3 storey business premises, Fire exits on ground and first floor + fire doors.

The boss has moved staffroom upto the top floor where there’s no fire exits or extinguishers and no fire doors, this was previously only used for storage of junk.

are they needed on the top floor where the staffroom is? I’m geussing provision of extinguishers is a must even if fire doors arent needed?

For a residential house they would be. Don’t see why a commercial property would have an exemption.

Not an expert, just helped friend fit his after build reg chap paid him a visit.

The first question should be whether the business has undertaken a Fire Risk Assessment, as required by law. That assessment should determine the risk and also the measures required to control the risk.

It’s not just a matter of Fire Doors. For example, is there a suitable fire alarm, providing automatic detection of a fire in any of the ground and first floor rooms below or in the fire exit route (presumably a single stairwell exit route, with no alternative exit route?)?

If there is a fire in the ground or first floor, good fire alarm detection will allow safe early evacuation, e.g. before any of the existing Fire Doors fail that separate the ground and first floor rooms from the fire exit route (stairwell).

My vague memory is that total people over 30 requires better access to exits

Ok that sounds wrong but this looks helpful

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/14879/making-your-premises-safe-short-guide.pdf

Slowster has it. Regs are all about (in part) escape distances and protected routes. On that floor you need either a protected stair (one may be sufficient depending on number of people and usage) within a certain one-way escape distance from all areas of the building, or an alternative strategy which would probably include suppression as well as an advanced detection and warning system.
As a commercial premises there has to be a Fire Risk Assessment – first call would be to try and find this if you are concerned.

This is the relevant document if you want to delve into the actual regs: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partb/bcapproveddocumentsb/bcapproveddocbvol2#Download

But fire regs are a bit funny…there are different requirements for different types of building and they are subject to interpretation by the local Fire Officer in a way that seems to be different to the other Approved Documents.

The whole idea of fire doors is to compartmentalise fire into one area, and not to allow fire or smoke to spread,ask your local fire service or environmental health dept for advice, but if it was me i would say fit fire doors as a fire lower down building will fill upper floors with smoke quite quickly.

Your means of escape needs to be fire protected (ie your stairs and the doors going off the stairs, as you’ve already indicated).

Speak to your local Building Control officer (local council) for advice.

But fire regs are a bit funny…there are different requirements for different types of building and they are subject to interpretation by the local Fire Officer in a way that seems to be different to the other Approved Documents.

I work in the Bristol/Bath/W-S-M/Gloucester region and all fire officers/Building control officers say slightly different things. If one were to recommend a certain spec, you can guarantee another bod would say differently.
It’s incredibly frustrating as a contractor as they hate giving me a spec to work from.