Tudor House, Kingsway Business Park Oldfield Road, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 2HD Phone: +44 (0)20 3166 5002 Website: www.fia.uk.com EQUALITY ACT 2010 1. INTRODUCTION This Fact File aims to highlight some of the possible effects of the Equality Act on fire alarm and detection systems. This Fact File supersedes Fact File 18 which has now been withdrawn. Although much is written regarding the Equality Act (and its predecessor, the Disability Discrimination Act) as well as related documents, there is little in the way of prescriptive detail and much is based on what is considered reasonable. Thus many solutions may be acceptable for any particular situation. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has a statutory remit to promote and monitor human rights and to protect, enforce and promote equality across the nine protected grounds, one of which is disability. 2. THE EQUALITY ACT 2010 The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. It provides legal rights for disabled people in the areas of: Employment Education Access to goods, services and facilities, including larger private clubs and land-based transport services Buying and renting land or property Functions of public bodies, for example the issuing of licences 3. DEFINITION OF DISABILITY Under the Equality Act, a person has a disability if: They have a physical or mental impairment The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities Fact File No 0052 For the purpose of the Act: Substantial means more than minor or trivial Long-term means that the effect of the impairment has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 12 months (there are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions) Normal day-to-day activities include things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping
It should be noted that a tendency to set fires is excluded from the definition of disability, as is addiction to non-prescribed substances. 4. WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION? The following are defined types of illegal discrimination: Age The Act protects employees of all ages but remains the only protected characteristic that allows employers to justify direct discrimination, i.e. if an employer can demonstrate that to apply different treatment because of someone's age constitutes a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate aim, then no discrimination will have taken place. The Act continues to allow employers to have a default retirement age of 65, as long as the default retirement age remains. Disability The Act includes a new protection arising from disability and now states that it is unfair to treat a disabled person unfavourably because of something connected with a disability. An example provided is the tendency to make spelling mistakes arising from dyslexia. Also, indirect discrimination now covers disabled people which means that a job applicant could claim that a particular rule or requirement disadvantages people with that disability. The Act includes a new provision which makes it unlawful, with limited exceptions, for employers to ask about a candidate's health before offering them work Gender reassignment It is discriminatory to treat people who propose to start to or have completed a process to change their gender less favourably, for example, because they are absent from work for this reason. Marriage and civil partnership The Act continues to protect employees who are married or in a civil partnership. Single people are however not protected by the legislation against discrimination. Pregnancy and maternity The Act continues to protect women against discrimination because they are pregnant or have given birth. Race The Act continues to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of their race, which includes colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin. Religion or belief The Act continues to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of their religion or their belief, including a lack of any belief. Sex The Act continues to protect both men and women against discrimination on the grounds of their sex. Sexual orientation
The Act continues to protect bisexual, gay, heterosexual and lesbian people from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation. 5. DOCUMENTS Although this Fact File is concerned with the Equality Act, there are other related documents that have a bearing on the way fire detection and alarm systems are affected by the act. These include: Approved Document M under the Building Regulations in England and Wales Section 4 of the Non-Domestic and Domestic Technical Handbooks that support the Building (Scotland) Regulations. Technical Booklet R under the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. Note: Guidance documents that support building regulations are intended to provide guidance for some of the more common building situations. However, there may well be alternative ways of achieving compliance with the requirements. Thus there is no obligation to adopt any particular solution contained in the guidance if you prefer to meet the relevant requirement in some other way. BS 5839-1:2002. Fire detection and Alarm systems for buildings Part 1: Code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance. BS 8300:2009.Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people. Code of practice. 6. HOW MAY FIRE DETECTION AND ALARM SYSTEMS BE AFFECTED? FD&A systems are likely to be affected where they interface with the public, that is: The provision and siting of manual call points The methods by which an alarm is annunciated Features that may be controlled by the fire system along escape routes such as automatic door closers or route signage Communications systems for disabled people in refuges (known in Scotland as temporary waiting spaces ) 6.1 Manual call points are not specifically mentioned in the Equality Act, but guidance is given in section 20 of BS 5839-1 where a significant proportion of the occupants have limited mobility. In particular, clauses 20.2(e) and 20.2(h) refer to areas where a reduction in travel distance and a small reduction in mounting height may help the disabled, where mobility may be reduced. In the majority of public areas there is unlikely to be a need to deviate from the normal distribution of call points as there will be able bodied people who can operate a call point and assist those less mobile. However, account should be taken of the recommendations of 20.2(h) to mount the call point in well illuminated positions on a contrasting background, as this will assist the partially sighted. Similar consideration may be required for green call points used to release electrically locked doors. 6.2 Alarm Annunciation There are situations where alarm sounders should be supplemented by visual alarm devices. For example, in England and Wales, Approved Document M advises that, for compliance with the Building Regulations, bedrooms and sanitary accommodation should have a visual alarm signal.
The 2001 version of BS 8300 was used as the base Standard for many of the recommendations in Approved Document M, and it stated: Consideration should be given to the installation of alarm/alerting systems for people with impaired hearing, such as flashing visual alarm devices and vibrating devices, for use in conjunction with proprietary or conventional systems. Note 1: These devices can take the form of wearable paging units, pillow vibrating units or under-mattress pads designed to wake a person from sleep. Note 2: Certain frequencies in flashing/stroboscopic light systems can cause confusion, disorientation, and in some people epileptic fits. BS 5839-1 section 18 specifically deals with Fire alarm warnings alarms for people with impaired hearing, while section 17 covers the use of Visual alarm signals. Although visual alarm devices are mentioned, they are not the only alarm devices that may be employed. BS 5839-1 18.2.1 allows for tactile alarms, whether fixed moveable or portable. Portable devices are those that may be carried on the person and can use radio, induction loop or infrared technology. They should however be considered as a supplement to the primary means of giving an alarm. Where visual alarm devices are installed in sleeping accommodation, they are not suitable for waking sleeping persons, for whom the tactile devices described above should be used. 6.3 Fire Doors Fire doors are also covered in Approved Document M, which states that: Internal doors will satisfy requirement M1 or M2 if: fire doors, particularly those in corridors, are held open with an electro-magnetic device, but selfclose: when: - activated by smoke detectors linked to the door individually, or to a main fire/smoke alarm system - the power supply fails - activated by a hand-operated switch These requirements should be normal fire alarm practice for units which use magnetically operated door retainers, but may require the provision of a push-to-release switch if one is not incorporated in the retainer itself. It should also be noted that BS 7273-4 sets out more onerous recommendations for the provision of automatic fire detection where there are held-open fire doors. Compliance with BS 7273-4 is necessary for compliance with BS 5839-1. 7. Frequently asked Questions 7.1 What devices can be installed to meet the requirements of the Equality Act? The Equality Act itself requires that reasonable adjustments are made to accommodate disabled persons. How this is achieved will depend on the type of building and its use. For compliance with building regulations, visual alarm devices are likely to be necessary in at least a proportion of bedrooms (particularly those designed to accommodate disabled people) and in sanitary accommodation. BS 8300 recommends the use of additional flashing visual alarm devices and vibrating devices.
Currently the additional visual alarm devices can either be a separate visual alarm device, or a combined sounder/visual alarm device which some manufacturers supply. 7.2 Should visual alarm devices be installed throughout the premises? As mentioned earlier, the Equality Act itself requires only reasonable adjustments. BS 8300 and guidance that supports building regulations only advocates that additional visual alarm devices be installed in specific areas, such as kitchens, toilets and bedrooms. There is no set requirement to install them throughout any premises. The decision to do so should be taken after a risk assessment is carried or at the request of the client. 7.3 What spacings should be used when installing the additional visual alarm devices? In the absence of any UK Standards, we suggest you seek the advice of the manufacturer. However, at the time of drafting this Fact File, a Loss Prevention Standard is in the advanced course of preparation by the Loss Prevention Certification Board. 7.4 How bright should the additional devices be? BS EN 54-23 is the Standard for visual alarm devices, and it specifies light outputs. The new LPCB Loss Prevention Standard is based on devices conforming to BS EN 54-23. 7.5 Visual alarm devices in sleeping accommodation As noted above, it is important to understand that visual alarm devices in bedrooms are not intended to wake people who are asleep. It is recommended that, for deaf and hard of hearing people, the visual alarm devices in bedrooms should be supplemented by additional means of waking these people, such as a vibrating device. DISCLAIMER The information set out in this document is believed to be correct in the light of information currently available but it is not guaranteed and neither the Fire Industry Association nor its officers can accept any responsibility in respect of the contents or any events arising from use of the information contained within this document.