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UPGRADING FIRE SAFETY IN EXISTING HIGH-RISE APARTMENT BUILDINGS

Hank Van Ravenstein
Unitech Consultants Pty Ltd
&
Stephen Kip
FIEAust, M. Eng
BodyCote WarringtonFire

INTRODUCTION

The Victorian Office of Housing of the Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for 44 high-rise apartment buildings throughout the Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia.

As part of the Departments ongoing responsibility to ensure these buildings continue to meet acceptable community standards it was decided to establish a voluntary fire safety upgrade program for these buildings, to be implemented progressively across all buildings, as funds and needs dictated.  This paper describes that process and how the project was developed and implemented.

BACKGROUND

Governments have traditionally constructed residential accommodation buildings for a range of building occupants in the community.  In Victoria from the late 1950’s onwards 44 high-rise apartment buildings were constructed to house residents who could otherwise not afford rental housing accommodation.  These buildings utilised the fire safety approach common at the time including substantial passive fire protection between apartments and internal manual fire-fighting equipment.

Since then new technologies and a change in regulatory focus from passive to active fire safety systems (particularly fire sprinklers and smoke detection) has resulted in these buildings varying substantially from what would be required of a similar building constructed to today’s minimum regulatory standards (the Building Code of Australia).

Whilst existing buildings do not necessarily need to meet current standards, Governments have a significant duty of care to continually consider and assess the level of fire safety in premises they own and operate.  Included within this duty of care obligation is an assessment as to whether or not an existing building ought to be upgraded to meet current standards.

The project was developed in two parts as follows:

Part 1:

  • Appointment of a Fire Safety Engineer (FSE)1 to develop a generic ‘Fire Safety Strategy’ for the upgrade of typical high-rise housing apartment buildings including a review of the current prescriptive fire safety requirements of the Building Code of Australia (BCA), to determine reasonable levels of fire safety upgrade for existing buildings.
  • Appointment of a Relevant Building Surveyor (RBS)2 to review the BCA compliance issues and grant the necessary approvals for any upgrade work.
  • Consultation with the relevant fire brigade (MFB)3, FSE and RBS to develop a generic ‘Fire Safety Engineering Design Brief’ in accordance with the Fire Safety Engineering Guidelines4.
  • Development of a guideline and template for a typical fire brigade consent processes5 that may be required so that subsequent building specific submissions would be consistently and reliably considered and approved by the fire brigade.
  • Approval of the final ‘Fire Safety Strategy’ within the ‘Fire Safety Engineering Brief’ by all relevant stakeholders.

Once this process was complete, the DHS allocated funding as it became available to each individual building.  For each building the following approach was taken.

Part 2:

  • A site inspection and review of existing conditions and fire safety systems in each building by the FSE and RBS.
  • Preparation of a Fire Safety Engineering Report by the FSE to assess and then confirm compliance with the Fire Safety Strategy, including any recommended upgrade measures necessary.
  • Preparation of site specific fire brigade dispensation applications5 for matters such as booster and fire panel locations, available water supply etc, as needed.
  • Preparation of an ‘Essential Safety Measures Maintenance Schedule’6 based on the existing and new fire safety systems in the building.
  • Final approval and sign-off by the fire brigade, FSE and RBS of the upgrade work.

The assessment of the high-rise buildings was undertaken in conjunction with the MFB, FSE and RBS and the Engineering Services Branch, Asset Improvement of the Department of Human Services Victoria, to implement a consistent program of works.  The aim of the process was to provide a standardised level of fire safety for all the High-rise buildings, over agreed timeframes.  This process is now published by DHS as Capital Development Guideline, 7. 9 Fire risk management for multi-storey housing7.

ISSUES FOR THE BUILDING OWNER

Prior to the commencement of the general high-rise upgrade program and prior to the Fire Safety Engineering Report there had not been a consistent approach to the interpretation of the Fire Safety requirements of the Building Code of Australia.  The issue for the Office of Housing was that Building Surveyors, Municipal Councils and Fire Safety Engineers could arrive at differing interpretations of ‘reasonable’ levels of fire safety8for an existing building and even differing interpretations of how to apply the BCA to any new work required.  This resulted in a multiplicity of different solutions across all the High-rise buildings.

BACKGROUND TO THE FIRE SAFETY STRATEGY

Building regulations are not usually retrospective, i.e. they do not require upgrading of existing buildings to present day requirements except in special circumstances9 such as special retrospective legislation, or where major building work or a change of use is proposed.

Even where existing buildings are recycled or refurbished compliance with present day requirements is not automatically required.  For example, the Guidelines for achieving fire safety when recycling a building published by the Australian Uniform Building Regulations Coordinating Council (now the Australian Building Codes Board who also publish the BCA) states;

"it should not automatically be a cause for concern if a re-cycled building exhibits a level of fire safety somewhat lower or different from that which would arise from a full application of all BCA (DtS) requirements ".

This means the minimum technical standard required of an existing building is usually the building regulations (if any) applicable at the time of original construction of the building, then any retrospective legislation applicable to existing buildings (i.e. smoke alarms, sprinklers, swimming pool fencing etc) then any upgrade safety matters required by the relevant authorities10.  The maximum possible requirement for existing buildings is generally the BCA Performance Requirements, which is the minimum requirement for new buildings).  This process is described graphically in Diagram no. 1.

As the buildings date back more than 40 years, the regulations applicable at that time have not been considered, instead the BCA performance requirements were used as the reference benchmark, in the first instance.

This review also raised the issue of whether existing buildings could be assessed as complying with the BCA Performance Requirements, when compliance with the relevant fire safety provisions of the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the BCA was not achieved.  This has always been a potential outcome of determining compliance with the BCA, but is not commonly used.

Diagram 1: Compliance guide for safety levels in existing building

THE DHS FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT PROCESS

DHS defines the fire risk management process11 as the process of determining by fire safety audits, fire safety re-audits and fire risk assessments whether an appropriate level of fire safety (the agreed fire safety strategy) is achieved in a building.  The objective of a fire risk assessment is to satisfy the relevant performance requirements of the BCA for all buildings, regardless of age and to include any additional supplementary objectives which may apply.  The management of this cyclic process includes these stages:

 

Stage 1: Undertake a building fire safety audit of the existing building.

Note: For most buildings the audit objectives will be to determine compliance with the relevant fire safety provisions of the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the BCA. The audit criteria will be to satisfy the relevant fire safety Performance Requirements of the BCA and these Guidelines.

Stage 2: Undertake the appropriate fire risk assessment to develop a fire safety strategy and assess the audit findings against the fire safety strategy.  Where the audit findings indicate variations from the relevant fire safety provisions of the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the BCA, the fire risk assessment process, in accordance with the methodology in the IFEG, can be used to determine whether any further measures are necessary.

Note: The fire safety strategy will be to comply with these guidelines (including the relevant performance requirements of the BCA and any supplementary objectives) and the fire risk assessment will include outcomes that may require work to be undertaken or systems to be installed, training to be implemented and recommendations for ongoing maintenance, verification and management of the fire safety systems and staff and occupant profiles. Even if the building completely complies with the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the BCA, a fire risk assessment must be undertaken to address all fire safety matters.

Stage 3: Approval of the fire safety strategy and Fire Engineering Report (FER) outcome.

Stage 4: Preparation of a fire safety handbook for the building. The fire safety handbook is to document the fire safety strategy developed in the fire risk assessment.

Stage 5: Implementation of the program of work, training and maintenance (including annual essential safety measures and Department of Human Services reporting requirements).

Stage 6: Undertake a fire safety re-audit (after no more than 5 years) to confirm the original fire safety strategy is being satisfied.

Note: The audit and re-audit process confirms the fire safety strategy to support life safety, planning and budgeting on a five year rolling basis. The audit criteria will be to satisfy the fire safety strategy documented in the fire safety handbook (that is, the purpose of a re-audit is to confirm the original fire safety strategy is being satisfied). It is not usually the intention or outcome of a re-audit that existing fire safety systems be replaced or updated only because they may have become superseded by amendments to the relevant fire safety provisions of the DtS provisions of the BCA since the original audit. Where those regulatory changes have occurred, they must be considered as part of a fire risk assessment.

Stage 7: Implementation of the program of work, training and maintenance that may have resulted from the fire safety re-audit.

Note: Where a building has not substantially been altered or changed since the original audit, it is not expected that these works (if any) would be significant.

Stage 8: A new fire safety audit for the building, after no more than 10 years.

Note: For most buildings the audit objectives will be to determine compliance with the relevant fire safety provisions of the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the BCA and the audit criteria will be to satisfy the relevant fire safety Performance Requirements of the BCA and these Guidelines, current at that time. Where these have not changed significantly in the previous 10 year period the new fire safety strategy may not be significantly different to the original.

DHS Guideline 7.97 includes the prescriptive outcomes of a generic fire risk assessment and therefore compliance with the Guideline satisfies the requirement for a fire risk assessment.

DEVELOPING THE DHS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINE, 7. 9 FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT FOR MULTI-STOREY HOUSING

The Part 1 generic Fire Safety Strategy provided a consistent fire engineering and legislative approach for the upgrade of all the Director of Housing Victoria owned High-rise buildings; enabling appropriately qualified professional advisers such as registered Fire Safety Engineers and Building Surveyors, to audit and assess fire compliance, including assessing and reporting on acceptable standards of fire safety, in specific buildings.

The DHS negotiated with the MFB, FSE and several Relevant Building Surveyors12 with a view to assessing the buildings and arriving at a consistent view to be applied across all the DHS owned High-rise buildings.

Each building was inspected and a report prepared determining and reviewing the existing conditions and fire safety systems, with the assessment encompassing all the applicable elements of the building related to the fire safety components which were set against the objectives and limitations of the BCA, with the aim to increase the level of fire safety to an acceptable statutory standard.

The standard was set out in the Part 1 generic Fire Safety Strategy and this effectively established a mutually agreed position between the stakeholders.

Following the Part 1 generic Fire Safety Strategy, a Fire Engineering Brief (“FEB”) was prepared for each building which outlined the methodology and requirements necessary for the conceptual fire safety strategy to be determined.  After acceptance of the FEB the Fire Engineering Report (FER) was then developed so as to confirm compliance with the Fire Safety Strategy, BCA and Building Regulations (the report followed a similar methodology to that in the Fire Engineering Guidelines, Second Edition, for an Evaluation Extent 2 System Performance Evaluation) for each building that was based on the FEB.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the fire safety upgrade were based on increasing the level of fire safety in excess of that already afforded within the building, having regard to their statutory obligations.  It should be noted that the buildings were constructed to the statutory levels at the time of construction and the generic Fire Safety Strategy is in excess of minimum statutory requirements.

The main objectives of the FEB were to:-

  • characterise and define the fire safety issues;
  • identify the potential fire hazards;
  • confirm the conceptual fire safety strategy; and
  • define one or more trial concept designs that were considered likely to satisfy the fire safety criteria.

The key elements of the FER process were to:

  • secure agreement from all parties as to the design objectives and acceptance criteria;
  • agree on a conceptual fire safety strategy; and
  • specify the trial concept design and requisite fire scenarios for analysis.

FIRE SAFETY ASSESSMENT

As part of the Part 1 assessment process the following summary table13was determined outlining the various Building Code of Australia requirements as they relate to fire safety and indication of the level of compliance to relevant clauses of the code.

BCA Fire safety matter

Voluntary BCA DtS benchmark for a similar new building

Agreed FSE, RBS, DHS and MFB outcome

Fire-resistance and Stability

Type A construction, Fire Resistance Levels2 (FRL's) 90190/90 for residential, up to FRL 180/180/180 for retail

Existing structure agreed satisfactory after review and inspection

Compartmentation and Separation

Separation between sole-occupancy units (SOU's) FRL   -/60/60

Existing structure agreed satisfactory after review and inspection

Protection of Openings

Penetrations through fire-resisting structure to achieve the FRL of the element

Existing structure agreed satisfactory after review and inspection

Fire hazard properties of materials

Compliance to BCA C1.10 or  C1.1Oa for new wall, ceiling and floor linings

Existing installations agreed satisfactory after review and inspection

Protection of Openings

Doors to SOU's to achieve FRL -/60/30 and be self-closing

Doors of either solid core timber or FRL -/60/30, but do not need to be self-closing

Protection of Openings

Doors to rooms not SOU's but opening to public corridors to achieve FRL -/60/30 and be self-closing

Doors of either solid core timber or FRL -/60/30, but not self-closing

Provision for Escape

Two stairs to be provided

Exiting stairs to remain

Construction of Exits

Stairs to be fire-isolated

Stairs to be smoke isolated

Fire-fighting Equipment (fire hydrants)

Fire hydrant system in accordance with AS 2419.1

Variations to the hydrant system to be approved by the MFB on an individual building basis

Fire-fighting Equipment (fire hose- reels)

Fire hose-reel system in accordance with AS 2441

Existing fire hose reels acceptable

Fire-fighting Equipment

(automatic fire sprinklers)

Automatic fire sprinkler system in accordance with AS 2118.1

Sprinklers to be installed with variations as agreed

Fire-fighting Equipment (fire extinguishers)

Fire extinguishers in accordance with AS 2444

No fire extinguishers to be installed

Fire-fighting Equipment (fire control centres or rooms)

Fire control centres for buildings with an effective height greater than 25m in accordance with BCA E1.8

To be assessed on individual building basis in the FER, however information system (emergency book or similar) to be provided, to the satisfaction of the MFB

Smoke Hazard Management

Automatic smoke detection & alarm system in accordance with BCA Specification E2.2a

Stair pressurisation system to fire isolated exits in accordance with AS 1668.1

Variations to smoke hazard management as agreed by all stakeholders

 

Lift Installations (emergency and stretcher lift)

Stretcher facility lifts in accordance with BCA clause 3.2

Emergency lifts in accordance with BCA E3.4

Fire service controls in accordance with BCA E3.7

No stretcher facility, emergency lifts or fire service controls as agreed by all stakeholders

CONCLUSION

The process described herein has developed a consistent fire safety upgrade program for the 44 DHS high-rise buildings to ensure these buildings continue to meet acceptable community standards.  The program is being implemented progressively across all buildings, as funds and needs dictate.

The project highlights that building owners can voluntarily undertake fire safety upgrade programs, in consultation with relevant authorities, by using appropriate engineering methodologies and procedures, without fear of unnecessary, expensive or unexpected outcomes.

FOOTNOTES

Warrington Fire Research (Aust) Pty Ltd now known as BodyCote WaringtonFire (Aust) Pty Ltd, see http://www.wfra.com.au/.

Design Guide Building Surveyors.

The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board

The Fire Engineering Guidelines Second Edition, now known as the International Fire Engineering Guidelines, Edition 2005, published by the Australian Building Codes Board, Canberra, Australia.

In Victoria, all building work that includes fire safety matters that relate to fire-fighting operations and do not meet the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of the BCA, must obtain the consent of the fire brigade in accordance with Regulation 309 of the Building Regluations 2006.

In the State of Victoria, all buildings, other than Class 1 single dwellings, require essential safety measures to be maintained and verified on at least an annual basis. Examples of essential safety measures are smoke alarms, sprinklers, exits and exit doors and floor and wall linings. Further details, and a copy of the required annual essential safety measures report form, are available here ...

Available here ...

The Building Act 1993 and Building Regulations 2006 allow a Relevant Building Surveyor to dispense from BCA compliance and allow a ‘reasonable’ level of compliance, in certain circumstances (Regulations 502, 503, 608, 609 and 1011 of the Building Regulations 2006).

Under the Building Act 1993 these special circumstances include; installation of smoke detectors in existing domestic buildings (including the DHS high-rise apartments), installation of swimming pool safety barriers to existing pools, and installation of fire sprinklers to certain residential buildings (not required for the DHS high-rise apartments).

The Building Act 1993 only has power to require upgrade work in existing buildings when the use of the building contravenes the Act or the building regulations; the building is unfit for occupation; or the building is a danger to the life, safety or health of any member of the public or of any person using the building, land or place or to any property.

See Section 5 of Guideline 7.1 here ...

Once the Part 1 process was completed, any appropriately qualified and experienced registered building surveyor was able to undertake the project, in a consistent manner.

Extract from the FEB

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FIRE STOPPING OF SERVICE PENETRATIONS –
WHAT ARE OUR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AND ARE WE GETTING IT CORRECT?

By John Rakic – General Manager, Fire Containment

It has been some time since I put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and provided some of my thoughts in relation to passive fire protection issues. Many of the readers will remember me as the founder and previous Executive Officer of PFPA which was a post I had for over 6 years and today I find myself back in the commercial world as a Principal of Fire Containment, a manufacturer and supplier of fire stopping products.

The recent Victorian bushfires and the unthinkable number of fatalities, lost homes and property, made me stop and think of my roles and responsibilities and exposure as a Principal, if there was a serious fire and the products I manufactured and sold were put to the test in a real life fire.  Believe it or not, it has happened before on several occasions that I know of, and so far in all cases the product have provided the required “Fire Containment” attributes they were designed and fire tested for.

In this article I want to explore the roles and responsibilities of various parties involved in the design, specification, installation and certification of fire stopping systems. Today, more than ever before, especially in light of the new materials we are using as services, we need to ensure that look a bit more carefully into fire stopping of holes in fire barriers around services.

A specification or annotation on a drawing of “fire stop to one hour” or “maintain FRL of fire wall” does not typically result in effective fire stopping.

Fire Ratings

Fire ratings manifest themselves as Fire Resistance Levels, or FRL’s for short in our Building Code of Australia. An FRL provides the duration or time for which a fire barrier such as a fire wall will resist the passage of flames and hot gases and maintain a non-fire side or cold-side temperature below acceptable thresholds.

An FRL or fire rating is determined by conducting a specimen assembly to a full scale fire resistance test to Australian Standard, AS1530 Part 4.

The results of these fire tests provide manufacturers and suppliers of fire ratings for their product systems.

Fire Stopping Systems

One important and often misunderstood concept with fire ratings is that they do not apply to products, but to the as installed system.

For protection of a service penetration or opening through a fire barrier, the fire stopping system would be depicted in the Fire Stopping System “wagon wheel” shown as Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Fire Stopping “Wagon wheel” depicting the some relevant components that make up a compliant fire stopping system

The installation in question can only achieve the requisite FRL if all system components are covered by the fire testing conducted and resultant field of application assessments issued by the likes of CSIRO or BRANZ for example.

If any one of the system components is not correct, the whole system is non compliant; in other words “the chain is only as strong as its weakest link”

It is not practical to discuss in detail each system component and their interaction but a basic summary is possible.

Orientation – Fire testing is necessary for both vertical and horizontal orientations, and one cannot apply wall fire test data to floor slabs or ceilings for example.

Fire barrier type – It is important to ensure fire testing exists for the fire barrier type in question.  For example a masonry and light weight fire rated plasterboard wall need to be fire tested separately and perform very differently.

Fire rating – The fire rating or FRL of the system is important and whether it applies to integrity (resistance of barrier to spread of fire and hot gases) only or both integrity and insulation (temperature rise).

Opening size – The size of the opening for services in a fire barrier needs to be checked against maximum allowable size for the fire tested system.

Type of service penetrations – The type of service penetrations must be compatible and be fire tested with the fire stopping system being employed. There is a multitude of service penetration types and new ones continue to be introduced. This is a challenge for fire stopping material manufacturers and suppliers and all those involved with design, selection, installation and certification.

Quantity of service penetrations – The number of service penetrations allowed through a given opening size is also an important item to verify, as is the ability to mix different services types through the same opening. Fire stopping systems must have been fire tested with the relevant quantities and mixtures of services to be sure they can do what we need them to.

Fire stopping material – The materials used for fire stopping or sealing of the opening must have been fire tested as part of the overall system and with the other system components.

Compatibility of fire stopping materials – Often multiple fire stopping materials are employed to provide an effective fire stopping system and it is important that fire testing data exist for compatibility where more than one fire stopping material is employed.

Installation specifics – The quality of installation is very important as we need to ensure that the as installed system is in line with what has been fire tested. Installers need to be trained and understand what is required. Good workmanship is imperative.

As discussed above, this list of system components is not definitive and the descriptions are brief but they do provide advice to the reader that we are talking about systems and the fire rating we want is achieved by ensuring all system components are present and that we end up with what we require after installation.

Service penetrations – new services and new penetration types

It is prudent to highlight some examples of changing trends relating to service types and of course openings for service penetrations and relevant fire stopping systems.

Things have changed significantly and continue to change.

For some of us who have been around for a while, fire stopping was relatively simple previously, as we used steel or cast iron and other non combustible pipes for reticulation in our buildings, and where we had insulation around these it was typically non combustible. The number and types of cables were limited to copper core and only a few combustible jackets or sheathings.

Today things have changes significantly. We have many different types of plastic pipes, not only PVC, but also pressure piping and thick walled composite plastic pipes. We have a multitude of cable types and of course we are well and truly into the data networking era and blue data cables are literally everywhere.

“Blue data cables seem to multiply as quickly as cockroaches”

In fact from a fire stopping perspective they seem to take over if not controlled just like cockroaches. We also see more and more plastic conduits being used.

We see the increase in the use a split system air conditioning in our commercial apartment and office buildings resulting in the increased use of insulated copper refrigeration piping.

Recently we have seen the introduction of main gas lines being plastic as the price and availability of copper increases.

All these changes require the manufacturers and suppliers of fire stopping materials to do some product development and a great deal of fire stopping system development, as all these new service types do pass through opening in fire barriers.

It is hard for everyone to keep up with all the new service types and required fire stopping materials, but this does not mean we turn a blind eye to things and fill our opening in fire walls with what we have been used to using or seeing. In most cases these materials, like fire pillows for example, will not provide an effective fire stopping system and will probably not be the cheapest option either.

Our roles and responsibilities

Everyone involved from the design through to final certification and including the ongoing maintenance, has a role to play to ensure we have effective fire stopping of service penetrations.

It really should not be too hard to get it right and keep it right for that matter it just takes a little bit of professionalism and effort to do our jobs correctly.

A service riser where fire stopping is less than perfect!

All it takes is a fire and fire spread from floor to floor can result in serious damage in the advent of a fire.

Real life fire showing floor to floor fire spread through incorrectly designed and maintained service penetrations

Manufacturers of fire stopping products

Manufacturers need to develop their products and fire test systems for the various services we find in our buildings. It is important that manufacturers provide accurate installation instructions to ensure that the consultants, installers and those involved with certification understand the service types, fire barrier types, maximum openings and other technical attributes relating to their as tested systems.

I also think it is important for manufacturers to have some knowledge of how and where their product are being sold and installed. It is important for manufacturers to train their resellers or distributors in the correct use of the products they are selling.

When they know their products may be misused they really should be willing to forego sales and to do something about ensuring things are done correctly.

The best example is the prevalent use of fire pillows for protection of openings around service penetrations. Pillows are often used with plastic pipes and conduits passing through them and are prone to incorrect installation and disturbance yet continue to be one of the highest volume selling products for fire stopping of service penetrations. Fire pillows are not the most cost effective solution yet they continue to be the first choice for many.

It might be a bit of an over simplification but I like to say:

“Pillows are for sleeping and not for fire stopping”

 The average person thinks this must be OK as the holes seems to be filled?


Fire pillow mania – expensive and prone to disturbance

How much easier is it to use a specialist fire resistant board such as Maxilite?

Suppliers of fire stopping products

There are many regional resellers of fire stopping products and in many cases these resellers do not have a good understanding of the limitations of each product and typically do not even provide installation instructions with the products they sell.

Manufacturers and suppliers both have a duty of care to ensure they do everything practical to ensure their products are sold to people who are competent to do the installation correctly and to those who can understand any limitations and provide effective fire stopping systems.

Unfortunately we have a lot of improvement to do in this regarding generally speaking.

It is just easy to sell pillows!

Consultants and Architects

Consultants and Architects have an important role to play especially as they are typically employed to design and document what has to be built. In terms of specifications for fire stopping of service penetrations, I am appalled at the level of detail, or to be more accurate the lack of detail that is provided in terms of fire stopping of service penetrations.

Consultants and architects need to take the time to research what products are suitable for the various service types they expect to be passing through the fire barriers.

Too often we see specifications or notes on drawings simply stating “maintain FRL of fire wall” or “fire stopping required”.

When there is a fire and the fire barriers do not perform as intended, what do you think the coroner is going to say about poor specifications like these?

Designers need to think about more than just the fire rating requirements

Some factors that might need to be considered include:

  1. Fire rating (FRL)
  2. Barrier type and thickness
  3. Opening size
  4. Service penetrations
    1. Types, quantities and spacing
  5. Possible requirement to re-route services
    1. Typical for electrical and data cabling services?
  6. Other design requirements
    1. Movement
    2. Energy efficiency
    3. Environment and VOC levels
    4. Electromagnetic interference
  7. Cost & availability
  8. Skills needed for the installation
  9. Ongoing maintenance

One of the most neglected areas which are easy to improve is the requirement to design for the life of the building. There are many fire stopping systems available that cater for adds, moves and changes to services, particularly data cables for example, which we know are becoming problematic in terms of breaching effective fire compartment barriers.

Builders and developers

I am encouraged to see some prominent builders employing people to work on fire compartment drawings and to insist on better contractual arrangements to ensure fire stopping of services is conducted correctly by all sub contractors.

All builders need to think about the fire stopping of service penetrations and ensure that  the responsibility is well defined for each trade if specialist passive fire protection contractors are not being employed.

The competencies of those who are doing the fire stopping works and the products being used need to be carefully monitored and specified by the builders in their scopes of works if it is not defined in consultants and architects details.

Installers of fire stopping systems

Installers need to be competent and be provided with some training in relation to fire ratings and of course the products and systems they need to ensure are installed correctly.

Too often, inexperienced people without any training are asked to provide fire stopping. This might be a electrical apprentice for example.

Specialist fire stopping installation companies exist and tend to provide the best results mainly because they are trained and competent, but many are also set in their ways and are not the quickest to take up new and innovative products unless the specification for their use are robust.

Competition for works and poor quality control by builders often result in the cheapest and less effective fire stopping products being used, irrespective of specifications developed and employed by consultants and architects.

Electrical conduits are a NO-NO through fire pillows It is all we had in the truck though!

Building Surveyors

Building Surveyors are the building control police one might say and their responsibility is to do random audits and inspections of buildings during and of course immediately after completion of construction.

Quite often industry forgets or neglects to keep this sector informed on new products and systems, yet Building Surveyors are expected to sign off on buildings.

Manufacturers should consider easy to identify products to help Building Surveyors with their arduous task of inspection of as built and installed fire stopping systems in buildings.

Installers should also try and label fire stopping of service penetrations and provide more detailed certification documentation including schedules of all the fire stopping completed.

Abesco Fireclamps provide easy to identify service penetrations for cables and conduits and allow for adds, moves and changes. Fireclamps are ideal for data cables which burn differently to conventional cables and cables covered by AS4072 Part 1; data cables provide a new challenge for fire stopping manufacturers and industry at large.

Building owners and facility managers

Building owners and their facility managers quite often get stuck with buildings which have not been commissioned adequately and have very poor fire stopping of service penetrations.

They all say if only the designers had thought about us who have to maintain and look after the building.

Many facility managers are removing fire pillows from their facilities and replacing them with a more robust fire stopping solution which allows for adds, move and changes and are less prone to easy disturbance. 

It really is not too hard to get these types of service penetrations correct!

Service technicians

We saw some very necessary improvements in the new Australian Standard AS1851, which deals with the maintenance of fire protection equipment, which includes inspection requirements for fire stopping of service penetrations.

Fire equipment maintenance companies have a duty of care to report to building owners any service penetrations that do not have correct or have missing fire stopping systems.

We can improve things by identification and repair and remember that conveniently turning a blind eye will not stand up in the coroner’s court.

Unprotected service penetrations are easy to identify and easy to make good

We need to alert building owners of disasters waiting to happen

Conclusions

I make no apologies for being critical of the industry sector I work in and I am passionate about.

As a group we can all make a difference and if we can build the high rise buildings we do, we can get fire stopping of service penetrations right.

All those involved in the building and subsequent maintenance of our buildings all have an individual role and their own responsibilities and if we work together we can improve our as built environment.

Take a little more time thinking about fire stopping of service penetrations as they are an important part of the overall fire safety system in our buildings.

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MAINTENANCE OF ESSENTIAL FIRE SAFETY SYSTEMS

This month’s workshop focuses on maintenance of essential fire safety systems.

Readers might well ask why we’ve included a skills workshop in HVAC&R Nation on maintenance of essential fire safety systems.  What is it that HVAC systems do to extinguish or even control fire in a building? 

The answer is, very little.

They can’t put out fires or even warn the fire brigade, but HVAC systems can make a significant contribution to life safety during fires in buildings, by:

  • Preventing spread of fire and smoke — Fire and smoke dampers
  • Controlling the spread of smoke between floors — Zoned smoke control systems
  • Exhausting heat and smoke generated by fires   — Smoke and heat vents in roofs
  • Removing toxic smoke from occupied shopping malls — Smoke exhaust fans
  • Preventing smoke entering escape paths — Stair pressurisation systems

But are these special HVAC systems really necessary?  There aren’t many fires in large buildings: commercial offices, hotels, apartments, hospitals, schools, shopping centres or auditoriums?  

And, as there are so few fires these systems hardly ever run, so there can’t be much need to maintain them because they won’t wear out.

Well, part of that is right, there aren’t many fires in large buildings — but on those few occasions when a serious fire occurs, the number of people in the building and the hazard created by the spread of toxic and obscuring smoke, means there is the risk of major loss of life. 

In October 2003 in Chicago, a fire on the 12th floor of a major office building killed 6 people and 13 more went to hospital.  All were found by the rescue team between the 16th and 22nd floors.

During a fire in the NSW Bowlers Club, September 1994, office workers on the 12th Floor could not escape because smoke prevented them finding the fire stair door. 

In these fires, and others, the deaths were caused by the spread of toxic smoke, which also obscured escape paths.  This is why building legislation in all Australian States and Territories requires new and refurbished buildings to have specific smoke control systems.  And, to get to the point of this article, Australian States and Territories have regulations (all different!) that require Maintenance of Essential Fire Safety Systems plus Annual Certification of the performance of Essential Fire Safety Systems.

What is maintenance of essential fire safety systems?

Maintenance covers the tasks necessary for fire safety systems or equipment to reliably achieve their fire safety duty (performance) and continue to do so until the next maintenance activity. 

The Australian Standard on Maintenance of Fire Protection Systems and Equipment, AS 1851‑2005 classifies “Maintenance” into four basic tasks, roughly described below:

Inspection: Visual examination to show correct setting, condition or fitness for purpose.

Test: Confirms correct function or performance of an item or system.

Maintenance: The work of lubrication, cleaning, adjustment and routine replacement of parts, to avoid breakdown. (Often called preventive maintenance)

Survey: Visual inspection to see if systems have been altered or damaged.

The table below indicates what is achieved by each of these maintenance tasks:

Maintenance task

Inspection

Test

Preventive maintenance

Survey

Confirms correct status visually

Yes

 

 

 

Confirms correct function and performance

 

Yes

 

 

Minimises incidence of breakdown

 

 

Yes

 

Identifies system is not altered, damaged or compromised

 

 

 

Yes

What maintenance is NOT

Maintenance is NOT the final completion of construction and installation, and maintenance is NOT a substitute for commissioning.

Why use Australian Standard AS 1851-2005?

  • State laws require maintenance of Fire Safety Measures in buildings.
  • State legislation (generally) requires annual certification that fire safety measures can perform to the correct standard.

In some states, regulations nominate specific maintenance standards or specifications, but in other states, there is no prescribed standard so the Australian Standard - Maintenance of Fire Protection Systems and Equipment, AS 1851-2005 may be considered a reasonable legal basis for planning and executing maintenance. Check this with your lawyer!

AS 1851-2005 — Maintenance of Fire Protection Systems and Equipment

AS 1851-2005 specifies maintenance requirements for all fire protection systems and equipment.  Its objectives and general administrative parts are in Section 1.  The next 18 sections cover the main fire protection systems.  HVAC fire and smoke control systems are in Section 18. 

Don’t make the mistake of avoiding Section 1, Scope and General, in AS 1851.  Section 1 explains how the Standard must be used.  It explains how the Standard is applied.  It lists the Australian Standards that fire safety systems must comply with, and it gives documentation procedures. 

In particular, Section 1 requires fire protection system interfaces to be tested annually, with technicians representing all specialist fire safety systems present during tests.  The Standard requires the building owner (or agent) to organise the interface test.  These tests are important to the HVAC industry, because stair pressurisation, smoke exhaust, zone smoke control and even simple A/C shut down, all depend on a signal (an interface) from the sprinklers or fire alarm.

Section 18 of the Standard - Fire and smoke control features of HVAC systems

The first clause in this Section, 18.1 makes it clear that the Standard does not apply to systems used for comfort cooling, heating or ventilation that don’t operate in fire mode.  Except that systems required to shut down on fire alarm, must be proved to shut down.

Clause 18.2 contains the documentation requirements, including examples.  This clause also explains the difference between fire safety equipment used in day-to-day operation and fire safety equipment that is dedicated to fire duty only. 

Clause 18.4 is where the inspection, test, maintenance and survey tasks are scheduled.  This takes 28 pages of the Standard and contains 25 tables!

Seventeen tables specify inspection and maintenance (preventive maintenance).  Five tables specify testing procedures and three tables specify survey activities.

There are no short cuts here!  If you are doing maintenance, testing, annual certification or surveys of fire and smoke control features of HVAC systems in a client’s building, you must read and understand all of the tables applying to the systems and equipment in that building.

What are the HVAC Fire Protection Equipment & Systems covered by AS 1851-2005?

Fire  and smoke dampers

  • Exit pressurisation systems
  • Mechanical air handling systems –    Zone smoke control and Shut down of non-essential plant
  • Smoke exhaust fans or systems
  • Smoke and heat vents, including smoke curtains
  • Car park exhaust systems
  • Kitchen hood exhaust systems

These are the fire protection equipment or systems specified in State and Territory building regulations.  Fire and smoke dampers are simple, but the rest are often quite complicated systems, with large numbers of components: dampers, actuators, motors, controllers, fans, etc. 

What are the actual ‘things’ that must be inspected, tested, maintained and surveyed?

The Standard has 17 tables for inspection and preventive maintenance of equipment and components.  These are:

Fans and motors used in day-to-day operation and fire mode

  • Fans and motors dedicated to fire mode duty only
  • Fire dampers (including intumescent dampers)
  • Smoke dampers
  • Air control dampers (with only one fire mode operation)
  • Air control dampers (with 2 fire modes)
  • Automatic smoke and heat vents
  • Smoke curtains
  • Motorised relief openings
  • Electric heaters; Kitchen exhaust systems
  • Outdoor air intakes
  • Variable frequency drives
  • Pneumatic compressors
  • Motor control centres
  • Power supplies (main switchboards)
  • Fire fan control panels and fire indicator panels.

The Standard has 5 tables for testing of each system.  These are:

  • Fire isolated exit pressurisation systems
  • System changeover under fire condition
  • Smoke exhaust systems
  • System shutdown
  • Smoke dampers

The Standard has 3 tables for design and installation surveys of: Active fire and smoke control systems; motorised relief openings and smoke reservoirs.

Special features of Section 18 of AS 1851-2005

Complex systems need documentation

Air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation systems in large buildings have many components.  They often have vari-speed drives and electronic controls for fire alarm operation.  The sheer number of components makes these systems very complex.  Some of these have single-role fire safety duty, like stair pressurisation fans and smoke exhaust dampers.  Some simply shut down or adopt a fail-safe mode in fire alarm.  Whatever the mode, dedicated operation or fail-safe, the critical issue is correct operation of every component, to control smoke and protect lives.  

Add to this complexity, the fact that major commercial buildings are always undergoing tenancy alterations and refurbishment, involving modifications or additions to existing equipment.  With this mix of large numbers of components, variety of operations and regular changes, it is not surprising that:

  • Smoke control systems can be very complex,
  • They change from one year to the next, and
  • With large numbers of components, there will be frequent faults in the system as a whole.

Fire alarm performance cannot be verified each year without accurate, up-to-date documentation of system operating requirements.  The Standard includes an excellent system functionality test chart with notes on its application.

Fire dampers

Maintenance is not repair of bad installations

Fire dampers are very simple devices, needing minimal maintenance, but, the industry suffers from poor installation of fire dampers, so the distinction between ongoing maintenance and repair of installation defects has become blurred.  Maintenance is not intended to repair bad installations.  Maintenance is not a substitute for installation checks and commissioning. 

When installation defects are found during maintenance inspections, tell the building owner that these essential fire safety measures are not capable of protecting the building as required.  At that stage, repair of installation defects for all fire dampers in the building must be completed before proceeding with maintenance under the Standard.  It should be clear that maintenance inspections for fire dampers are not meant to be audits of the original installation quality.  Installation defects should be a trigger for separate, additional inspections and such inspections may involve removal of flanges and other invasive work. 

Maintenance inspections of fire dampers under AS1851 are only required to verify that they can still protect the duct openings.

Fire dampers

Meaning of the 20% sampling regime

Australian Standards state that only 20 % of fire dampers in a building must be inspected each year so that all have been inspected after 5 years.  This is often interpreted to mean that problems are fixed on the 20% sample each year as they are discovered.  This is not the intention of the Standard.  The 20% procedure is a sampling process:

  • If a 20% sample shows no problems, you can assume that the other 80% are OK.
  • If the 20% sample has problems, you must assume that all fire dampers have the same problems and all must be checked in the next year. 

Surveys

A survey is conducted visually from floor level or by observation through vent and fan discharges  It is intended to identify changes to the HVAC system or the building that would affect the performance of the smoke control features.  This is a new field for the HVAC maintenance industry, and may require specialised contractors.

Need for skilled practitioners

The inspection and maintenance tables in Section 18 rarely specify particular maintenance tasks.  The Standard notes that it relies on the judgment or skill of qualified technicians who will replace, adjust or repair when the need for such work is revealed during an inspection.  Hence, the Standard relies on the judgment and skill of qualified technicians.  Section 18 of the Standard recommends three skill levels for personnel carrying out maintenance. 

Motor control centres, main switchboards and fire panels

AS 1851-2005 nominates maintenance requirements for motor control centres, main switchboards, fire fan control panels and fire indicator panels.  These provide electrical power and control for HVAC fire and smoke control equipment as well as other electrically driven fire safety equipment, so they must be maintained to ensure reliability. 

Some HVAC contractors and fire safety contractors are concerned that these tables are found in Section 18.  Isn’t this section for HVAC fire and smoke control systems only? 

These tables are in Section 18, only so that all switchboard and control panel maintenance is included in the same part of the Standard.  It is not the intention that this work should be carried out only by HVAC Technicians or only by fire detection and alarm technicians.  Maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment must be conducted by competent persons. 

NOTE: It is likely that in the next update of the Standard, the location of switchboard maintenance tables will be relocated, and frequency of inspection and maintenance for fans and dampers will change.

This month’s skills workshop is written by Simon Hill of Professional Engineering Solutions.  Simon, in conjunction with AIRAH, developed the course material and delivers the face-to-face version of AIRAH’s essential safety measures course. For more information on the recently released distance learning course on essential safety measures for technicians, turn to page 19.

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