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Building Site on Fire

Statistically you are unlikely to be caught in a fire in your office, the people are awake (unless they are reading this post) and alert, other people in the building are generally aware of the fire safety requirements of the office environment. This new standard has been brought out by the British Standard’s Institute and replaces the BS5588 series of standards, parts of which had already been superseded by the BS5839 Part 8 (Voice Alarm Systems)

For the fire industry BS9999 provides a useful guidance to the process of fire risk assessments from various stages of the buildings existence, from new to refurbished.

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If you are fed up with the way your systems are linked together and you are reading this post, then help is at hand!

Site managers will appreciate the time saved in running between buildings

Linking relays

You have a fire alarm system in each building on the site and in some cases they have multiple systems in one building and in order to meet the requirements of the risk assessment they (the various panels) are linked together.

The downside to the above is that if they (the panels) are not linked properly you will find that you (the site manager and his/her team) have to go to each panel individually in order to reset, and this process is often hit and miss and takes at least two people.   The issue with this is that most working sites such as a primary school  will not accept the fire alarm ringing other than for the drills or in the event of the real fire, and whilst the system is being reset it is particularly concerning for the site managers who will be recieving pressure from the staff to stop the fire alarm promptly.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

All fire panels can be interlinked in some manner, this is in some cases the problem,  precisely because a lot of the systems on the market have multiple ways of being linked more often than not the inexperienced installer will choose or wrongly configure the links and inform you that it is the only way that this will work. They are wrong!

Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?  Well although it is fairly simple, if the in built options (on the panels) do not work in the way that you require, we have to use relays, this takes an in-depth knowledge of relays and the uses of the various types that are available, such as latching or non-latching, timed or pulsed etc.  Our engineers are trained in the operation of relays and we believe that this is essential to work on any alarm system.

The other options

I can’t pretend that using the linking methods that I have touched on above will always give you the perfect solution to your needs, the installed panel in your site may not have the non-latching options that many non-addressable panels now have, you may have to look at upgrading the control panel to get the system to operate in the way you prefer.

Addressable Fire Panels

Addressable Fire Alarm Panel

If you have an addressable system then linking the systems should be even easier than non-addressable, you will need to install interfaces to make full use of the capabilities that exist, or if you need more detailed functionality then networking is the option that allows you to see all fire events from all of the buildings on your site at one central control panel or computer graphics system.

Definitions

1. Addressable Panel (system)

This type of system is generally wired in a loop or loops and the each detector is ‘addressed’ these allow the control panel to identify each device individually giving a read out on the control panel such as “SD 012 GRD FLR RECEPTION”

2. Non Addressable Panel (system) more commonly known as ‘conventional’

These panels are basic in operation and are wired in radial circuits (one wire from the panel to all of the smoke detectors without returning to the control panel) This system can only indicate zones such as Ground Floor, meaning that if you have this type of system you may ahve to search the entire ground floor for the detector that has gone off. You would have a zone chart beneath the panel listing zones;

ZONE 1 – GROUND FLOOR

ZONE 2- BOILER ROOM

ETC

WFP specialist engineer David Munday has debuted as an author, when David joined the business in 2008 he was well underway with a project of his own. He has now seen his book published, been on the radio to promote it and has created his own website backing up the central character of the book. 

Having read the book to my own daughter I can thoroughly recommend that it as a children’s story with a super hero that you’d never expect! A truly original story and one that I found certainly drives your imagination. 

I have a signed copy at home – Thank you David, and It now has a new cover with a portrait of Joshua. 

If you want to read more then visit http://www.joshuabean.co.uk/ and buy yourself a copy online. 

I have put an except of the book below

“The formula has become a part of the plastic in the dummy. So you see if you use it again,” George concluded “your body will just grow as before and for a time you will be an adult. Then you will go back to your normal self. The longer you suck the dummy, I would expect, the more time you will spend in adult form. But to be safe, until we can get you to the lab I wouldn’t advise you try it.”

This Order came into force on 1 October 2006. It replaced over a hundred pieces of fire safety legislation including the Fire Precautions Act and the Workplace (Fire Safety) Regulations. Fire Certificates are no longer issued or enforced. It placed a duty on the ‘responsible person’ to ensure, ‘as far as is reasonably practical’ the safety of his/her employees and to take such general fire precautions as may be reasonably required to ensure that the premises are safe [ie for non-employees].

Under the Order, there is a requirement to carry out and continually update an assessment of the risk of fire to people in and around the premises/building, and to assess and maintain the measures to reduce those risks to an acceptable level. Where there are five or more employees, the risk assessment must be recorded.

A Fire Risk Assessment should be carried out:
1. On completion of the building fit out and preferably before first occupation of the building;
2. Regularly, particularly where any changes occur such as changes in the use of the building, the number or nature of occupants, or building works;
3. We would recommend that a fire risk assessment is carried out at least annually.

Other legal duties include:
1. A person must be nominated for any special role identified in an emergency plan;
2. Employees must be consulted about nominations to perform special roles, and about any proposals for improving the fire precautions;
3. Other employers in the building must be informed about any significant risks, which might affect the safety of their employees, and there must be co-operation with them in measures to reduce the risk;
4. Those having control over the workplace have a responsibility to ensure compliance with the regulations in those parts of the building over which they have control;
5. A suitable and readily available method of calling the emergency services must be established;
6. Employees are required to co-operate in ensuring that the workplace is safe from fire.

The order also adopts ‘Principles of Prevention’. These include:
• Avoiding risks;
• Evaluating the risks which cannot be avoided;
• Combating the risks at source;
• Adapting to technical progress;
• Replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or less dangerous [particularly with respect to hazardous substances];
• Developing a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work and the influence of factors relating to the working environment;
• Giving appropriate instructions to employees.

Demolition in Progress

We took a call today from a school where we installed a small fire detection and alarm system just two years ago. Claire from our office took the call and passed me the message; they were going to be demolishing the new multisports building, and could we come to site to de-commission the existing fire alarm?

I thought that she had taken the message incorrectly and called the customer to establish what they really wanted.
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XPander – Wire-Free devices on a Wired system

Wire-Free fire alarm devices on a wired loop

Radio devices that can now be connected to an existing fire detection system running the world class Apollo XP95 protocol.

If the panel that is installed runs this protocol then the XPander  product can be used.

WFP are at the forefront of utilising technology to the benefit of our customers and are pleased to announce that following an evaluation period and full product training by the manufacturer we can now offer a hybrid solution for our customers.

• Temporary building works
• Temporary buildings within schools
• Aesthetically sensitive buildings
• Asbestos issues affecting a wired solution

XPander is a system in which individual detectors, call points and alarm devices communicate with the XP95 loop by radio signals. An interface is connected to the loop in the same way as any other interface, such as an Input/Output Unit.

Radio on wired

Every XPander device is assigned an address and this address is recognised by the control panel in the same way as is the address of any device connected directly to the loop wiring.

The XPander range consists of:

• Optical Smoke Detector
• Multisensor Smoke Detector
• A1R Heat Detector
• CS Heat Detector
• Sounder
• Sounder Beacon
• Manual Call Point
• Interface Module

1. How do I stop it?
2. How do I test it?
3. What does ‘Pre-Alarm’ mean?
4.  What does ‘BT’ fault mean?
When the fire alarm needs to be tested and you are the one standing in front of the panel reading unfamiliar messages, a list of answers to these questions might come in very handy.
We have put together some tips to help you deal with the situation. And maybe impress those around you with your superior knowledge. (more…)

When all you want to know is how much to budget for maintaining your alarm system, why then does it all seem to be shrouded in such mystery?  Why is it, that you can only get some kind of obscure response from some operators, assuring you that everything will be cheap?  “Yes, we can do an emergency call out for £50 or £60 pounds,” they tell you. Or, “Yes, we can test an extinguisher for £1.00.”  It sounds too good to be true.

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HMO Paddington

What level of automatic coverage should an HMO have?

Deciding the actual coverage that you are required to provide is the key to getting competitive pricing from fire alarm companies.

For the landlord, the various types of system seem complicated and the advice that you are given can sometimes be quite confusing, and conflicting.

Having recently had quite a few enquiries, WFP have been putting together a list of common questions, together with our answers and explanations, and hopefully these will help when deciding which way to go.

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The holidays are busy periods for us and this year has been no exception, whilst the schools are out we have been in and fitted radio fire alarms in several schools, with timescales shorter than you would expect. (more…)