Fire Regulations in Ireland - Term Paper Example

Background Legislations in development control have come up with standards and measures that are applied to all developers for them to be allowed to undertake any development. These regulations impose performance standards and measures in fire safety that requires all new buildings to adhere to before they go a head with construction. Our case of study is the hospitals in Ireland. All hospitals have complied to the incorporation of fire regulations because of the perils involved with the emergency evacuation of patients. The adoption of fire safety measure depends greatly on the construction designs of buildings and equipments used. These factors have to be overseen in the framework of fire safety management an initiative driven by the management at various hospitals within Ireland. The hospitals and other health care facilities have come up with guidelines for association with fire authority, applying for fire certificates and finally auditing and sustaining the fire safety measures as provided in the fire certificates. The department of HPSS (Health social services and public safety) has ensured that all hospitals within Northern Ireland adhere to the fire safety measures. In Ireland the body responsible for ensuring fire safety in development control and planning is the Local Authority Building control officers under the department of environment and HPSS. The assessment takes place either on plans or at the site at any stage of development. In addition planning and development are two different entities that is to say that permission issued by the planning officers to developers does not entail to building regulations and vice versa. Development control in Ireland Initially the department of environment was responsible for development control. It issued a draft of regulations that entailed technical necessities that laid out the procedures and guidelines of compliance. Later on a few local authorities in urban centers used by- laws to inspect development by the by-law officers because residents were moving from rural areas to urban areas in search of opportunities leading to increase in population in urban areas and more building to cater for the new industries. This was later replaced by the building regulation adopted in 1992 which called for compliance by all architects and developers throughout the country. However, according to the Fire regulation act of 1982 majority of local authorities in Ireland, inspection of new buildings was the responsibility of fire officers who were also charged with the responsibility of installation of fire safety gadgets in buildings. The building control act of 1990 executed legislations to control development by instituting building control authorities (BCA) to formulate building laws and development control policies.Inturn the building laws established legislations that building designs and constructions had to comply to including fire safety, ventilation, energy preservation and access by the people with disabilities. The main objective of these regulations was to ensure health and safety of the people in and around buildings. Under the building Act there is a legal requirement that architects and developers have to abide by the building legislations and development control rules with emphasis on material variation, expansion, and certain adjustment to an existing building. Development control Regulations All developers intending to set up development have to submit their applications to the building control authority. The applications can be inform of full plans or building notices. Full plans are suitable for all development purposes particularly the industrial premises where the staff and other people have to be safeguarded against fire outbreaks and other emergencies. The developer has to submit full plan with plan fee, copies of elevations plan, site location plan and plans describing the fire safety measures failure to which the building control authority is likely to reject the plan until all requirements are met. Building Notice is appropriate for buildings that are not meant for fire safety like the domestic premises. This does not mean failure to comply with the building regulations. As far as development control is concerned building regulations purposes to; ensuring health, safety and wellbeing of the people in or around the building, conservation of energy and fuel, setting out good development standards, effective resource use, special needs for disability cases among others. The case of Ireland development control regulations are divided into twelve parts. Upon submission of certificates related to the development control, the developer can apply for the fire safety certificate from the building control authority indicating that compliance has been met. Nevertheless not all the development regulations have been executed. For instance, the current development control legislations section one part 496 of 1997 oblige that all developers posses a fire certificate and blocking of the commencement notice. To ensure the safety and protection of people, development control policies initiated the establishment of deliberate system of opinion on conformity which is commonly used as a way of standards delivery approved by the Ireland Law society and the construction professionals in Ireland such as the royal institute of Architects, society of chartered surveyors and the institution of Engineers. But under development and control regulations these institutions do not form part in the Building control regulations they only come in to regulate the compliance through imposing fines on those who do not adhere to the legislations set out by the BCA. Important aspects that have been incorporate in hospitals and other health facilities within Northern Ireland to ensure safety incase of fire outbreak are; The emergency exits that allows for the easy movement incase of anything like fire outbreak .There are several exits in this building for easy evacuation and there are also other exits incase the fire emergency exists are inaccessible in the time of need. Fire safety equipments such as the fire alarms to alert everybody within the building incase of fire outbreak, fire extinguishers and water sprinklers all these equipments should be easy to get to and visible. In addition they should be regularly maintained to ensure they are efficient and effective in the time of emergency. An evacuation plan; this company has to recruit professionals in fire incidents that direct people incase of fire out break this is essential as it ensures that the company is accountable for all its staff incase of fire outbreak. Some of the legal documents involved in development control include: Technical Guidance Documents These documents provide procedures on how construction may comply with the development control. Even though there are other methods of to comply by if the technical guidance documents (TGD) the obligation is on the developer and architect to prove that he or she has complied to set out standards. The TGD involves guidance and standards that may be used to deduce legislations in development control and advice the developers and architects on development compliance policies. The TGD allows the use of stairs when accessing a building where the doorways are on other level and not on the ground floors .Also in certain circumstances the TGD guidelines allows for apartments with four storeys. In a nutshell developers and architects have to abide to the guidelines in the TGD to ensure that; There is high measure of assurance that the building will conform to the set out regulations. Save on time in redoing construction in case it is demolished or altered as result of non- compliance. Reduce risks of not abiding by the regulation. Such risks include six months imprisonment or fines of $800. Commencement Notices These are legal notices issued by the building control authority to mark the beginning of construction. The goal is to provide the Authority an option of using its powers to inspect and implement construction. Not all buildings have to hand over commencement notices. For instance, if there is a fire safety certificate or material adjustments in a shop, industrial building or office there is no need of submitting commencement notice. Monitoring and Enforcement Under the development and control regulations monitoring and implementation is essential to ensure that developers apply for the fire safety certificate and encourages compliance among the developers, architects and the authority. As a result non compliance to the building regulations is likely to face enforcement notice from the authority which can take up to five years in a district court, a fine of $800 and or six months imprisonment including a fine of $150 on a daily basis. Advantages and disadvantages of fire regulations The authority understands the importance of instituting fire legislations in all buildings. Fire can be caused by a number of aspects that contribute to destruction of properties and lives. A person falling a sleep in a restaurant can cause huge damages to others in the restaurant and even the nearby buildings. Fire can occur anywhere and at any time and that is why it is important to execute fire regulations in the society. Normally people ask who is responsible for their safety in a building. Mainly it is the owner of building and partly the architects because they have to include water sprinklers and fire exits in their plans. The owner of the building has to recruit profession in fire safety to ensure the safety of the residents incase of fires. They are not only responsible who enters and leaves the building but also what do incase of fire outbreaks in the building or the nearby ones. Such as opening emergency exits, sound the alarm, where to assemble and the use of fire extinguishers. In short everyone in the building should comply with the set out fire safety regulations. Advantages When fire strategies are instituted in all building health and safety of the people in and around the building is ensured that is people are able to access the building and run for their safety in case of emergencies like fire. This is so because development control legislation set out guidelines under which accessibility is ensured through overseeing fire safety, fees and inventories of fire safety certificates. Provides evidence that the developer adhered to the development control regulations and if the property is sold in future there is an assurance that the building is safe for human habitation. Disadvantages Developers have to pay all the developmental control legislations fees before constructions begins in most cases the costs are very high therefore without full payments no constructions can take place. All the architects and developers have to be very well conversant with the development regulations. Failure to comply is likely to lead to higher fines and even demolition of the buildings. Inspections by the building control authority is generally difficult because there are delays in the processing of the application simply due to inadequate data provided by the developers or the architects, lack of providing a detailed estimation and lastly unsigned or undated applications. The overall process is very costly especially for the developer because he or she has to acquire services from a professional architect to provide a good plan incorporates all the regulations like fire safety equipments and submit the plan to the building control authority. Conclusion Catastrophic nature of fire prompts for the erection of reporting structures that aide most organizations to determine regions prone to devastative fire occurrences. Forecast and mitigation modalities could be installed to help transmit signals of alarm in the event that fire breaks out, as such most organizations could carry out a vigorous peril analysis in bid to precluding such destructive occurrences. However, from a legal point of view, statutes are imperative in the sense that they assist in presenting tangible proof, especially when handling a claim of carelessness. Episodes related to fires could be illustrated as events, which might easily propel a probable harm to a person, or by destroying of chattels. These illustrations encompass all spheres, in addition to patient or client accident as well as harm, inferno, burglary, mugging in addition to staff mishap. The recording of accidents by the use of a structure that supports distinct configurations could lead to a mishap; fastidiously when try to determine widespread causes of accidents and as a result precludes appropriate counteractive accomplishments. In a nutshell, fire reporting protocols should embrace fire code reporting standards; and that all occurrences should be clustered with rigorousness. Throughout the analysis process, investigations of more disastrous fire episodes need to be carried out to expose the core reasons that prompt the happenings. Finally, this calls for the presentation of a habitual administrative documentation that result in administration exploits. References: Northern Ireland (2000). The Building Regulations; the Stationery Office, Belfast.  Read More