The Various Fire Safety Management Strategies and Building Regulations - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction : The Anywhere community centre is located in Preston. It provides a range of community services to the local people present there. The services are care and counselling, and the provision of advocacy, advice and information and an education centre which provides courses in IT, languages etc. The centre can also be used by the local community for other functions such as, weddings, religious meetings, family gatherings etc. Following the success of the centre over the years new and bigger facilities are being planned. The new building will include the following facilities like a hall, stage room, chapel, offices, youth room, infants rooms, kitchen, oil store and other facilities. Being the safety advisor for this new construction, I propose the following fire safety standards and building regulations for the proper construction of the community centre. This report provides the safety guidelines in two parts. The first part deals with the building regulations based on the building regulations 2006 and the approved document 2007. The purpose of this report is to get the permission of the planning authorities who state that the new building will get approval only if existing building is up to the standards demanded by modern Building Regulations. The second part discusses the different fire safety strategies for the building in the light of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The fire safety aspects like escape routes, warning systems, fire fighting systems , access by fire rescue service personnel, stability of the building and others aspects have been dealt in detail. Part 1. Building regulations as applicable to the Anywhere community centre : The regulations for the Anywhere community centre are based on the Building Regulation 2006 and approved document B for buildings other than dwelling places. Means of Fire detection and warning : Early detection of fire and early warning is very important as this could lead to saving the life of many people. The advantages of early fire warning includes more available time for the occupants to escape , more time available for the fire service personnel to search and rescue. The warning system must be based on public address system (verbal instructions ) as other types of alarms may not be recognized by the people as fire alarms. The design and positioning of the warning system is also important and for the Anywhere community centre this has been proposed to be done according to the standards of BS – 5839 -1 (2002). ‘Manual call points, often known as ‘break glass’ call points, enable a person who discovers a fire to immediately raise the alarm and warn other people in the premises of the danger’ says the HM’s Fire Safety and risk assessment ( 2000 ) . These manual call points are proposed to be placed at a distance such that a person need not travel more than 45m to the alarm point. Majority of the call points are to be installed in the staff locations as the staff can better manage the warning system and help in rescuing the people. Automatic fire systems based on smoke detectors are also planned to be installed to provide automatic warning of fire. For the community centre , the fire detection and warning systems are to be placed at the kitchen , store , infant and youth rooms and in the hall. The break glass call points are at office, near kitchen , in the lounge , inside the hall as shown in the map. Means of escape during fire : Escaping during fire is important and the escape route has to be planned properly. During the construction, special materials have to be used for the escape route. The number of escape routes depends on the planned area of the building and the number of people using the building. The community centre is a public place were they usage may be different at different time durations. So the number of people or the number of occupants need to be determined by the area of the rooms and their corresponding floor space factors as quoted by building Regulation ( 2002). This regulation prescribes the guidelines for fire safety in buildings other than dwelling houses. According to the specifications in the map, the rooms are infant room , youth room . These two rooms have an area of nearly 76000 sq.m. the floor space factor for a room according to building regulation is 10.0. This gives a population density of about 7600 persons. The hall and stage have an area of 118600 sq.m and can hold around 79000 people for a floor space factor of 1.5. The chapel may hold 3900 persons with an area of 3963 sq.m. the remaining store , kitchen and future store and oil store all together could accommodate 72400 people. The car park can hold 10 persons on the basis of 2 persons per car park area as in Building Regulation. These figures show the population density of the Anywhere community centre. The number of escape routes according to building regulation is 1 route for 60 persons, 2 routes for 600 persons and 3 routes for more than 600 persons. For the calculated population density of this community centre there should be minimum of three escape routes in the rooms for safe passage of the people. These escape routes have to be planned carefully. The escape routes are planned – one in the lounge towards the entrance , another in the left side of the building connecting the hall, chapel and office areas , the third is planned to be along the right most side of the building combining the population of the infant room and youth room. These are shown in the proposed new map as solid lines which can resist 30 minutes of fire exposure. The width of the escape routes are planned to be based on the building regulations which says that the width must be 1500m for more than 220 persons. The escape capacity of the building is number of escape routes multiplied by maximum persons that can pass through the escape route. For this community centre the escape capacity is 3 X 220 which is 660. The travel distance is the minimum distance that a person must travel to reach the fire escape route. For the Anywhere community centre, the travel distance has to be determined with the position of the escape routes in mind. Considering the first escape route through the lounge, the travel distance from the hall can be minimum and would be within the acceptable limit of 18m . In two directions . This fire escape route could accommodate the major population towards exit in case of fire. The second route in the right side of the building can be used to exit youth and children from their rooms as they will have to travel less than 9m in one direction which is acceptable by the building regulations . The third escape route can be reached by people in the hall as they can travel less than 18m in two directions and the people in the chapel and office can travel to this third escape route by travelling less than 9m in one direction. Structural stability : Any building should provide good structural stability instead of collapsing in the event of fire. This structural stability is important as it determines the time available for the escape and rescue of people. If the building collapses in a short span of time then the loss may be more. To have good structural stability the materials have to be chosen carefully during construction. The construction of this community centre is proposed to involve fire resisting door, fire resisting glazing , fire resistant flooring finishes and fire resisting wall finishes . The common materials that are advised for this centre are according to British Standards - Class 0 materials and Class 1 materials. These include materials made of timber, hardboard, block board , thermosetting plastic materials and glass reinforced polyesters , wood – wood cement slabs , metal fibre tiles , sheets with cement binding or sheets with resin binding etc. The materials used in the support structure for the roofing must also be chosen carefully as these must resist and withstand the fire without collapsing. For the Anywhere community centre these materials are chosen to be softwood purlins with glass insulating material between rafters. The windows are made of plastic covered patent glazing. The floor finish is of fabric reinforcement. These materials confirm to the guidelines pertaining to the building regulation to prevent fire causalities. The proposed means of fire fighting in the community centre : The infant room has been provide with fire extinguishers and emergency lights. The walls of the kitchen and store are of fire resistive materials. The glass break call points are planned to be located in the office and lounge. The hall is to be provided with escape route on both sides and sufficient amount of emergency lighting and fire extinguishers. Hose reels , rails , elevators for rescue are also positioned. Automatic sprinklers are located in kitchen and infant room. Heat alarm and stage alarms are to be placed so that the intensity of the fire. Part -2 . Fire strategy for Anywhere community centre : The fire strategy is based on the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The RR(FS)O places greater emphasis on building owners, managers and occupiers to carry out fire risk assessments, to provide and maintain suitable fire precautions to protect persons resorting to the building or premises . So the fire safety management strategy for this community centre is based on the this regulatory reform. Strategies for Fire precautions and preventions : The common fire preventive measures involves good house keeping , maintain proper storage of items , isolating dangerous materials , ensuring electrical safety , avoid smoking, avoiding hazards in escape routes. Also proper disposal of waste must be done to avoid accidents. Combustible materials must not be stored as they are prone to fire accidents. For the Anywhere community centre, the most important preventive action is required in the kitchen area. This kitchen also seems to be near the infants room hence the kitchen house keeping must be regular. The furnishing and other storage shelves in the infant room and kitchen must be made of fire resistive materials. Proper ventilation has been planned for the kitchen to avoid accidents. The hall area is also planned to have less cushions and curtains as these may lead to rapid fire spread. Strategies for fire fighting equipments and systems : Any building must have sufficient fire fighting equipments. These equipments have to be installed at proper places to be available for immediate use when there is fire. Fire can be of Class A , Class B, Class C , Class D, Class F. to handle any of these types of fire , the Anywhere community centre is proposed to have water extinguishers to fight Class A type of fire . Foam extinguishers are recommended to control fire of type Class A and Class B. Also Class F extinguishers are proposed to be present to avoid fire due to cooking gas and oil. This type of F extinguisher is considered to be important as the Anywhere community centre has an oil store and kitchen . Smoke control systems are proposed to be installed in all rooms , especially one than one of this system is expected to be present in the hall which could account for more population density . For arrangements for fire fighting personnel to enter any room has been proposed. From the map is can be seen that the main access available for the fire fighters is through the entrance lounge and office area. The oil store has been planned in the left corner for easier fire fighting . Fire hydrants are properly placed both inside and outside the building to enable quick action when there is fire. Accounting for the fire spread : The spread of fire depends on many factors. The fire spread van be internal spread and external spread. Internal fire spread can be avoided by providing proper internal lining. The choice of material for the furnishing and fittings are proposed to be made according the National standards of Class 0 materials. For the rooms and lounge the materials under D - s3 , d2 European class of linings have been recommended. For the stores and kitchen lining C - s3 , d2 European class have been recommended and for the hall, the lining is proposed to be B – s3 , d2. Roof lights are recommended to be made of thermo plastic material . External fire spread in the Anywhere community centre has to be taken care of as the community centre has a natural ventilation. Ventilation general has air flow which leads to more fire spread. The outer walls are made of smooth brown facing bricks , this avoids external fire spread . Also portal frames are supposed to be used which could provide fire protection. Safety assurance : In spite of proper installations of devices and proper escape routes, fire accidents may occur. Fire safety can be assured by having proper checking of the systems and installations in a regular manner. Routine checking of the escape routes, escape route lightings , fire fighting equipments , fire warning systems and others have been advised . Conclusion : This report has been formulated to discuss the various fire safety management strategies and building regulations for the Anywhere community centre. This centre provides diverse facilities to the local people and hence the safety of the people occupying this community centre has to be given priority. As a fire safety advisor I have proposed various strategies under two parts. They include means of fire detecting and fire warning mechanisms . The design of escape routes for the population density of the building. Calculations have also been made for the escape capacity and travel distances in the event of fire. The structural characteristics of the building for proper stability with respect to fire has been also analysed and advised. Later the fire strategies with respect to prevention and precautions of fire, strategies to control internal and external fire spread, strategies for fire fighting equipments have also been discussed. These fire safety management have been discussed according to the regulatory reform fire safety order. References : 1.The Building Regulations 2000: Approved Document B fire safety. The Stationery Office. ISBN 0 11 753911 2. 2. BS 5839-1 , 2002 , Fire detection and alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design ,installation, commissioning and maintenance. British Standards Institution. ISBN 0 580 40376 9. 3. HM government , 2000 , Fire Safety and risk assessment. Small and medium Places of assembly. Read More