I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

On 9 Apr, 20:27, "John" wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

Yep, stairs shouldn't be obstructed.
Particularly bad if the stand was flammable at all as the stairway
acts as a chimney.

On 9 Apr, 20:27, "John" wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

Yep, stairs shouldn't be obstructed.
Particularly bad if the stand was flammable at all as the stairway
acts as a chimney.

John wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?


Dunno. But I feel much the same almost every time I go shopping.

Most especially at Christmas when supermarkets plonk pallets full of
things blocking aisles. Evacuation in case of fire, for example, would
be pandemonium.

Must be a member of the PGA. (Pompous Gits Association)
--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

On 9 Apr, 20:27, "John" wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

No.
The correct procedure in such cases is to remove the products at the
bottom of the display causing the whole lot avalanche down the stairs.

In article ,
"John" writes:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

Right to tell a member of staff? Yes.

Right about it being a saftey issue? Can't tell without seeing it.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"John" wrote in message
...
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way
up a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?

I can only think of one absolute in the guidelines to the Regulations made
under the H&SW Act - the minimum height for a guard rail. Everything else is
couched in terms like sufficient or reasonable, so there it would be
impossible to say whether it was a hazard under the Act without seeing it.
However, it might well be hazard under fire safety regulations if the
staircase was an escape route - which it probably was. Drawing a potential
hazard to the attention of a member of staff is quite correct. Telling one
about it forcefully is, however, likely to be counter-productive.

Colin Bignell

John wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part
way up a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather
forcefully told a member of staff that it was wrong and should be
moved immediately! (pompous git)

Was I right?

I was in W H Smith last week & saw a display of Feng Shui books. I
complained that they were in the wrong place & facing the wrong way.

Pearls before swine...............


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way
up a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

Was I right?



A couple of weeks ago I saw something similar and even thought
about posting a question on uk.diy but I didn't bother.
It was a demonstrator working near the foot of an escalator
at Debenhams Dept Store in Manchester.

It occurred to me that encouraging a crowd of people in

this area could be disastrous for people alighting the escalator

Is there a minimum safe distance for obstructions?

--



Graham

%Profound_observation%

On 2008-04-09 23:59:27 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:



John wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part
way up a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather
forcefully told a member of staff that it was wrong and should be
moved immediately! (pompous git)

Was I right?

I was in W H Smith last week & saw a display of Feng Shui books. I
complained that they were in the wrong place & facing the wrong way.

Pearls before swine...............

Did they have them in with the other cookery books?

"Owain" wrote in message
news:msCdnR4Iw44UbmDanZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@plusnet...
John wrote:
I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way
up a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told
a member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately!
(pompous git)
Was I right?

1. Obstruction of a designated escape route, being a breach of the Fire
Precautions Act or whatever the new legislation is

2. being a general trip hazard and thus subject to Health and Safety at
Work Act

It is not possible to be certain of either of those without seeing the
situation. A small display in the outer corner of a large rectangular
landing, secured against toppling, would almost certainly pass a risk
assessment under either set of regulations.

3. Staircases are not usually obstructed, so an unexpected obstruction
together with the risk of falling can cause serious problems for visually
or mobility impaired people and thus possibly a breach of Disability
Discrimination Act

The Act only requires retailers to make reasonable provision for the
disabled, not avoid any possible obstruction to them. If, for example, there
is a lift as an alternative to the stairs, that would be a reasonable
provision. As the usual provision for the disabled on a floor served by a
lift is a fire protected safe area, the DDR would not even apply in the case
of a fire.

Colin Bignell

On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:27:04 GMT, a particular chimpanzee, "John"
randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

I was in a city centre chain store today and saw a display stand part way up
a staircase (at a turn). It looked wrong and I rather forcefully told a
member of staff that it was wrong and should be moved immediately! (pompous
git)

My 2p:

If the stair was a 'protected stair' i.e., approached through fire
doors at each landing (whether held open by détents or not), leading
ultimately to a final exit, then there should be no combustible
materials nor anything which reduces the clear width of the stair and
landing within that enclosure. If the stair is in an opening between
floors in the middle of the shop, it's just an accommodation stair and
isn't essential to the means of escape (unless the shop is a small
shop over two storeys of less than 280m^2/floor, the stair discharges
to within 3m of the final exit from the shop and it's the only stair
in the building).

Next time, you could speak to the manager and suggest that they check
the position of the display against their Fire Safety Risk Assessment.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"