FIRE SAFETY
Knowledge is power Fire safety design summaries can help electrical contractors identify measures fitted in buildings at the time of construction, as well as any assumptions made By Jim McGonigal
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nce a nondomestic building is complete and occupied, it can be difficult to establish fully what fire safety measures are incorporated in it, or what assumptions were made by the designers of the fire strategy for it. To resolve this problem, fire safety design summaries (FSDS) are now required to be provided with completion certificates relating to the construction of, or conversion to, new non–domestic buildings, including extensions to existing buildings. To help with access to the information, the FSDS is required to be held on Part II of each local authority Building Standards Register. The aim is to make the FSDS available to the owner or occupier, duty-holders, fire risk assessors and enforcing authorities. The information will also be useful to electrical engineers who work in non-domestic buildings on life safety electrical equipment and need to know what the original design was. The requirement to provide a FSDS does not apply to domestic buildings. The FSDS is a document submitted on completion of the building works, so greater reliance can be placed on 10
its accuracy at the time the building was first occupied. The FSDS template allows for the fire safety measures in a building to be identified, including details of life safety systems such as: • Automatic fire detection and alarm systems; • Smoke/heat ventilation systems; • Emergency lighting systems; • Integration with non-fire systems, such as automatic doors, lifts and air-handling units • Provisions for reducing the spread of fire including compartmentation; • The means of escape. This regulation was introduced more than three years ago in Scotland, so the Scottish Government Building Standards Division (BSD) has now assessed its impact. During this process, industry practitioners made BSD aware that the online FSDS template should include a requirement for a signature by a responsible person
with appropriate training to be aware of the hazards involved. This person would be responsible for confirming the measures proposed in the fire strategy had in fact been installed. Without a signature, the form might be submitted without due care. The revised template was introduced on the BSD’s website in February and is available at www.gov.scot/Topics/ Built-Environment/Building/Buildingstandards/techbooks/firesafetdesgn. The template has been welcomed by local authority verifiers, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the wider fire engineering community. Half measures Several investigations in the UK have identified where the standard of fire safety measures at both the
‘The requirement for an identified person confirming that the fire safety measures are provided in accordance with the submitted building warrant gives confidence that what has been proposed in the design has been installed in the finished product’
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