A Fire Safety Analysis for the Proposed Building for Mr and Mrs Jones - Case Study Example

University name Department/school Name of student Student number Course title Course number Academic year (e.g 2008-2009 FIRE SAFETY REPORT A FIRE SAFETY REPORT FOR THE PROPOSED BUILDING FOR MR. AND MRS JONES I declare that this is my original work and has never been submitted before for award of any degree or diploma certificate. The work has never been published in any journal or magazine. Signature of the student Date of submission Name of the module tutor Table of contents FIRE SAFETY REPORT 1 A FIRE SAFETY REPORT FOR THE PROPOSED BUILDING FOR MR. AND MRS JONES 1 Table of contents 1 FIRE SAFETY REPORT 2 FIRE SAFETY REPORT FOR THE PROPOSED BUILDING OF MR. AND MRS. JONES 3 Introduction 3 Means of fire detection and escape 3 Emergency means of escape 5 Control of internal spread of fire (linings) 6 Control of internal spread of fire (structure) 8 Fire extinguishing apparatus 10 Managing external spread of the fire 10 Access and facilities for fire rescue service 11 References 12 FIRE SAFETY REPORT FIRE SAFETY REPORT FOR THE PROPOSED BUILDING OF MR. AND MRS. JONES Introduction Fire safety measures for the building should comply with regulation 7 of building regulation 2000 (SI 2000/2531 for England and Wales) (Crown 2007:6). The construction materials should have marking CE according to requirements of construction products directive 89/106/EEC. The electrical products should satisfy low voltage directive 73/23/EEC and amendment 93/68/EEC and EMC directive 89/336/EEC as amended by the CE marking directive 93/68/EEC. The building should satisfy construction (Design and management) regulation 2006 and regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005. The construction products should satisfy CPP directive 89/106/EC as amended by 93/68/EEC. The fire safety should satisfy environmental protection as required by pollution prevention guidelines (PPG18) on managing water and major spillage that could minimize water runoff from firefighting efforts. The fire protection for the building should meet requirements of other property protection stakeholders like insurance firms before they accept insurable risk. Means of fire detection and escape The building should be installed with fire alarm systems for detecting outbreak of fire and warning users in order to start moving towards the protected areas if they are in circulation spaces or other rooms in the building. Response of fire alarms results from rise in temperature (heat) or presence of smoke particles. Fire detectors form active fire protection of a building and should conform to BS 5839-6:2004 requirements at least Grade D category LD3 standards. Accordingly, smoke detectors should satisfy BS 5446-1:2000 and heat detectors should comply with BS 5446-2:2003. According to clause 15 of BS 5839-6:2004, the fire detectors should have standby power supply. The standby power supply should be provided by a rechargeable battery or non-rechargeable battery or a capacitor. The smoke alarms should conform to BS 5446-1 guidelines and should either be ionization chamber smoke detectors or optical (photo-electric) smoke detectors. Optical smoke detectors should be installed in rooms where there is no chance of a false alarm occurring due to presence of invisible smoke particles. The optical smoke alarms should be installed in the lounge in ground floor and first floor, kitchen, family/breakfast room, family/study room, dining room and all circulation spaces. Position of the smoke alarm should conform to BS 5839-6:2004. Photo-electric smoke alarms should be installed in all circulation spaces linking to bedrooms in the first floor. Photo-electric smoke alarms should also be installed in the store, cloak room in ground floor and first floor and circulation spaces in the ground floor. The smoke alarms should be 7.5 meters apart (Crown 2007:17). Inter-linked heat alarms should be installed in the kitchen and circulation space serving the kitchen (Crown 2007:17). The ceiling mounted smoke alarms should be 300 millimeters from the wall and the lighting fitting so that heat from the lighting appliance does not trigger false alarm. Sensors mounted on the ceiling should be 25-600 millimeters below the ceiling and be 25-150 millimeters from the heat detectors. Installation of fire detectors should comply with the Approved Document P (Electrical safety) and cables should satisfy BS 5839-6:20041 or BS 5839-1:2002 (Crown 2007:18). The building owner should be issued with certificate of fire alarm installation. The building owner should also have fire detector manufacturer’s instruction on operation and maintenance of the fire alarm system which should satisfy BS 5838-1 and BS 5839-6 requirements. Emergency means of escape The building should have a protected means of escape in order to protect health and safety of the occupants. The building should have protected exterior stairways that should link to circulation spaces in the ground floor and first floor. Galleries should be present and should provide a 50% view of the ground floor. The means of escape should have directional signs and signals that should comply with health and safety (safety signs and signals) regulation 1996. The means of escape should have capabilities for restricting fire or flame and smoke penetration by being equipped with cavity barriers. The doors to the means of escape should be fire resistive and should meet BS 476-22:1987 and construction decision 2000/367/EC of May 3rd 2000 and implementing council directive 89/106/EEC that has laid down criteria for classification of fire resistance of fire performance of construction products. The fire resistive doors should conform to BS EN 1634-1:2000 on fire resistive tests for doors and shutter assembly (Fire doors and shutters) and BS EN 1634-2:xxxx on fire resistance tests for door and shutter (fire door hardware and BS EN 1634-3:2001 on smoke control doors. The fire doors should satisfy criteria required by BS 8214:1990 on recommendation for specification, design, construction, installation and maintenance of fire doors that are constructed with non-metallic elements (Crown 2007:68). The doors should also satisfy reference to construction decision 2000/367/EC of May 3rd 2000 implementing council directive 89/106/EEC on classification of resistance to fire performance of construction products. The fire resistive doors should meet classification BSEN 13501-2:2003 on fire classification of construction products and building elements-classification using data from fire resistance tests, excluding ventilation services (Crown 2007:68). The fire doors should have cavity barriers and potential to maintain integrity as required by criteria laid down by BS 476-22:1987 and meet criteria FD 30 (National class) or E30 (European class) if between dwellings in the first floor and garage (ground floor) and satisfy requirements of FD 20 (National class) or requirement E20 (European class) or BS 476-8:1972 and 1970. The fire resistive doors should have automatic release mechanism2 (Crown 2007:69-70). Control of internal spread of fire (linings) The wall and ceiling requirements should satisfy class 0 recommendations. The building should have minimal fire load density (crown 2007:57) in order to limit amount of combustible materials per unit room or floor. There should be presence of non combustible materials that should satisfy National classes when tested to BS 476-4:1970 or European classes tested to BS EN 13501-1:2002. The construction materials should conform to national classes BS 476-11:1982 or European classes in terms of performance class A2-s3, d2 or BS EN 13501-1:2002 (Crown 2007:58). Thermoplastic materials used should satisfy BS EN ISO 306:20043. The linings should comply with criteria for surface spread of flame under BS 476-7:19974 or (1987 0r 1971) Crown 2007:60) or they should meet reference criteria for European classification BS EN 13501-1:20025. There should be measures to restrict use of easily ignitable materials that release heat at high rates by complying with BS 476-6:1989 or 1981. The materials should satisfy class 1on fire growth or propagation index (I) of no more than 12 or sub-index (i1) of no more than 6 (Crown 2007:60). The notional performance rating should conform to BS 476-6:1989 and BS 476-7:1997 or satisfy BS EN 13501-1:2002 criteria. Thermoplastic use should comply with BS EN ISO 306:20046. The thermoplastics that should be use should meet classification 0-3 under BS 476-6:1989 and BS 4786-7:1997. Other requirements include conformity to TP(a) where product should be no more than 1mm thick and meets Type C requirements of BS 5867-2:1980. Curtains and drapers flammability should be minimal and should meet criteria BS 5438:19897. The rate of burning of other combustible materials should not exceed 50mm per min and should meet criteria BS 2782:1970 (Amended 1974) (Crown 2007:61). Control of internal spread of fire (structure) The building should restrict spread of fire horizontally (ground floor and first floor) or vertically (from ground floor to first floor) (Crown 2007:27). The construction materials should be fire resistant with very low fire ignition rate and low rate of release of heat (Crown 2007:27). The construction materials should satisfy criteria required by National class BS 476 regarding fire tests on building material and structure, BS 476-6:1989 on method of test for fire propagation for products, BS 476-7:1997 on method of test to determine the classification of surface spread of flame of products. The materials should conform to criteria laid down by class 08 of national classification namely BS 476-4:1970 on non combustibility test for materials and requirement BS 476-11:1982 regarding method for assessing heat emission from building products. Class 0 requirements can also be met through satisfaction of appropriate ratings especially three rating under BS 476:part 7 namely TP (a) rigid and TP (a) Flexible and TP (b) (Crown 2007:27). The construction materials should also satisfy European classification BS EN 13501:2002 on fire classification of construction products and building elements. To inhibit spread of fire, the construction materials should comply with four main European test methods that are BS EN ISO 1182:20029, BS EN ISO 1716:200210, BS EN 13823:200211 and BS EN ISO 11925-2:200212 (Crown 2007:27). Internal spread of fire should be managed by ensuring the stability is guaranteed for a reasonable time (Crown 2007:31). This should be realized by ensuring fire compartments are present that make it possible for fire containment at its source. The building should achieve fire containment through load bearing of elements that have ability to tolerate impacts of fire without loss of stability. These goals should be implemented by inhibiting possible spread of unseen fires or flames and smoke within concealed spaces (Crown 2007:31). Any opening in the fire separating elements should be protected in order to sustain integrity of the elements fire separation objective (Crown 2007:32). Concealed spaces and cavities should be protected to restrict possible spread of fire or smoke. Cavity barriers should be installed at edges of cavities like window and door openings. The joints between fire separating elements should have fire stopping abilities and should include materials like cement mortar and gypsum based plaster (Crown 2007:42). Fire extinguishing apparatus The building should be installed with automatic water sprinkler systems that should reduce effects of fire by putting off fire hence reducing economic costs of fire13. The sprinkler system should meet criteria recommended by BS 925114 and satisfy criteria DD 252:200215 on components for residential sprinkler systems. The sprinkler system should be installed in the kitchen in ground floor and circulation spaces both in ground floor and first floor. Fire extinguisher both carbon dioxide and foam extinguishers should be present in the kitchen, family/study room, family/breakfast room, dining room and lounge in the ground floor and all bedrooms in first floor. Managing external spread of the fire The external spread of fire should be inhibited (Crown 2007:43). The roof should be fire resistant and should not be prone to external fire ignition. External surfaces of the wall should meet class 0 (national class) or class B-s3 or d2 (European standards). The notional boundary should be sufficient enough to prevent inter-building fire spread. The roof covering should conform to BS 476-3:200416 requirements and should resist external fire exposure by complying with BS EN 13501-5:2005 requirements. The roof cover products should satisfy commission decision 2000/553/EC of 6th September 2000 and implementing council directive 89/106/EEC. Plastic rooflights installation should conform to class 3 (national class) or class D-s3, d2 (European class). (Crown 2007:51). The maximum area for the rooflights should be 5m2 (Crown 2007:51). There should be use of rigid thermoplastic sheet that should be made of polycarbonate and should satisfy class 1 (national classes) when tested to BS 476-7:1997 or 1987 or 1971 or class C-s3 or d2 (European class) that has AA (national class) designation or BROOF (t4) (European class) classification. The wood and thatch shingles should meet AD/BD/CD designation (national classes) or EROOF (t4) European classes or satisfy BS 476-3:2004 or 1958. The rafters should have integrity of 30 minutes fire resistance. (Crown 2007:51-53). Access and facilities for fire rescue service The building should provide adequate facilities for fire fighting. The fire fighting staging area should be located at the entrance into the hall at ground floor or at the exit door at family/breakfast room in ground floor. The building should provide for zoned evacuation by making it possible for staged evacuation to be possible. The fire fighting and fire rescue service should have access to the building (Crown 2007:54). External access by fire rescue service vehicles should be possible in order to facilitate high reach appliances, for instance, turntable ladders and hydraulic platform that make it possible for pump appliances to supply water to fire fighters and search and rescue team Crown 2007:56). Vehicle access to the building should have 45 meters from all direction of the building. References Crown (2007)-The building regulations 2000 - Fire safety-Approved Document B 2007; Volume 1-Dwellinghouses Publisher: NBS (for department of communities and local government (ISBN: 978 1859 46261 4). Appendix 1: the first floor fire safety accessories (active and passive fire protection) Appendix 2: the ground floor (active and passive fire protection) Read More