Fire alarm within public house with dwelling

[sonicyouth]

OK so while installing some cameras and aerials for a friend at their pub, I noticed some causes for concern...
It was refurbed last year before they took on the lease, I noticed the old detectors changed for fike twinflex (which im sure I read the panels arent EN54 anymore) anyway today I asked out of interest where the panel was as I had explored every room during cabling and hadnt seen it, as it turns out the detectors are dead, the pyro cable all goes back to some loose cable where a panel supposed to be, and has never been installed.
There is no detection in the living quarters, in the cellar, or in the pub kitchen, no MCPS anywhere at all, but obviously most worrying there is no actual panel, ive left a list of advisories to question the owner about as it seems someone just couldnt be bothered fitting the panel.
I cant give concrete answers because it seems no FRA has been carried out, ive no idea of any fire ratings of any materials doors ceilings etc but im confident in assuming a system is required with at least sounders upstairs in the flat, also of concern there is only one escape route from the flat which leads behind the bar and all the upstairs windows arent suitable for escape routes.
Would anyone know where liability lies or would this be dependant on contracts and lease? As it stands the owner has yet to give any written contract to them (its a free house), there are no certificiates, FRAs or anything to hand, theres also a major lack of any extinguishers.

Cowboy comes to mind?

 

[Richard Burns]

Quote from the HM guidance on FRA "Responsibility for complying with the Fire Safety Order 2005 rests with the ‘responsible person’. In a workplace, this is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, e.g. the occupier or owner. In all other premises the person or people in control of the premises will be responsible."

Effectively if FRA has not been carried out then you cannot proceed with the next steps as you will not know how to proceed or what precautions are required.
However in a public house it is unlikely that the building is sufficiently safe without a suitable means of alerting people to the presence of fire.
With a mixed use property this complicates matters and may require different methods of detection.
A single escape route should be via a protected exit.
There are too many issues to cover in a post but I think your friend needs to do a fire risk assessment as soon as possible and implement the findings.

 

[sonicyouth]

Thank you for your speedy reply, it seems the responsibility for this may lie with him rather than the owner /landlord then? Obviously it was let as a single purpose public house with living quarters last year

 

[FatAlan]

Does your mate sell any decent beer? Sounds like he's not tied in to a rip off chain.

 

[Richard Burns]

Thank you for your speedy reply, it seems the responsibility for this may lie with him rather than the owner /landlord then? Obviously it was let as a single purpose public house with living quarters last year

Because he is now in control of the building it is now partially his responsibility to complete a fire risk assessment. Though the owner of the building is also partially responsible.
Having said that because a fire risk assessment has been required since 2005 then it was the responsibility of someone else before that and should have been done earlier.
Then it would only be necessary to update the risk assessment.

 

[Wilko]

Apologies if it's already been said, but perhaps your mate should just ask for the previous fire risk assessment from the landlord. As Richard points out in #5 it's been a requirement for more than a decade. If there is one, it can be updated, and if there are blank looks then landlord maybe more inclined to contribute perhaps ?