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Fire Safety Regulations

...compliance in the work place

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Sprinklers

Sprinkler

Sprinklers - the facts

  • Protection? Sprinklers are designed to save lives, but because they control fires so quickly they also significantly reduce property damage
  • Fire damage? Sprinkler systems can contain and extinguish a fire in less time than it may take the Fire and Rescue Service to attend the incident
  • Water damage? Only the sprinklers closest to the fire will activate. Given any fire situation, a sprinkler system will use significantly less water than the Fire and Rescue Service
  • False activation? The Sprinkler discharge due to manufacturing defect is very unlikely at around 1 in 16 million – you have more chance of winning the national lottery jackpot!
  • Cost effective? Installed during new construction, sprinklers cost just 1% to 1.5% of the total build cost and residential sprinklers may be used as a compensatory feature in the absence of more traditional fire safety measures

 

How do sprinklers operate?

  • Sprinklers are self contained valve units within a network of pipes, filled with water.
  • When a fire starts it radiates heat upward towards the ceing where the sprinkler heads are located.
  • At a predetermined temperature - around 68 degrees centigrade, normally one of two things happen, depending upon the design:
  • Liquid inside a glass tube expands sufficiently to break the glass and release the plug holding in the water.

Or

  • A fusible plate melts to release the water in the pipe.
  • Water then flows through the sprinkler head and onto the diffuser plate where water is sprayed out to cover the room.
  • All sprinklers operate independently due to heat, it is not the case that one going off will set the others off. Normally only one sprinkler head operating will be sufficient to control the fire, this will be the closest one to the fire.
 

A sprinkler in action

A sprinkler in action A sprinkler in action A sprinkler in action

 

Use of sprinklers

Sprinklers in non commercial premises

You never know when or where a fire will start. What if you could have a firefighter in every room ready to deal with a fire the minute it starts?

That is exactly what sprinklers are - instant firefighters!

With a sprinkler system, if one of the heads detects a fire it immediately starts to spray water on the fire and an alarm is sounded to warn occupants to escape.

Residential fire sprinklers are small. In fact, they fit in so well that you have to point them out for people to notice them. Average sized rooms may only need one sprinkler. They can be installed in ceilings or high on a wall and can be attached to the same water supply that feeds your home’s plumbing fixtures.

Use in historic or listed buildings

Fire threatens all buildings and its effects can be disastrous. In the case of historic buildings, the loss of property that forms part of a cultural resource is finite, irreplaceable and whose architectural and historical integrity can be destroyed forever. Traditionally fire protection of historic buildings has been largely based on structural fire protection, for example:

  • Fire resisting walls, floors and ceilings
  • Fire doors (with self closing devices)

Alternative protection may be achieved by adopting a fire engineering approach. This could see the reduction of traditional protection. An example of this approach is a Sprinkler system. Sprinklers provide an efficient, reliable and economic protection system.

  • Sprinkler heads are intrusive? Modern heads lie flush with the ceiling, beneath a barely visible cover plate, coloured to blend in with surrounding décor
  • False activation could affect the building? The likelihood of this is considered to be 1:16 million
  • Water damage will be considerable and widespread? Sprinkler heads operate independently at up to 60 litres per minute. The Fire and Rescue Service will extinguish a fire using up to 1000 litres per minute from each hose
  • Fire controlled? Sprinkler system in around 2 minutes, Fire and Rescue Service attendance up to 8 minutes

Partial systems may be used to cover higher risk areas of the building. Pre-action sprinkler systems remain dry until both smoke detection and sprinkler head are activated, virtually eliminating the chance of accidental discharge of water. In all historic buildings a fire risk assessment should carried out with prevention being the primary consideration.

Use in houses in multiple occupation

Around 600 lives are lost each year to fire. The majority of these are likely to happen in rented accommodation and in particular Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO). A fire risk assessment should be carried out for all HMOs and prevention should be the primary consideration. Residential fire sprinklers are designed to save lives, but because they control fires so quickly they also reduce property damage significantly.

A suitably certificated residential sprinkler system, could allow design freedoms to the property, such as:

  • Doors of sound construction (fire doors not required)
  • Grade D Category LD2 fire alarm system (mains interlinked detectors with battery back up)
  • Floors, walls and ceilings of sound construction (no requirement for over boarding of floors)
  • Basement - one 30 minute fire door or 2 doors of sound construction
  • No lobby protection
  • No fire extinguishers

Given the design freedoms and a typical sprinkler installation cost of £2500, a sprinklered system could be an innovative and cost effective solution to all your fire safety needs.

 

Sprinklers - further Information

  • British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association