Development of Fire Safety for Buildings - Report Example

Engineering Design Project Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date of Submission: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0.Introduction and summary of the building 3 2.0.Detection and Warning Systems 3 2.1.Emergency Lighting 4 2.2.Fire Safety Signs 4 3.0.Means of escape 6 3.1.Travel Distance 6 3.2.Inner Room 7 3.3.Number of Occupants 8 3.4.Number of Escape Routes 8 3.5.Width of Escape Routes and Exits 9 3.6.Vertical Escape Routes 9 3.6.1.Width of Staircases 9 3.7.Evacuation Lift 10 3.8.Food and Drink 10 3.9.Provision of Refuges 11 4.0.Conclusions 12 5.0.References 13 Appendices 14 5.1.Appendix 1 - Means of escape calculations 14 5.2.Appendix 2 - Smoke control calculations 17 5.3.Appendix 3 - External fire spread calculations 18 1.0. Introduction and summary of the building The research paper is intended to provide fire safety developments for buildings. The research focuses on the student hub building, which has three floors, namely the ground floor first and second floors. It also has a plant floor. The width of the building is 56039.60mm and length of 78609.13mm. The building is considered as a non-residential institutional as it is an educational establishment; which leads to its classification as purpose group 2a building. 2a buildings are institutional (Approved Document B, 2013, 33). Thus, the research is aimed at providing the fire safety for the group in varying degrees and legislations as presented below. It focuses on fire prevention, detection and warning including the emergency escape and other means of escape for the building. 2.0. Detection and Warning Systems Warning systems are important in buildings to provide the people with ample time to escape the building before the fire spreads. The best warning systems that can be used for fire detection in the student hub include mainly the fire alarm systems. Fire alarm systems give the residents of a building ample time to run to safety through been warned early enough about the fire. The alarm systems in the ground floor, plant floor and first and second floor should meet the BS 5839-1 stated requirements. The three floors must have at least two fire alarms. That is; heat alarms must be installed in the circulation spaces mainly the kitchen, where fires mainly start (Approved Document B, 2013, 17). Besides fire alarms, other detection and warning systems to be installed include the smoke alarms, which in each building should have secondary power supplies to ensure that even when the main power supplies are not operating, it can be relied upon to warn the dwellers early enough ( Approved Document B, 2013, 19). The linked smoke alarm systems should be installed since the dwellings is not more than two floors. The detection and warning systems are also related to the means of escape as presented below. 2.1. Emergency Lighting Artificial lighting is recommended for all escape routes to illuminate the route of the main supply fail. The escape routes power supply circuit should be separate from other supply units ( Approved Document B, 2013, 55). The emergency lighting is developed to verify the escape routes for the residents (BSI Standards Publication, 2016, 25). The emergency lighting should also illuminate the fire call points, stairways, walkways and firefighting equipment’s among others (BSI Standards Publication, 2016, 26). The emergency lighting consists of the process of lighting escape routes to guarantee effective and reliable illumination of the path to safety when a fire emergency occurs ( Approved Document B, 2013, 135). Once all areas that need the lighting are determined, the emergency illumination position is developed, including the voltages needed, the duration required and other uniformities. The lighitings when installed must be inspected routinely to ensure they are still operation (BSI Standards Publication, 2016, 28). 2.2. Fire Safety Signs Fire exit signs should be included in all exit signs to mark the emergency exits. The safety signs include graphic symbols and notices. The signs must meet all fire safety signs requirements stipulated under legislation ( Approved Document B, 2013, 56). The fire doors must have fire safety signs to identify the operation of the door when closed, or in use among other factors ( Approved Document B, 2013, 126). The most important fire safety signs include the prohibition sign, safe condition signs, mandatory sign, hazard signs and the fire equipment signs (British Standard, 2002, 1). More importantly, it includes using the appropriate supplementary signs such as safety colours, and conspicuous colour, height and other graphical symbols. 3.0. Means of escape The student hub like other dwelling houses should have a number of escape routes based on several factors as presented above. The building has four operational staircases stipulating that the dwellers would make safe escapes. Escape routes refers to the exits available in case of a fire emergency such as doorways or the stairs among other areas. The width of an escape should at least be 1500mm when defined by walls, which is above the floor level ( Approved Document B, 2013, 18). However, for the means of escape to be safe, some factors such as the travel distances must be considered among others as presented below. The main emergency escape routes should be protected; the unprotected escape routes should be limited and minimum travel distances. The common corridors should be armed with automatic ventilators that open when the fire and smoke alarms are triggered, which also help the dwellers to reach safe spaces, which should include emergency lightings, and fire safety signs (Approved Document B, 2013, 16). The ventilator when used as a means of escape for the first and second floor should have an area of 1.5m2, when the ventilator opening can be operated manually also. Since the student hub has more than one staircases, both ends with openable ventilators operating automatically. . The student hub ventilators should be at least 1.0m2 on each corridor. The staircases should also be protected and have discharges that lead to final exits during emergencies (Approved Document B, 2013, 25). 3.1. Travel Distance The maximum travel distance from one side should be 30m. From a dead end, the maximum travel distance should be 7.5m. The student hub floors have four staircases; thus, the maximum travel distance should be 35m from each exit to the staircases. The travel distance is provided for the purpose group 2b as perceived in the diagram below. The first floor staircase is about 7m above the ground, with a second floor. When the escape route is of one direction, the maximum travel distance is 75m when the direction is more than one the travel distance limit is 30m (Approved Document B, 2013, 28). Figure Travel Distance Limitations (Approved Document B, 2013, 33) 3.2. Inner Room Inner rooms refers to the rooms where an escape route of a certain room is through another room. In such a situation, when fire starts in the escape route room called an access route is a major risk (Approved Document B, 2013, 28). Thus, the inner room are only acceptable in relation to several conditions such as the occupant capacity among others. The student hub does not have any inner rooms. However, according to (Approved Document B, 2013, 34) inner rooms have an occupant capacity of 60 for purpose group 2a, without exceeding the trael distances from escape routes as described above. The room cannot be in a place considered as special fire hazard among other legalities that must be met (Approved Document B, 2013, 35). 3.3. Number of Occupants The occupant capacity is the maximum number of persons that a room or building should hold. The capacity mandated is given through dividing the area of room with factor of the floor. The area of a room does not include the staircases, or any other fixed enclosures (Approved Document B, 2013, 32). The floor factor of most of the rooms in the student hub building is 1.0m2 based on accomodation number four as presented above. Floor Total occupants Based on floor space factor Ground floor 500 First floor 190 Second floor 250 3.4. Number of Escape Routes The number is dependent on the occupant capacity in a room and the travel distances from the escape routes. Buildings must have various escape routes to avoid been trapped in the case of a fire occurrence ( Approved Document B, 2013, 33). The figure below presents the minimum escape routes appropriate for buildings depending on the maximum number of persons in a room or building. Based on the above information, the minimum number of escape routes for the different floors is 2 escape routes. Therefore, the availability of the four different staircases presents a good plan on escape routes ( Approved Document B, 2002, 40). 3.5. Width of Escape Routes and Exits The escape routes widths and the exits is highly dependent on the occupant capacity as well. The minimum width of the corridors is 1050mm and 1600mm in dead-end corridors. The minimum width of the escape routes for the first floor is 1050mm while that of the gound floor and the second floor should be 5 per person m2 (Approved Document B, 2013, 36). 3.6. Vertical Escape Routes Vertical escape routes mainly consider the size and width of the protected staircases (Approved Document B, 2013, 43). 3.6.1. Width of Staircases The escape staircases width should not be less than the width of the exits. Thus, the minimum width of the student hub staircases should not exceed 1400mm when the vertical extent is 30m and above. More importantly, the width of the escape staircases at the final exit should not be reduced. However, since the student hub building stairs lead to the ground escape areas, the width may need to be increased but not to more than 1800mm (Approved Document B, 2013, 45). The staircases during an emergency can serve about 150 people, stipulating that the minimum width of the student hub staircases is 1000mm. 3.7. Evacuation Lift Lifts are not recommended, since in case of a fire there is a high chance that people maybe trapped inside the lift (British Standard, 1999, 3). However, it is necessary for easy and fast transportation of disabled persons. The process of installing the evacuation lift is provided to ensure it meets the requirements of protection and other safety features to ensure it is operational in a fire emergency (Approved Document B, 2013, 58). The student hub evacuation lift should be installed in the middle of both corridors where it has a maximum travel distance of 30mm from either side as a protected shaft. The evacuation lifts will lead to the ground floor, where then it is easier for the dwellers to reach a safe area. 3.8. Food and Drink Food and drink areas in the student hub are found in the first floor of the building. Thus, the room should have at least two exits or escape routes. The routes for escape should also lead directly to an exit from a room such as a stair without going to any other room. It should not be an inner room, but can be an access room. The escape routes and exits should meet the height, width and protections a recommended ( Approved Document B, 2013, 42). 3.9. Provision of Refuges Refuges for safely waiting for rescue and lifts used for evacuation require fire safety signs for identification. Refuge is a lobby with a fire safety sign saying keep clear. The refuge should be provides in all protected stairway where the people in the building will be rescued from (Approved Document B, 2013, 43). Thus, the four staircases in each floor should be protected and contain a refuge with the exception of the plant room. Refuge are mainly given for the disabled persons in a building though the number of wheelchairs in the building does not matter since the wheelchair should not affect the escape width route. Thus, it can be an open area such as the roof, or balcony among other (Approved Document B, 2013, 44). 4.0. Conclusions Numerous factors must be considered when developing buildings to ensure the safety of all dwellers irrespective the number of floors in case of a fire. The information above presents that factors such as detection and warning systems play an integral part in ensuring the safety of the dwellers. Thus, the systems must be installed in relation to the requirements depending n several factors of the building More importantly, to guarantee effective escape of the dwellers in case of a fire, it is important that factors such as the width of the escape routes, the number of escape routes, and travel distances be considered among others. for ensuring the safety of the people, it is important that the building meets all the factors named above among others for ensuring safety of the people. 5.0. References Approved Document B, 2013. Fire Safety: Buildings other than Dwellinghouses. The Building Regulations 2010, Volume 2, pp. 1-140. British Standard, 1999. Fire Precautions in the Design, Construction and Use of Buildings. Part 8: Code of Pactice for Means of Escape for Disabled People. BRE Fire Conference 2015, Volume Part 8, pp. 1-23. British Standard, 2002. Graphical Symbols and Signs. Safety Signs, Including Fire Safety Signs. Part 1: Specification for Geometric Shapes, Colors and Layout. BSI, pp. 1-21. BSI Standards Publication, 2016. Emergency Lighting - Part 1: Code of Practice for the Emergency Lighting of Premises. BS 5266-1:2016, Volume Part 1, pp. 1- 63. Appendices 5.1. Appendix 1 - Means of escape calculations Means of escape derive from various factors such as the width and height calculations. Some of the calculations ae given below. Thus, the main dominant calculation is the width of staircases, which can also be used to calculate the appropriate width for doorways among others. P = 200w + 50 (w – 0.3) (n – 1) Key P = People that can be served by the escape route (opening, staircase, or doorway) W = Width of the staircase (m) or the opening in question N = number of storeys served It can also be given by the equation below: W = P + 15n – 15 / 150 + 50n Floor area and total occupancy Area Name Area size () Floor space factor No. of occupants based on floor space factor No. of occupants based on number from plan 1 Ground Floor 79.8 30.0 300 500 2 First Floor 69.8 30 100 190 3 Second Floor 69.34 30 100 250 4 Plant Floor 9.48 10.0 60 0 Total 228.42 - 560 940 Ground Floor Area Name Area size () Floor space factor No. of occupants based on floor space factor No. of occupants based on number from plan 1 Student Reception 32.00 6.0 15 10 2 Dining/ social learning flexible space 40.12 1.0 85 70 3 Female/ Male WC 7.04 1.0 8 8 4 Lecture 1 Theatre 21.19 1.0 90 60 5 Lecture Theatre 2 21.19 1.0 90 60 6 Beach Theatre 7.67 1.5 60 44 7 Water Booster room 4.21 1.0 0 0 8 Kitchen space 12.21 7.0 25 20 9 Main Dining area Space 41.00 1.0 120 100 Total 186.63 - 408 372 First Floor Area Name Area size () Floor space factor No. of occupants based on floor space factor No. of occupants based on number from plan 1 First Aid Space 21.10 1.0 5 8 2 Tea Point 45.28 1.0 20 10 3 Student services/ learning/ teaching support staff 50.32 2 12 10 4 Counselling/ interview rooms 24.26 1.0 15 10 5 Male and Female WC 7.04 1.0 8 8 6 Faith room 10.28 1.0 15 10 7 Lecture Theatre 2 void 59.84 2 20 16 8 Lecture theatre 1 void 59.84 2 20 16 9 Projection room 7.43 1 5 4 10 5 * Group Study rooms 52.12 1 50 27 11 Meeting Video Conference 1 & 2 8.78 1.5 5 4 12 Social Learning / Impulse Snack 17.23 1.0 30 25 Total 363.52 - 205 148 Second Floor Area Name Area size () Floor space factor No. of occupants based on floor space factor No. of occupants based on number from plan 1 Admin / AV Tech Room 28.05 1.0 25 15 2 Tea Point 45.28 1.0 20 10 3 Meeting Space 39.34 1.0 15 10 4 Library Back of House 52.18 1.0 23 20 5 Information Systems Staff 8.20 1.5 15 12 6 Female/ Male WC 7.04 1.0 8 8 7 Service Core 11.77 1.0 12 3 8 Quiet Study 24.24 1.0 25 20 9 Post Grad IT 27.72 1.5 10 7 10 Video Editing 26.00 1.5 8 4 Total 269.82  - 161 109 5.2. Appendix 2 - Smoke control calculations Smoke control is given through three methods; pressurization, exhaust and airflow design methods. Smoke control is given by identifying the time the smoke consumes to rise. The information helps develop a graph showing how the smoke rises, which in turn is used to control the smoke. 5.3. Appendix 3 - External fire spread calculations Based on experiment 1, Read More