Life safety codes and standards

When standing in the shadow of a towering high rise building such as Burj Khalifa, neck bent back - eyes wide open; one never thinks of all the provisions which have been incorporated into these structures to ensure the safety of occupants in a fire scenario. The starting point of every architect should be the enforcing building code. This particular code lays out the requirements for various types of structures for specific types of building usage. The requirements include construction materials, fire resistance of barriers, width of corridors and door openings - depending on the occupant load, number of exits, emergency lighting, number of escape stairways, interior finishing, required fire detection & protection systems ….etc. Once the consultant has addressed the construction requirements of the Building Code, he must turn his attention to the Life Safety Systems that are also required to be installed by Code, for the purposes of this article; we will be focusing specifically on Fire Alarm Systems. If a Fire Alarm System is required by the Building Code then it will either prescribe the specific areas which require coverage as a minimum or it will simply require a Fire Alarm System to be installed. In all cases a Risk Assessment is required to identify any potential fire hazards – the general rule is “if there is something that can burn, protect it”. In order to ensure correct design and installation of required fire alarm systems; building codes will refer you to a corresponding Installation Code or Standard.

NFPA 72 is used throughout the US and is referred to by NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code) & the IBC (International Building Code). In Europe EN 54-14 was drafted to provide a harmonized standard to supersede those of the individual member states (for example BS 5839-1 in the UK and VdS 2095 in Germany), however this doesn't seem to have been adopted by many countries. Historically British standards have had a long and strong presence in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) which has been weakened by a more recent influx of US standards, and so today we find the region peppered with a mix of BS 5839-1 & NFPA 72 installations. The Installation Codes & Standards cover requirements such as the spacing of smoke & heat detectors, mounting height restrictions, fire resistance of cables, location of manual pull stations & call points, sounders & strobes, control panel locations ...etc. These Installation Codes additionally have a very important requirement, which is that the products used in the installation must be tested & listed by a third party to a recognized Product Standard.

In Europe; products must comply with the EN 54 series of product standards which set out performance requirements for the components of a fire alarm system (e.g: EN 54-7 for smoke detectors & EN 54-10 for flame detectors). There are a number of testing/approval agencies which will competently confirm compliance to these standards such as LPCB and VdS. The US on the other hand has something equivalent in the form of the ANSI standards (e.g: ANSI/UL 268 for smoke detectors & ANSI/FM 3260 for flame detectors) with testing/approval agencies such as UL, FM and ETL that will validate compliance accordingly. Unfortunately there seems to be two types of professionals in the field of fire safety in the Middle East, those who believe that US approvals are superior to their European counterpart and others who are adamant that the Europeans are the best. Furthermore there are subdivisions of these two groups of professionals that prefer UL over FM and ETL or LPCB over VdS, they don't seem to realize that they are all nationally recognized test laboratories that are subject to third party audits to ensure compliance to stringent quality requirements of their facilities. Agencies that work with certain standards have almost identical laboratories since the specification of the test equipment is detailed in the standards to which they approve products to. For example the LPCB and the VdS smoke tunnels are for all practical purposes the same beast since the tunnels are built in accordance with the specification of EN 54-7.

This lack of understanding gives birth to a major problem for manufacturers as they are driven to certain agencies purely on the request for an approval label/mark that consultants think, perhaps naively, provides a better quality product. Manufactures end up in situations where they are paying extortionate amounts of money for their approvals with these "popular" agencies and as such, with a high demand; these agencies have unreasonable waiting lists delaying the benefits of new technologies and applications. Given half a chance manufacturers would go to the fastest and cheapest agencies (in order of priority) that are out there because that would be no bearing at all on the quality of their products. What's important is the standard to which products are approved to, and this can be achieved by any number of laboratories provided they are nationally recognized facilities in their own regions and that they themselves have third party approval!

FIGURE A.1

The flow of Code & Standard requirements

When it comes to Fire Alarm Systems, the MEA is unique since it allows both American and European products to be installed. The problem arises when consultants specify which installation code or standard will be used and given a historic association between the NFPA and UL in the US; consultants in this region assume that this must be explicitly applied here in the Middle East. NFPA 72's critical requirement is that products must be listed for the features they provide, it does not state that products can only be UL listed. To highlight this point more succinctly, one may refer to Clause 1.5.1 of the 2010 edition of NFPA 72:"Nothing in this Code shall prevent the use of systems, methods, devices or appliances of equivalent or superior quality, strength, fire resistance, effectiveness, durability and safety over those prescribed by this code". The Code also allows for variations which are permitted providing these are agreed among all relevant parties including the Authority Having Jurisdiction - AHJ (this is the Civil Defense in the Middle East).

Conclusion

It is important that professionals working in the field understand the difference and more pertinently the equivalence of standards and codes used in the region in order to avoid depriving the region of advantageous technologies. The UAE Fire Code will be published in the near future and the developers have been very wise to permit the use of both European and US fire alarm systems. It is now left to the consultants and specifiers to objectively specify the best solution on a project to project basis.

Biography

Khaleel Kilani is the Regulatory Manager for Honeywell Life Safety for the Middle East & Africa Region, based in Dubai United Arab Emirates. He is currently the only authorized NFPA instructor outside the US, and the only authorized LPCB / FIA instructor outside the UK. Prior to joining Honeywell, Khaleel worked for the LPCB (Loss Prevention Certification Board) approval agency in the UK for 4 years. He has experience in testing fire alarm products to the EN 54 series of standards, issuing approval certificates for compliant companies and setting up product audit test requirements for maintaining approval.

He is currently in the process of becoming an authorized NFPA 101 instructor, as well as developing Honeywell's own fire alarm training programs which address both NFPA and British Standards. The main focus of his position is to raise awareness of the different international standards through certified training programs, conference/exhibition presentations and magazine articles.