Fire Safety

Means of escape

One consequence of a terrorist bomb explosion is usually a fire, either caused by the blast itself or by resulting damage to the infra-structure, such as fractured gas pipes or, as happened at Glasgow airport, an attacker could drive a car into the airport to cause a fire.

Either way, if a terrorist incident occurs you need to evacuate people and warn them of the incident. In the case of fire, the process of warning and evacuation is no different to that of any other incident; you need people aware and evacuating in a safe and orderly manner.

Under UK Fire Safety legislation, all companies are required to provide protection from fire to staff and visitors. This involves warning of fire; means of fighting fire when appropriate; and ensuring safe evacuation of the premises in the event of a fire. A recent article in Counter Terror Business by DCI Chris Philips touched on this and posed the question of how to safely evacuate in an incident. DCI Phillips challenged the old premise of sounding the bell and everyone heads to the evacuation point. This could be put your staff in more danger if it is a multiple attack, which we will look at a bit later.

Risk assessments
Counter terrorism strategies should be risk assessed, which is exactly what you have to do for your fire safety strategy. In complex buildings we have staged fire alarms and evacuations practice, so it would seem logical to extend that to evacuation for a terrorist attack.

In the UK, insurance related property protection reasons aside, the legislative requirement for fire protection is for protecting the means of escape. The current British Standards and codes consider the protection of the means of escape in terms of its resistance to fire, not necessarily to explosions and most definitely not from projectiles (bullets/ shrapnel). I’m by no means suggesting that when the fire engineer or fire risk assessor is looking at the fire protection of a building they should be putting this at the front of their decision process.

However, if you are looking at this from the business continuity and protection of your staff, you need to consider what steps to take if the attack compromises the fire protection of the means of escape. When considering the emergency evacuation plan if such an incident were to occur, it is worth asking the following questions:
• What if the incident compromised the water supply to the sprinkler or watermist system?
•    Could the limited system provide sufficient protection to ensure everyone leaves the building safely?
•    Will the system prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent properties?
•    If the structural protection of the building is compromised, will it hold back any resulting fire for the required period of 60 or more
minutes?

Most competent fire strategies allow for multiple escape routes from a building and this should be the same in a terrorist incident; the fire escape plan should be synonymous with the terror escape plan. When you have your fire escape drill, consider using this to train your staff for other emergency events, simultaneously.

Integrated systems
Modern fire detection and alarm systems (FD&A) use intelligent technology and are, more often than not, integrated into the building management system. It is worth asking how you can use the fire alarm as part of your counter terrorism strategy. Similarly, the management of Voice Sounders, Public Address /Voice Alarm fire alarm systems (PA/VA), and Mass Notification Systems (MNS) are all part of the modern fire alarm system. All of these can be used to warn staff about incidents other than fire; let’s face it, for years fire alarm systems have been used in schools for class change notification.

Voice Sounders can be pre-programmed with specific messages so one of those can relate to the evacuation. If your building has two or more staircases that are used to evacuate personnel, then the message can direct them to the most appropriate one, depending on the threat. So, if the incident is centered on the northern side of the building, then the message can direct staff to a safer escape route on the south side. In some cases it may be better not to evacuate at all, for example, people evacuating from a modern high-rise glass clad building may be at greater risk from falling glass if nearby explosion shatters the glass.

During a terrorist attack or some other unexpected event, instructions need to adapt to the threat. Voice Alarm systems have the ability to override the standard messages to cater for a specific risk/alert. A particular advantage of a Voice Alarm FD&A system is that these systems are typically robust, with multiple signal paths and power supply unit redundancy. This will be the same type of characteristics required of a Mass Notification System.

The use of fire alarm systems as part of a mass notification is being recognised in standards and codes, for example, in the USA, NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signalling Code was amended in 2010. In this Code, chapter 24 covers Emergency Communications Systems and sets out the requirements for the installation and operation of such systems. The Code defines an In-building Mass Notification System as providing live voice and pre-recorded localised messaging within an individual protected building, areas surrounding the building and other outdoor designated areas, for the purpose of notifying and instructing occupants in an emergency. At an International level, IEC 60849 covers standards for sound systems for emergency purposes. European (EN) and UK (BS) Standards will follow. Also, in the USA, UL 2572 allows products used in such systems to be tested and certificated.

How does it work?
So, how do these systems actually work? The MNS integrates into the FD&A system and manages the audio and visual notification appliances for both fire and MNS, and then reports trouble and supervisory signals through the fire alarm system. The system uses the existing FD&A audio and visual devices with supplementary MNS visual devices, and extra audio for extending the system outdoors, if required (in a university campus, for example). A dedicated microphone for the MNS will override the FD&A system messages with live voice messages or recorded messages.

Once the MNS stops, the FD&A system either goes back to its quiescent state, if there is no fire, or into fire full alarm according to the emergency response plan. The deactivation of the fire alarm signal occurs only if the FD&A system is in alarm and a MNS message is activated, however, all the other functionality of the FD&A system is unaffected.

There are a variety of different MNS solutions available; one of the latest trends that security professionals are recognising is the need for a System-of-Systems approach to emergency communications. There is no single technology that fits every situation. The NFPA Code recognises this and states that relying on just one technology to do the job in an emergency could result in a relatively large population not receiving the message.

The overall solution is to utilise multiple communication systems that combine to produce a reliable and robust design, ensuring that information will successfully reach the affected audience. The System-of-Systems approach to MNS includes; broadcasting alerts over indoor or outdoor mass notification systems; sending text messages and e-mails; distributing automated voice calls; utilising display signs; desktop alerts and social media. However, businesses are realising that launching alerts from multiple communication systems can greatly increase the time it takes to send and receive messages.

It also has to be kept in mind that the alarm system could be part of the threat; there have been cases, such as American campus mass shootings, where the attacker(s) have used the fire alarm to cause an evacuation and then shot people as they attempt to escape by fire exits. A good fire management plan, with a suitable delay and investigation period will go some way to limit this.

Cyber terrorism
Furthermore, articles in Counter Terror Business have also looked at cyber terrorism, in particular, new cyber-attack proof facilities. But what can be done to protect these remote bunkers, as it were, from conventional threats like fire? British Standards BS 6266 (fire protection for electronic equipment installation – code of practice) and BS 5306-0 (Fire protection installations and equipment on premises Part 0: Guide for selection of installed systems and other fire equipment) both give guidance of suitable systems for the protection of these areas.

In this article I have only scratched the surface of how the fire protection systems, and in particular, the FD&A systems can, and should, be incorporated in the protection from terrorist threats; and in light of recent events worldwide, terror alerts may well increase.

For more information
www.fia.uk.com

New FD&A Route to Certification Scheme

The Fire Industry Association (FIA), in conjunction with the National Security Inspectorate (NSI), has launched a new Route to SP203 (FD&A) Certification Scheme, aimed at helping companies who wish to achieve the BAFE SP203 Registration for Fire Detection & Alarm Systems.

The BAFE scheme is one of the Third Party Certification schemes in place within the fire industry and is one way a company can prove competency in this field. The FIA is a firm advocate of Third Party Certification to help prove competency, which is why they have teamed up with NSI, a certification body who are UKAS accredited to inspect against the SP203 scheme.

The package has been set up following demand from companies for information and assistance to achieve Third Party Certification, which is a requirement of FIA membership for installers and maintainers of FD&A systems.

Graham Ellicott, CEO of the FIA, says: “Independent Third Party Certification has been our association’s mantra for nearly 30 years. We see certification to such schemes as demonstrating competence, thus providing the end user with the confidence that checks and balances are in place to ensure they can rely upon a supplier who is certificated.

“Having brought over 250 new members to the association over the last four years we have a good understanding of the issues companies face when trying to reach the Third Party Certification benchmark. We have worked with our strategic partners – NSI and BAFE – and devised a package to genuinely help companies achieve this.”

NSI is the specialist approvals and certification body that inspects companies providing home security, business security and fire safety services, including fire detection and alarm systems. NSI approved companies must prove their competence on an on-going basis, including meeting all relevant British and European Standards and providing staff with the highest level of training required to do their jobs.

Jeff Little, CEO of NSI says: “It can often be a significant challenge for service providers to justify the costs, criteria, processes and the very benefits of belonging to one or more of the industry organisations open to them nowadays. But this new scheme, offered by the FIA, brings everything together within one tidy envelope to present the service provider with a clear, direct and straightforward roadmap through to membership.

“The four pillars of this package – the consultancy, certification BAFE approval and trade association membership – will all help equip service providers with the visible manifestation that demonstrates real dedication to providing a top quality service.”

The new Route to SP203 (FD&A) Certification Scheme compliments the FIA’s existing Route to SP101/ST104 (PFE) Certification Scheme, which was launched in 2009 to help companies who maintain and service portable fire extinguishers to become BAFE registered on their Technicians Scheme SP101/ST104. This new package is a natural progression to assist FD&A companies.

It is expected that the process to achieve full certification will take 12 months and payment will be spread over a number of months to help those in the process.

About FIA
The FIA is a not-for-profit trade association which promotes professional standards in the UK fire safety industry. The Association was formed in April 2007 out of a merger between two longstanding and well-respected trade associations, FETA (Fire Extinguishing Trade Association) and BFPSA (British Fire Protection Systems Association). The FIA is ‘owned’ by its members, which means that they are answerable to and representative of their members.