DC staying in windowless room/fire safety?

[HereIAmThereYouAre]

Can I get some thoughts on this please? We are close to BIL & SIL (who are child free & a lot older than my DH). They have bought an older property (small barn conversion) and are currently converting a part of the house into a guest room for our DC to stay in during regular visits, which is lovely of them. They had planned to add an external window but this was going to be difficult (structurally and needing planning etc) so they decided not to add one. The room is being properly converted by tradespeople incl new stud walls/joinery/electrical work etc. There will be a smoke alarm fitted. I have just discovered that the electrical circuit box (not new but being boxed in) is in the room, beside the door.

DC1 has significant SEN, DC2 & DC3 are young (toddler/preschool). BIL/SIL bedroom is on a different floor in a different part of the house. AIBU to think that this is a significant fire safety risk, as if there is an electrical fault they could be trapped with no alternative escape route?

YANBU - I wouldn't feel safe with my DC staying in that set up.
YABU - You're overreacting.

*space not pace!

I’d be more interested in ventilation - 3 kids in one room is gonna be hot, stuffy and probably a bit smelly!

The new room is on the ground floor but set back a bit in a large hall space. They have put in a (very solid) door with an upper (probaby shatterproof/firedoor?) glass panel to allow some light in, but the circuit board/fuse box is inside right by the door, so if it caught fire (no idea how likely this is to happen) it would block the only route into/out of the room. The only other proper bedroom (BIL/SIL room) is upstairs at the other end of the barn, not miles away but along a long ish passage and through another room then upstairs. I'm kicking myself for not paying more attention to what they were planning/building - I've been wrapped up dealing with DC1 significant difficulties and thought it was lovely they were putting so much effort into making a bedroom suitable for DC to visit. It hadn't occurred to me to worry about it. DH is very reluctant to upset them/tell them we aren't letting DC use the room at this late stage, but we can't risk our kids safety for that.

There is no added ventilation that I'm aware of...

We are definitely more on the hypervigilant end of the parenting scale, which was why I wanted to know what others thought or if I was overreacting..!

@Chersfrozenface thank you, that's a good idea, (although I think they probably wont be too pleased if we suggest it!)

It would be fine to use a windowless room for occasional guest accommodation if there was some means of ventilation, if there wasn't also a significant fire hazard in the room (the electric switch box)

It would be fine to have the electric switch box in a guest bedroom if there was also a fire-escape

Both things at once - nope.

But fire escapes do not have to be windows. I stayed in a holiday home once where one of the bedrooms had a tiny window, that only opened a few inches. There was an area of wall marked out in glow-in-the-dark paint which, in a fire, would apparently, according to the instruction manual, be very easy to kick through with minimal force and would lead to a fire escape.

I don't think you're being unreasonable - that kind of safety check shows that you're very aware of the potential issues, and good for you. They can't do much about the lay-out of the house so my suggestion is that you work out a fire drill with your children and the in-laws. It's more important that they know how to exit a fire than where a fire might potentially start (they can start pretty much anywhere). Crawling rather than walking, making sure all in the room are awake and exiting, alerting the adults etc. are good things to teach children. Plus put a smoke and CO2 alarm right by the consumer unit. and never close the door fully. The small glass over the door should probably be converted to a ventilated louvre system which is always open a bit. You can't mitigate every risk, but you can reduce them. Your in-laws sound lovely btw.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to spent much time in a room with no air or light. How would it work during the summer? It sounds like a very odd choice to make in terms of renovations.

@reallyworriedjobhunter It's because the house is a mainly open plan conversion with little scope for adding on rooms, it was the only space that could easily be sectioned off to form a guest room. They moved to it partly to be closer to us/more involved with the kids (they're the only family in the UK on DH's side) we mentioned when they looked at the house that it wasn't ideal for having having the kids to stay, but they were confident they could make it work...

Can I just say as well, studies have showed that children don't respond to smoke alarms sadly.( This was done after the Horrific deliberate Phillpott fire) . Something to do with their hearing when sleeping. I would be the same as you ,OP. If you feel cautious, don't put them in it!