The Scottish Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing, MSP gave a ministerial address. His theme was about a partnership approach to “ Safer Scotland”. “It’s a journey we’ve embarked on where everyone has a role to play. The Scottish Government are committed to implementing the recommendations of The Scotland Together Report, headed up by Fire Chief Brian Sweeney, which includes fire sprinklers for ‘at risk’ households.”  He welcomed the involvement of professional bodies and his department looked forward to working with the IFE and BASFA regarding sprinkler engineering in the future.

Alan Brinson

Executive Director, European Fire Sprinkler Network presented “European Progress with Fire Sprinklers”

He summarised the European Fire Sprinkler Network Aims as being:

• Collection of EU Fire statistics
• Numbers of deaths and injuries
• Type of building
• Where fire started
• Cause of Fire
• Where deceased were when the fire started
• Costs of Fire
• Hotels campaign

Alan gave a good overview of the use of sprinklers in Britain, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and  Sweden - further details in his presentation.

 

Bill Stewart

International President of the Institution of Fire Engineers and Fire Chief of Toronto Fire Services.

His presentation was “Is it Time to Move to the Next Level of Fire Protection, – Residential Fire Sprinklers?” Bill explored the myths and realities between the use residential sprinklers and traditional Fire service hose lines. He advised that 1:10 Canadians will have a fire in their homes. However, all but the last 19 years in the city of Vancouver there had been no fatalities in homes fitted with sprinklers.

What can be done to move to the next level?

• Engage the support of fire service and local building authorities that have been a major factor in the growth and use residential sprinklers in the United States and Vancouver.

• Conduct additional research into the benefits of residential sprinklers that will review your the significant life-saving results

• Promote community awareness of the benefits of automatic fire sprinkler systems in homes

• Promote awareness of home builders and other stakeholders on the feasibility and benefits of offering residential sprinklers as an option to homebuyers

• Ontario and other nations continue to suffer preventable deaths and injuries from fire. Residential fire sprinklers are a logical strategy to improve fire safety for the citizens of Ontario and other nations.

Further details can be found in his presentation.

 

Steve Turek

Assistant Commissioner London Fire Brigade, gave a talk on “The Challenge of Fire Protection and the London Olympics”

The summer Olympic Games and Para Olympics will be in London from 27 July until 2 September 2012 in 24 venues.

The major venues include the Main Stadium, Velodrome, and the Aquatic Centre. Fire Engineering challenges in the early stages arose from negotiating a consistency of approach with each fire consultancy regarding code compliance. The ongoing challenge is to maintain a wide range of relationships with a number of stakeholders having competing interests. During the games ‘lead up’ there will be between 11,000 and 30,000 construction staff on site. There are language issues and differing cultural attitudes to fire safety. The Olympic site layout changes significantly each week.

Sprinkler Usage

The athlete’s village will involve two stages of construction. Stage one, the games mode will be completed by early 2012 and ready for habitation by 17,000 athletes and games personnel. Stage two, the legacy mode, will be completed by 2020 and the creation of a green media and new commercial development. Sprinklers will be fitted to some blocks of market apartments and social housing. However, sprinklers will be omitted in the social apartments that have a code compliant flat layout and are less than 30m in height.

Sprinklers have also been omitted from all market townhouses whether they will beneath affordable or market blocks - floor to ceiling heights in units preclude the use of such a system.

Further details in his presentation.

 

Nick Groos

Chairman International Fire Sprinkler Association, discussed “Just What Exactly is a Residential Sprinkler Anyway?”

Nick gave an overview on the history of sprinklers which included the challenge of moving from protecting property to protecting people. This included the Tenability criteria of temperature, carbon monoxide, heat release, velocity of gases and toxicity versus fire development time.

He discussed sprinkler thermal sensitivity which included Fast Response sprinklers that broke down into residential sprinklers, quick response sprinklers and Early Suppression Fast Response ones. The results of fire testing were discussed -from the floor up and the ceiling down.

He stated “To date, there has never been a multiple loss of life due to fire in a structure with a properly designed, fully installed and well maintained sprinkler system”.

The benefits of Prince Georges County, Maryland 15 year history of single family residential dwelling fire sprinkler ordinance was discussed. He finalised his presentation by asking “Where, really, is the weakest link?”  Is it: valves, maintenance, legislation, residential sprinklers, building codes, installation standard, water supplies, pipe and fittings, design and installation, hangers, alarms and supervision?

Read his full presentation here.

 

Ian Gough

Technical Advisor, BAFSA gave an overview of “The Changing Nature of Fire Risks in Car Parks.”

He gave the seminar an overview of the background on the Fire Risk in Car Parks – in the UK, serious fires in car parks have been rare; however, there are growing concerns about the risks posed by modern vehicles and methods of storage. European neighbours have experienced serious fires in recent years e.g.:

• Gretchenbach, Switzerland - 7 fire-fighters killed

• Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris - 200 cars destroyed

In each of these two examples the fires resulted in structural failure of the buildings.

He discussed the current guidance on the fitting of sprinklers in such areas. And asked “Is it still valid given the dynamic changes that we face?” Ian went on to describe the outcomes of a car stacker fire test and summarised with the following observations:

• Ordinary hazard may not be suitable for car stackers of different configurations or where more than two cars are stacked vertically.
• Specific tests may be required for each type of car stacker configuration.
• Design and installation of sprinkler protection should always be carried out by competent  contractors.

 Read his full presentation here.

 

Andy Mattock

National Fire Safety Manager, B&Q PLC gave a pragmatic presentation on “A Retailer’s Tale”

Andy gave an overview of his company fire history, business model, sector speed of change, geographical considerations, the roll of the enforcer plus external business considerations.

From a business perspective some of the key issues facing B&Q included board configuration and internal restructuring; how they offer sales to the customer - display option, product choice; a significant use of contractors; the insurer's perspective; the landlord's perspective and the challenge of stock loss.

Their solution involved the use of sprinklers with storage tanks to ensure full protection of their stock. They had a laboratory for testing the handling and display of new stock plus its fire protection. This allowed training of staff before new products/storage techniques are employed.

However, they had challenging geographical considerations that included: different legislation; different regional guidance; different distance interpretation.  They had found that from the legislator’s enforcement perspective different authorities had differing views; remedial actions had variable response criteria dependent on authority; conflicting interpretation on what was considered a “reasonable risk”; legislative fire protection theory didn't always match up with practical application.

Other external considerations were faced with included: current financial climate; changes to building designs; environmental issues and access to work.

His pragmatic presentation gave a realistic view as to how fire safety can be planned, designed, implemented and maintained effectively within a dynamic operational environment using risk management techniques to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Read his full presentation here.

 

Allan MacPherson

Chief Engineering Technical Specialist, FM Global explores “Sprinklers Evolved.”

Allan gave an overview on the present status of “sprinklers”:

• Three different sprinkler categories
• Three sets of installation guidelines (461 pages of guidance!)
• Terminology indicates intended performance
• Two different design formats

He proposed that we should have a change in sprinkler terminology based on intended use:

• Storage sprinkler
• Non-storage sprinkler
• Special protection sprinkler

What’s really most important?

• Sprinkler K factor (~ nozzle size)
• Orientation (upright or pendent)
• RTI (standard or quick response) and
• Not so much on Ceiling discharge density

What does this mean for data sheets?

• Need to update sprinkler terminology
• Need to replace density in design criteria
• Opportunity to simplify and improve

Protection tables based on:

• Ceiling height
• RTI (standard or quick response)
• Orientation (upright or pendent)
• Sprinkler K factor (nozzle size)

The Bottom line:

“Through these Data Sheet changes, FM Global is poised to provide our clients, with the most effective protection options, which are not only simpler and cheaper to install, but a more sustainable choice.”

Read his full presentation here.

 

Bill Jackson

Head of Estates, National Library of Scotland shared a Case Study of “Protecting the Nation’s Heritage.”

Bill gave an overview of the National Library:

• Funded by the Scottish Parliament
• Governed by a Board of Trustees
• Of same status as the National Museums of Scotland  and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Its role is to collect and preserve:

• The printed and manuscript record of  Scotland and of the Scots at home and abroad
• A huge range of printed material published in the United Kingdom on all subjects
• A significant number of foreign publications on arts, humanities, science

What this means today is:

• Over 14 Million printed & new media items
• Over 120,000 volumes of manuscripts
• Over 2 million maps
• 25,000 periodical and annual titles

A risk assessment showed that the building was seriously defective in terms of fire safety. A further investigation showed that there were significant deficiencies in building maintenance. The opportunity was then taken to combine both problems in an integrated master plan. Refurbishment also gave the opportunity to improve aspects of the accommodation in the building.

The remedial project lasted from 1991 to 1999 at a cost of £13 million and included:

• Fire detection system
• Stack floor clearance
• Compartmentation
• New doors
• New signage
• New escape stairs
• Full sprinkler system
• Smoke evacuation system
• Rewiring
• Air conditioning
• Redecorating

The key factors to their success were “understanding the real risks specific to the real situations at all stages” this involved:

• Finding out what others are doing in similar situations
• Involve other professions to understand your problem
• Plan to match the problems
• Implement the programme of work
• Review what has been done
• Revise in the light of changes

Read his full presentation here.