Analysis of Risk Factors in High Rise Buildings in Abu Dhabi City - Case Study Example

Name Report (Management) 12 June 2008 Risk Factors in High Rise Buildings in Abu Dhabi 1.0 Executive Summary Most of the times, developing countries try to implant the landmarks of development in their big and important cities in an attempt to blindly imitate the West, without giving any serious consideration to the experience and thinking inherent in their planning and conception. High rise buildings are one such insignia of development that have almost taken over the burgeoning city of Abu Dhabi in a matter of a few years. This oil rich kingdom has experienced marked economic development and growth and is vying with the West to accumulate all the trappings of affluence and status in most of its major cities. Such a craze for high rise buildings has been unleashed without giving any due consideration to the planning and institutional organization that is required to neutralize the risk factors associated with urbanization and modernization (CNN, 2004). This has immensely increased the possibility of fires and other accidents and disasters in the high rise buildings at Abu Dhabi, especially in those buildings that were built during the dawn of the economic boom. The purpose of this report is to identify the risk factors in a typical high rise building at Abu Dhabi. Most of the high rise buildings appear to be fire resistive to a lay man and are periodically monitored by concerned professionals from time to time, so as to mitigate any possibility or risk of fire. However, a close scrutiny of a high rise building at Abu Dhabi by the experienced professionals revealed many disturbing flaws and lacunas that could certainly prove to be disastrous in the event of a fire. (Iklim, 1991) Appropriate recommendations have been made to neutralize and remove these risk factors, so as to ensure the safety and well being of the concerned staff, customers and the fire fighters in the event of a fire. Table of Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 2.0 Introduction 4 3.0 Salient Features of the Concerned Building 5 4.0 Risk Factors Found Inside and Outside the Given Building 5 4.1 Number of Floors 6 4.2 Time to Evacuate 8 4.3 Water Supply 8 4.4 Sub Standard Pipes 9 4.5 Falling Glass 9 4.6 Travel Distance 9 4.7 Fire Barriers 9 4.8 Traffic 9 5.0 Conclusions 9 6.0 Recommendations 10 Works Cited 12 2.0 Introduction High rise buildings are the urban behemoths that are often prone to fires and other man made and natural disasters. More then often it has been seen that the conflagrations in most of the high rise buildings often start or aggravate owing to the risk factors inherent in the construction, planning, designing, organization and administration of such mega structures (NYC, 2006). Hence timely risk assessment and evaluation form an important constituent of the planning and implementation procedures of the fire fighting and rescue services the world over. Thus a realistic and pragmatic attempt has been made in this report to recognize and identify the risk factors in a typical high rise building at Abu Dhabi, so as to facilitate the development of an appropriate Integrated Risk Management Plan by the concerned personnel and organizations. A fire in a high rise building is the end result of the accumulation of a number of factors that often lead to an evitable disaster. Risk assessment in a high rise building often enables the concerned authorities and organizations to take a realistic stock of the vulnerability of the installed systems within a building. The most surprising thing is that the magnitude of the overall loss due to a fire in any high rise building is often greater then the cost of replacing the individual reasons and factors that cause the fires to occur. Thus the basic purpose of this report is to identify all such individual risks and reasons. This will not only help in preventing the possibility of any major fire break out in the building under consideration but will also ensure the safety of the staff members and customers using this building and will enable a safe and appropriate response by the fire and rescue services in the event of a fire. Though the recommendations made do have some limitations, still prevention is always better then the cure. 3.0 Salient Features of the Concerned Building Hotel Al Jannat is a 54 story high rise building located almost in the middle of the Royal Avenue Street in the bustling City Centre at Abu Dhabi. On the right side of Hotel Al Jannat is located the Orchid Plaza while the Mansoor Trust building is placed at the left of it. The five star hotel under consideration is situated in a dense neighbourhood that houses a number of high rise and mid rise buildings. The front of this important building faces the Town Hall. Al Jannat has 4 underground levels and 54 above ground floors that remain fully occupied most of the time. In addition this building has two roof top helipads. The given building is almost square shaped and the construction for it started in 1997. The Improvement Trust authorities conducted the mandatory checks and supervisions before approving this hotel for occupancy in the year 2000. As most of the high rise buildings in Abu Dhabi, the framework of Al Jannat is made of heavy duty structural steel supporting concrete floors set over metal decks. The entire framework and floors assemblies were coated with fireproofing material at the time of construction. The outside of this building is covered with a granite curtain while allowing openings for several glass panelled windows. As any regular five star hotel in the United Arab Emirates, the given building has two stairways, four elevators, telephone and electrical lines, bathroom utility chases and HVAC ducts. 4.0 Risk Factors Found Inside and Outside the Given Building A carefully and meticulously conducted risk assessment survey of this building revealed multiple chinks in its fireproofing systems and administrative precautions that could start a major conflagration at any time. The overall layout and designing of this building was also not found to be fire fighter friendly. Some of the major risk factors detected inside and outside this building were: 4.1 Number of Floors Though being an oil rich country, UAE has the state of the art fire and rescue services, yet much of such facilities are concentrated around the oil wells and refineries. So far as the urban infrastructure is concerned, the fire and rescue planning was still at its nascent stage when this building was constructed. Various studies have shown that the number of floors that must be sanctioned in a high rise building should not merely be decided by the building’s quality of construction and overall planning, but the ability and accessibility of the neighbourhood fire and rescue services should also be taken into consideration (Osha, 2003). Taking this fact into consideration, the numbers of floors in Al Jannat (54) are certainly not conducive to the inapt fire fighting arrangements in the Abu Dhabi metropolitan area, which lack basic provisions like mechanical lifts and high power fire engines. High Risk Low 10 20 25 30 40 50 60 Floors (1) As illustrated by the graph (1), the risk assessment analysis by the competent experts revealed that the risk to the guests staying in the hotel potentially increased with the number of the floor on which they stayed. This was not only due to the faulty elevators, fire proofing systems and emergency exist arrangements in the hotel, but also due to the inability of the neighbourhood fire fighting services to rescue guests trapped at such a height. Night High Risk Day Low 10 20 30 40 50 55 60 Floors (2) As revealed by the graph (2), the risk to the guests staying in the hotel increases manifold during the night time, as compared to the fire that started in the daytime. One reason for this factor is that at night most of the rooms in the hotel remain occupied, thus increasing the potential of the loss of human life in the case of a fire. Secondly, at night, most of the guests may be expected to be asleep, thus not being in a position to respond promptly and timely to a fire situation. Any power failure in such a situation can further complicate the things for both the guests and the fire fighters. The guest staying at the upper floors will obviously find it difficult to escape from the hotel or be rescued. High Risk Low 10 20 30 40 50 55 60 Floors (3) The graph (3) shows that the risk to the fire fighters also potentially increases with successive increase in the number of floors. This is because the hotel has inappropriate fire proofing and also because the local fire fighters are not properly trained to tackle high rise fires and are also lacking in basic infrastructure and facilities. Thus the impractically high number of floors in the given building can prove to be a major risk factor in the event of a fire. 4.2 Time to Evacuate Considering the massive capacity of the given hotel, it is practically impossible to timely evacuate all the guests in the event of a fire. 4.3 Water Supply Improperly installed standpipe systems and too low pressure reducing valves will definitely hamper the water supply in case the building catches a fire (United States Fire Administration, 1991). 4.4 Sub Standard Pipes The pipes used to install automatic sprinklers are of dismally poor quality and will definitely burst at high temperatures. 4.5 Falling Glass The outer façade of this building being composed of glass panels, the falling glass debris will be a major hazard to the people and fire fighters, if the building catches a fire. 4.6 Travel Distance The nearest fire station is at least 25 Km away from the hotel. Thus the fire and rescue services will never get ample time to respond appropriately to a fire situation. 4.7 Fire Barriers Unauthorized breaches in the fire resistant assemblies and ventilation shafts devoid of fire dampers will definitely aid the spread of a fire both vertically and horizontally. 4.8 Traffic The streets surrounding this building being most of the times congested with traffic can obstruct a quick response by fire services in the case of a fire. 5.0 Conclusions All these discrepancies in the outlay and planning of this building pose a major threat to the safety and timely evacuation of the staff members, guests and fire fighters. The fire stations being distant will never get enough time to execute a rapid action response. Poor quality and substandard water supply will definitely hamper the timely dousing of a fire. The massive size of this building can virtually convert it into a trap with little possibility to timely evacuate the guests staying on the top floors (Dumfries Fire Authority, 2005). These lacunas can also compromise the safety of the buildings located in the vicinity in case of a fire disaster. Thus proper measures need to be taken in time to ensure the safety of the occupants, fire fighters and the entire neighbourhood in case of a fire. 6.0 Recommendations All the floors in the given building must be provided with easy to access fire escapes to ensure a rapid exist and evacuation in the case of a fire. All the floors should be fitted with fire extinguishers of the required model and make (Reliable, 2008). The employees should be properly trained to meet fire situations. The hotel should employ trained professionals to monitor the possibility and spread of fire on a continuous basis. Standpipe systems, pressure reducing valves and substandard water pipes should be immediately replaced on a priority basis. Arrangements for emergency electricity supply should be made preferably using the battery sources. The regular glass panes should be replaced by fire resistant and laminated glass. Arrangements for fire stations should be made in the vicinity of this dense neighbourhood. Breaches ii the fire resistant assemblies and the ventilation shafts should be fixed on a priority basis. The fire personnel located in the city should be properly trained and provided with the necessary infrastructure, provisions and equipment. Fire code enforcement program should be stringently enforced in this building. Emergency drills must be conducted regularly to ensure proper handling of the traffic in case of any fire in this locality. Works Cited Chicago high rise fire injures 37. 7 December 2004. CNN.Com. 12 June 2008 Dumfries and Galloway Fire Authority. Draft Integrated Risk Management Plan. Dumfries and Galloway, 2005 Evacuating High Rise Building. 26 January 2003. OSHO FACT SHEET. 12 June 2008. Fire Safety/High-rise Safety. 15 May 2006. NYC. 12 June 2008 High-rise Building Safety Systems. 14 June 2008. Reliable Fire Equipment Company . 12 June 2008 High-rise Office Building Fire. 23 February 1991. Iklim. 12 June 2008 United States Fire Administration. National Fire Data Centre. High-rise Office Building Fire. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, 1991. Read More