A Fire Strategy for the Building - Assignment Example

FIRE STRATEGY August 2012 Introduction Having a fire strategy for the building and the entire institution is important due to the various consequences associated with it. Fire can be a threat to life, health and safety of building occupants. Fire incident may damage or may cause total damage of property interrupting business activities within a building (Bullen ML, Thomas PH (1978). Measures taken under fire safety include preventing fire outbreaks and mitigating damages through early detection of fire, reduction of the fire spread by structural containment, escape route provision and availability of sound emergency evacuation procedures and having the capability of fighting fire. According to Kingspan (2009) the prevention and protection details of a particular building will be dependant on the extent to which the building is susceptible to fire hazards, use and occupancy of building and the legal agreement between the building occupants and the employer. A building fire strategy can be taken as being an extension of the general, safety and environmental policy of an institution. The major objective of this fire strategy to ensure that safety is provided and maintained in the building which will in turn safeguard health and safety of occupants, all assets in the building and all the businesses having a linkage to the building. Detection and warning system The importance of fire detection in the building cannot be overemphasized. The store rooms are supposed to have fire detection systems due to the fact that visiting of such rooms is rare (Communities and local Government, 2006). The equipment rooms at ground floor need a fire detection system as their use is not regular. The ventilated chemical stores found on all the building floors also need a fire detection system. The fire warning system to be fixed in the building must be load enough to be heard throughout the building. Occupancy The occupancy of each floor has been calculated according to the area and the type of service to which the room is for. The floor space factor used in the calculation of the occupancy of all laboratory spaces is 5m2 per person, for storage facilities 30m2 per person applies and for the case of office space the space factor used is 6m2 per person. Ground floor occupancy From the drawings the total office area at the ground floor = 145m2 Total offices occupancy = 145/6 25 Equipment rooms area = 173.5m2 Equipment room occupancy= 173.5/5 35 Analytical lab total area = 144m2 Analytical lab occupancy = 144/5 29 The ventilated chemical store on the floor can be given an approximate value of 1. The ground floor total = 25+ 35+29+1 = 90 occupants The total number of occupants expected to pass through the lab door during emergency64 ( 35+29). This occupancy is above the required up to 60 occupants who are allowed to use a single exit door and this is an indication that the provision of the two doors was necessary. Now considering the whole floor with a total occupancy of 90 people it is also necessary to have the two doors a condition which has been fulfilled. First floor occupancy Forensic science and chemistry lab total area = 284m2 Forensic science and chemistry lab occupancy = 284/5 = 57 Although this figure is slightly lower than 60 the provision of two doors is necessary as with a slight excess of students in the lab will see the occupants go above 60 persons. First floor total area = 129.5m2 Total occupancy in offices = 129.5/6 =22 occupants Area of student research room =24m2 Student research room occupancy = 24/1 = 24 (a 1m2 per person floor space factor used) Total occupancy making use of the main corridor = 57 +22+ 24 = 103 occupants There is need to have at least two exits a condition which has been satisfied Next to the protected lift is a student research room whose area is 44m2 that has an occupancy 44 people. Therefore the total occupancy of first floor = 103+44 = 147 Second floor occupancy Forensic science and chemistry lab total area = 235m2 Forensic science and chemistry lab occupancy = 235/5 = 47 Visitors informal area total area = 115m2 Visitors informal area occupancy of = 115/1 = 115 (using floor space factor of 1m2 per person) HoS office total area = 17 HoS office occupancy = 17/6  It can be seen from the drawing that the visitors’ informal area and the HoS office share an exit door to the corridor, HoS being an inner room. The occupancy of the two areas is 118 and it requires at least two exit doors. This condition has been met. Research student room area = 40m2 Archive room area = 17m2 and using floor space factor of 7m2 per person, Occupancy = 17/7 3 The kitchen and Photocopier has an approximate occupancy of two Total occupancy of the floor = 118+40++47+3+2= 210 Occupancy of third floor Fire lab (research) area = 67m2 Occupancy fire lab (research) = 67/5 = 14 Fire lab (teaching) area = 138m2 Occupancy fire lab (teaching) = 138/5 = 28 There is provision of two exits for the fire lab (teaching) which is not necessary as per occupancy criterion. Total research lab (material and synthetic) area = 197m2 Occupancy of research lab (material and synthetic) =197/5 = 40 Total storage area = 7m2+7m2+40m2+ 6m2 +6m2= 66m2 Storage rooms occupancy = 66/30  Research student room area =33m2 Occupancy research student room =33/1 = 33 Total third floor occupancy = 14+28+40+3+33 = 118 Travel distance In designing a building it is very important for the distance one has to travel to reach a place of relative safety during fire emergency. Rooms where the occupants are exposed to high risk of fire outbreak with high likelihood of fast spreading of fire it is required that the maximum distance of travel to be short (Communities and local Government, 2006). The availability of an alternative route for the occupants to use during fire also will determine the maximum distance travel. Table 1 gives a summary of some premises and the travel distance for one alternative and more than one alternative route of travel as given in document B. Table 1 Use Alternative on the route of travel One alternative More than one alternative Office 18 45 Assembly (sitting in rows) 15 32 Industrial (Normal hazard) 25 45 Industrial (Higher hazard) 12 25 Storage (Normal hazard) 25 45 Storage (Higher hazard) 12 25 The analytical lab and the equipment which are on the ground floor fall under the classification of industrial normal hazard. The ICPMB room, X-ray room, the atomic absorption room and the AFM+RAHMAN room are all equipment rooms found on the ground floor and have two alternative roots. All the analytical lab areas that border rooms which do not have access to an alternative root are also not accessible to alternative route. From the building drawing it can be seen that even for the rooms with alternative roots, the alternative roots can only be used from the doors to the rooms to the analytical lab doors as moving from the furthest points of the equipment rooms to their respective doors one only has a single route to follow. A close look at the side where the offices are located reveals that some of the offices have access to alternative routes while others do not have. The offices RDS 2.8, RDS 2.30, RDS 2.22 and RDS 2.21have alternative routes at a point near the exit route which is between RDS 2.20 and RDS 2.21 a point that is at the dead end of the corridor linking the offices. When the occupant reaches this point will have two choices at their disposal; either to continue moving straight along the corridor or may diver to the main corridor. As a requirement it is expected that the distance travelled by an occupant assumed to be at the furthest point in room RDS 2.8 should not be beyond 45m as illustrate in Table1. From the table it is also clear that the distance from the same room to the end of the dead end corridor is not supposed to go beyond 18m. The dimensions of the drawing clearly show that the conditions have not been violated. The forensic and chemistry lab has two doors and from the drawing it can be observed that all the area with the lab that fall between the doors qualify as having two alternative routes and thus the travel distance allowable being 45m. The allowable travel distance of 25m applies to all the points that fall outside the area that is not between the lab doors as they only have access to one alternative route that leads to the lab door that is nearest. A close look at the offices reveals that RDS 2.9 is the office with the longest one alternative distance of travel as the office has the longer length in comparison to other offices in addition to being connected to a dead end of the corridor. In terms of overall distance of travel the office from which there is the longest distance of travel is RDS 2.12 as it is the office situated furthest from an exit stair. The research student room whose dimensions is 9m by 3.9m can be seen to have a relatively long travel distance that can be approximated to 10m this being the hypotenuse of the floor. If the room is considered to fall under assembly with allowable travel distance being 25m then the travel distance is relatively low in comparison to the maximum allowable. On the second floor there is a forensic and chemistry lab which is identical to the one on the first floor in all respect including its dimensions, its position with respect to the main corridor and positioning relative to the exit doors to protected areas. The research student room which has a dimension of 7.2m by 5.6m has an approximate travel distance of 9m to the entry door; this being the hypotenuse of the area of the floor. When the distance of approximately 3.4 (9m -5.6m) to be traveled to the main door is added the alternative distance from this room becomes 12.4m a distance that is less than the maximum allowable distance of 15m according to table 1. The length of room RDS 1.19 has a length of about 10.5m which can be approximated to be its travel distance (having no alternative route) to the entry door of the room. From the drawings it is clear that fire lab (teaching) and fire lab (research) both have at least two alternative routes. The two alternative routes available for the fire lab (research) occupants are the door connecting the two labs and the access door to the main corridor. There are four routes of escape available for occupants in the fire lab (teaching): the route through the other lab, through the ancillary fire lab store and two routes are available through the doors connecting to the main corridor. There are two alternative routes serving the research lab (material and synthetic) which are through either of the two doors that lead to the main doors. It can also be seen from the drawing that all the points in between the access doors to the lab from the main corridor qualify to be classified as having alternative escape routes. Provision of Lighting and exit signs The provision of adequate artificial lighting is of at most importance. It is a requirement that the lighting for the routes towards the escape stairs should have a circuit that is separate from that to supplying the rest of the escape route (British Standard 5266: Part 1: 2005). . Installation of the lighting system is required to be according to the guide provided in BS 5266-1:2005. It is a requirement for all the escape routes in the building to have distinct emergency exit signs. The signs are to be of the required size prescribed by the Health and Safety Regulation of 1996. Provision of refuge area From the drawing it is evident that refugee areas have been provided in the protected stairways with the ground floor being the exception. The refugee areas ensure the safety of disabled temporarily as they wait for evacuation assistance (Kingspan, 2009). The area measure of the refugee area is 900mm by 1400mm which is enough to accommodate a wheel chair. During a fire incident there is a probability of having two or more disabled persons on a floor and this call for a sound evacuation plan that will ensure that the refugee area is only occupied by one person. It is a requirement that refugee areas have safety sign that include the wording “Refugee-keep clear”. Other necessary provision at the refugee points is the installation of emergency voice communication (EVC) which will make the exercise of evacuating the disabled at the refugee area effective. The EVC system to be installed is to be compliant to BS 5839-9:2003 that incorporates Type B outstation with communication linkage to the master station whose location is at the fire alarm panel. Fire spread and lining materials in the building Lining materials have been found to have a very significant effect on the rate of fire spread even though its ignition takes place much later (British Standard 476: Part 7: 1997). Great importance is placed on the lining in the circulation due to the fact that they may be the only means of fire spreading in these areas and incase the spread is rapid the areas maybe a hindrance in the escaping process. Some of the properties of lining materials that influences the spread of fire include the readiness of ignition and the rate of energy release when the materials are burning. Materials used in lining of floor upper surfaces and stairs should receive least consideration as these areas are not significantly involved in fire before a well developed stage of fire. Use of thermoplastic lighting diffusers in the building is discouraged be it for fire-resisting or fire protecting ceilings with the exception where a satisfactory test has been performed to qualify the material to be part of the ceiling system used in providing fire protection. Where conditions given in Approved Document B have been catered for it is possible for the ceiling to circulation spaces and rooms to have thermoplastic lighting diffusers. Internal fire spread structure of the building The stairs are required to provide a degree of protection which is satisfactory so as to satisfy them as areas with relative safety. The stairs are required to be areas have fire resistance of 30 minutes while the columns, structural frames, the floors and load bearing walls need to have a fire resistance of 60 minutes. There is a great need to provide the required fire resisting structure as this will bring down the risk posed to the occupants especially for the disabled people who are likely to remain in the building for a much longer time as the evacuation process is underway. Provision of the required fire resistance is also a precaution against fire spreading to neighboring buildings. Fire resistance will also ensure that the fire fighters are in reduced danger when undertaking rescue or search operations. Where there is an element or elements of structure is giving stability or directly supporting to another element of structure, it is requirement that the element offering support should not be inferior in terms of fire resistance as compared to the element to which support is being give (British Standard 476: Part 6: 1989). With the exception of the door frames all head rooms in escape routes are not expected to have a height of less than 2m and neither should they have a projection that is below this height. When choosing the floors for the escape routes care need to be taken to ensure that there is minimal slipperiness in conditions of wetness. The dimensioning and location of the final exit is supposed in away that the evacuation exercise is very quick. The site of this building makes it possible for people to disperse quickly from around the building making them safe from the danger of smoke and fire. The route of clearance of the building need to have a clear definition if possible to be suitably guarded. There should be no any form of obstruction at the final exit that will affect the movements of people with any form of disability. Fire resisting construction This building has ancillary rooms and it is a requirement for the rooms to have fire resisting constructions. The rooms falling in this category include the two ventilated chemical store rooms on the ground floor and first floor and the equipment stores found on the ground floor. There is a preparation room designated RDS 1.18 on the second floor which is used as storage and changing room and this is required to have a fire resisting construction enclosure. The ventilated chemical store rooms and the kitchen on the second floor also qualify to be enclosed in a fire resisting construction (Merci, B &Vandevelde, 2007). There a total of four chemical ventilated stores on third floor designated RDS 1.28, 1.29, 1.30 and 1.31 and all of the need to be enclosed in fire resisting construction. The other area that requires fire resisting construction is the ancillary fire lab designated RDS 1.16. There are cleaners’ stores and wash rooms on all the floors all of which require enclosing in a fire resisting construction. Some form of protection against fire in the escape routes. A case in consideration being the corridor that serves the offices at the ground floor and also the main corridors from ground floor to third floor. The type of doors in use will have a big effect on the rate at which fire is able to spread. As noted in British Standard 476: Part 22: 1987 the aspect of the door that has effect on the fire spread is the material of the door , the size of the door and the way of opening the door. The width of the door will depend on the number of people occupying the area being enclosed. The doors fire resistance will be expected to match the resistance of the area to which it is part of. The buildings that provide entrance to the lift are expected to have the highest resistance. The design of the doors along the escape where the occupancy is more than 60 should be in such away that their opening is in the direction of escape. Where doors are closures of areas with high risk of fire doors are required to open in exit direction even when occupancy is less than 60. A good example in the building is the kitchen, the labs and ventilated chemical stores doors. When doors are located on escape routes the hanging should be in such a way that their opening is 90 degrees or more. Doors that have opening to the corridors need to be recessed so as to prevent their swing from reducing the effective width of the corridor or stairway that they are offering service to. Use of locks, latches and bolt fastenings is discouraged on doors that serve escape routes. The practice is to have simple fastenings being fitted that can be accessed from the side that is being approached by the occupants who would be escaping. Operations of fastenings are supposed to be easily understandable with use of key or more than one mechanism being eliminated. In case there is use of proximity cards or swipe, biometric data a code or similar technologies this need to be used when one is approaching the doors from the direction of escape. The areas where there is likely to be such type of doors is the equipment rooms which stores very expensive and delicate equipments and also the technology may be used in students research rooms in order to ensure that only legible students have access to the rooms. Disabled Persons In designing the building there was full awareness Disability Discrimination Act which points out that building designs need to ensure that utilization of the building should available for everybody including those with hearing and visual impairments and those with mobility impairments (Safer Scotland, 2009). The building fire safety assessment will put in place means of escape and as well as warning means the staff, students and visitors who have mobility impairment or sensory related impairments. With these measures in place the disabled persons can easily identify a fire alarm, be able to vacate the room without any risk to themselves or to the other building occupants or at least be able to reach room that is fire protected or a refuge. The Fire Safety Officer will work together with Safety; Health & Environmental Advisers will see to it that there are personal evacuation plans for staff with disability. There will be need to provide evacuation chairs that will be sited in the escape routes and there will be need to have visual and other alternative devices for with impairments. Fire Safety Plans It is expected that the University Safety, Health & Environmental department will be in charge of the coordination of a fire safety plan in the building. Some of the information to be given in the plan will include fire risk result assessment that will highlight the building and process fire risk in addition to utilization of the building and its occupancy. As part of the fire safety plans, there is necessity for the building drawings to be provided on which there will be clear indication of all the alarm calling points, detection devices location, fire doors in addition of an illustration of the fire zones and their degree of fire resistance. The pans of the building will have markings to showing areas of hazards and assembly places. On the plans there will be provision of schedules of routine checks and inspection test done on the installed fire systems and the means of escape provided in the building. The inspection will also involve the previous years test results and the actions undertaken as corrective measures. As a way of ensuring that a solution of defects, there will be need for the action plans to be recorded for all fire and safety audits. There will be need for the fire evacuation procedures to be put in record and the names of people who will have been allocated some fire safety responsibilities together with the remedies and defects that would have been identified in evacuation drills. The Emergency Incident Manager in charge of the building will be responsible for implementing the fire safety plan. References Bishop, S & Drysdale, D (1995) Experimental Comparison With A Compartment Fire Model. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. British Standard 476: Part 6: 1989 Fire tests on building materials and structures. Method of test for fire propagation for products. British Standard 476: Part 7: 1997 Fire tests on building materials and structures. Method of test to determine the classification of the surface spread of flame of products. British Standard 476: Part 22: 1987 Fire tests on building materials and structures. Methods for determination of the fire-resistance of non-loadbearing elements of construction. British Standard 5266: Part 1: 2005 Emergency lighting. Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises. (Superseded CP 1007 1955 A Code of Practice for Maintained Lighting in Cinemas Bishop, S &Drysdale, D (1995) Experimental Comparison With A Compartment Fire Model. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. Bullen ML, Thomas PH (1978). Compartment fires with non-cellulosic fuels. Proc Combust Inst. Communities and local Government (2006).The Building Regulations 2000.Fire safety, Approved Document. Epstein M. (1988).Buoyancy-driven exchange flow through small openings in horizontal partitions. J Heat Transfer. Innovas (2009) Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services; an industry analysis. Kingspan( 2009).The UK‟s approach to the thermal refurbishment of non-domestic buildings, Kim IK, &Ohtani H, 1993. Experimental study on oscillating behaviour in a small-scale compartment fire (short communication). Fire Saf J Merci , B &Vandevelde, P (2007) Experimental study of natural roof ventilation in full-scale enclosure fire tests in a small compartment . Fire Safety Journal. 42 () p523-535 The UK Renewable Energy Strategy (2009) Department for Energy and Climate Control Safer Scotland (2009). Practical Fire Safety Guidance For Places Of Entertainment And Assembly. Scottish Government. Read More