happily, nitrate film is very much in the rear view mirror. Less happily, all things film are pretty much in the rear view mirror.

[kerry davies]

I know the public areas, stage and dressing rooms have been assessed but the control room seems to have been glossed over.

That's the point at which I think I would start off with a whole new fire RA for the premises. If the person doing the RA can miss out the control room then two questions spring to mind;

1. Where and what else might they have missed? and

2. How competently did they do the bits they didn't miss?

 

Dealing with just the control room as a separate issue strikes me as maybe being a sticking plaster solution which might just come back to bite you. I would certainly change the whole RA philosophy since I believe that an RA that isn't active and organic isn't worth having.

[Jivemaster]

Do you have formal responsibility for the risk assessment? Have you read it in detail? Have you studied the listing documents in detail?

 

Listing trumps everything so you may have to work within the building and it's parts that you have. Be very careful about making changes from the status quo. It actually only takes English Heritage to sit down with you and the local fire service to close your venue because EH can block any changes to the listed building and the fire service can demand changes -you lose!