A System of Systems: Integrated Systems Code of Practice

In this interview, we ask Nicky Marshall, Chair of the group responsible for the development of the Integrated Systems Code of Practice, what brought about the new CoP and what it aims to achieve.

Building fire safety systems are regularly interfaced with other building services to address the life safety needs of building occupants in the event of fire. In 2020, the Fire Protection Association New Zealand gathered a voluntary group of organisations and industries to develop an Integrated Systems Code of Practice to address the issues arising from the integration of building systems through various stages of design, construction, testing and maintenance.

Chairing this group is Nicky Marshall, who has recently been appointed to the FPANZ board. She is also a trustee and board member for the Fire Protection Charitable Trust.

Having served on Industry advisory groups for the development of NZQA standards, Nicky has been the technical expert on the committee for the rewrite of New Zealand Standard 4503 on portable fire equipment, advised on

Nicky Marshall, a member of the FPANZ Board of Directors. the development of various codes of practice involving fire protection and contributed to the redevelopment of the Sprinkler Standard published in 2013 and 2020.

She serves as the FPANZ representative on the FP003 joint AS/ NZS fire protection committee as well as the FPANZ representative on the NZ Standards Hydrant committee for NZS 4510, which has just been published (2022).

Nicky will be presenting the ‘Launching the FPANZ Building Interface COP and Q&A session’ at 1.15pm – 2.15pm on Day Three of the Conference, and she’ll also be convening the Building Interface CoP & Workshop at 2.45pm - 4:00pm on Day three.

FNZM: Can you provide a brief introduction to the Code of Practice and the journey to launch?

NM: Around two years ago, the FPA decided there was a need for a Code of Practice to address issues that we were seeing with integrated building systems. In some cases, systems weren’t being integrated as they should, which meant that they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do in the event of a fire – and that can result in life safety issues.

An example is mechanical air handling systems not shutting down, which on sprinkler activation can cause heat to be blown away from a fire so that the right sprinkler heads are not operating. In such cases, sprinkler heads away from the fire are being operated by the heat and so water is not then getting to where it needs to go. That’s a big issue because the water can run out, the fire’s not being controlled, and people’s lives are being put at risk.

This was identified by Standards New Zealand as a project that needed to be done several years ago, but it got put on hold at that time and hadn’t been picked up again.

That’s why the FPA decided to progress it, and we got together a group of representatives from not only the fire industry but from all the industries involved, such as the lift industry, the mechanical industry, electrical, facilities management, commissioning engineers, territorial authorities, the fire engineers, and others.

Having brought together such a large group of people, it’s inevitably taken a bit of time to produce a Code of Practice and achieve agreement on it. The document has just been endorsed by the FPA Council and so it’s gone to publishing, which is a milestone we just reached last week!

Now we’ve got a code of practice that will walk people through the whole process from design right through to construction, installation, testing, commissioning, and then once the building is in use, ongoing testing to make sure that for the life of the building those integrated systems are going to remain integrated and do what they should be doing.

FNZM: What is the Code of Practice’s relationship with regulatory requirements; where does it sit?

NM: It kind of fills a hole really. The Building Code documents say that it needs to be done but they don’t really outline how to do it, who should be

involved in doing it, and all of the things you should be thinking about.

The document focuses on something that we’re calling a fire matrix. This is a chart that lists causes and effects. A cause might be a smoke detector operating. As a result of that, what other systems does it effect, what reactions do you want from all the other systems that are integrated with it.

The document includes a range of examples, including matrices for small buildings, apartment buildings, and more complex buildings, lists of what different standards and documents require, and things that you should be thinking about. It’s a process whereby a user can end up with a fire matrix that is of value, which starts off as a design fire matrix that is then reviewed by the people installing it – so it ultimately becomes a construction matrix.

Things sometimes change a little bit during construction, or more information needs to be added, so it then becomes an as built at the end of the job because you’re using the matrix for testing as well. It then goes on file as a record of how the building is supposed to perform and how the integrations are supposed to work so that the people who are maintaining it can ensure that everything is working as it should.

FNZM: Given the multiplicity of sectors involved, I imagine there’s a hefty requirement to keep on top of things as they change across a broad spectrum of areas.

NM: Things shouldn’t change a lot over the life of a building. Some buildings are just very simple. They will have a manual fire alarm system and the only thing it does is call the fire service and release your security locks. That might be the whole matrix.

While some buildings will be so simple, others, such as rest homes, start getting a bit more complex because they have managed evacuation processes and zones that have to do different things. Other examples might be data halls or refrigeration systems where there are systems and equipment that the client doesn’t want to turn off – and therefore lots of things that might need to be worked through.

The Codes of Practice provides a prompt for what to be thinking about and the types of things you should be including in a matrix. FNZM: As it stands, it’s a voluntary document. Will FPA members ultimately be required to comply with it?

NM: As a Code of Practice, it is a voluntary document, but it could be that a number of parties or bodies start to call it up as a “this is how you shall do it”. A territorial authority might say, for example, that it wants to see you following this process and that it expects to see a fire matrix submitted for consent and at the completion of the project.

The Code of Practice closely follows the new fire alarms standard NZS 4512-2021, and because it introduces – or clarifies – requirements around integrated systems, it will help people meet those requirements.

FNZM: What’s the plan in terms of raising awareness of the Code of Practice?

NM: Once it’s published, the Code of Practice will go up onto the FPA website and we’ll be launching it officially at the Fire NZ Conference. We’ll then get it out to all the other industries that have been involved in its development, and the representatives who were on the development group we will be talking with them about the different ways we might achieve that, such as newsletters, and magazines.

We’re also looking to make resources available for people to use to help things along, such as example templates so that they can create their own matrices.

Along with Covid and busy workloads, it’s been a big effort, and all the people who have contributed have done so on a voluntary basis. We really appreciate their help and input to get us to where we’ve got to – we couldn’t have done it without them.

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s a living document that will be regularly reviewed, and feedback is important – and welcomed – so that we can keep it relevant and improve it.

Nicky Marshall, a member of the FPANZ Board of Directors.