A House in Multiple Occupation (or a HMO) refers to a property that is shared by three or more tenants who aren't members of the same family. HMOs can include bed and breakfasts, nursing homes, hotels, student houses and even blocks of flats. Due to the shared nature of these buildings and the greater number of occupants, HMOs have an increased fire risk. This increased risk is due to multiple fires, ovens and heaters being used in the building and as these buildings tend to be older, they often suffer from poor construction or outdated fire alarm systems.

When lots of people live in one place such as a block of flats, lack of fire prevention measures can come from people not being aware of who is responsible for them or who to report potential risks to. The news recently has been littered with stories of fires in HMOs including a fire at the Grafton Hotel in Manchester, a nursing home fire in Plymouth which took 35 fire fighters to extinguish and in August a London hostel in South Kensington went up in flames.

Thankfully no one was killed in these fires but these are just a handful of examples of the high fire risk in HMOs becoming a reality If you own, manage or are a designated fire officer for a HMO then you need to be sure that you are aware of your responsibilities and that the people in the building are protected from fire. If you live in a HMO, then you need to be aware of who has responsibility for the HMO fire safety and who you should report problems to. If you are the person responsible then you need to make sure you are covering the points below...

* Install a twin fire alarm system. These are similar to a conventional system as they have detection zones but you can add extra sounders to the detection circuit. This means that you wont have the expense of having to wire additional sounder circuits. The sounders are situated in each fire detector which ensures that any room with a combined fire detector sounder will always meet the 75 dBA sound level required for HMOs. With a twin fire alarm system all residents will be alerted by the alarm in an emergency situation.

* Complete a fire risk assessment and note the fire risks in the common areas such as hallways, exits and any shared kitchens or living spaces. If people are storing bikes in hallways or leaving suitcases in hotel foyers for example then by simply ensuring people move these, you will increase the HMO fire safety.

* Check escape routes are clear and that there are sufficient fire doors in hallways and stairs which can create protected routes to safety and also slow down any fires from spreading. Marking these escape routes with lights and signs is particularly important for hotel fire safety as escape routes in large hotels with many rooms and corridors can be confusing.

* Putting up simple signs and notices is sometimes all it takes for people to do their part in fire prevention. Hotel fire safety can include escape route details and fire meeting points in all hotel rooms so guests are aware of what to do in an emergency.

* Having accessible fire fighting equipment such as fire blankets and extinguishers will increase HMO fire safety, especially in shared kitchens. The quickest and simplest way to increase your HMO fire safety is to invest in a fire alarm system or to update your existing fire alarm system. If your fire alarms need updating then ask Assured Fire and Safety about our twin fire alarm systems today. Assured can also complete full fire risk assessments for you to ensure your building meets the necessary requirements.