Most engineers consider fire safety to be physical things like smoke detectors, sprinklers, and fire extinguishers. While the need for these items cannot be underestimated, they are not all there is to fire safety.
Other fire prevention measures may not be covered by fire response equipment, but are equally important in a fire situation. If you are a civil engineer, this guide can help you familiarize yourself with these fire safety-related features that you can consider in your projects.
What to do in case of fire
Even with the best precautions in place, the chances of a section of a building catching fire are always present. If you encounter a fire situation in a building, the first thing to do is sound the alarm and call 911. Calling 911 brings the fire department to the scene, who offers help in putting out the fire and evacuating the people trapped in the fire.
Traditionally, most military and civilian firefighting departments used water and other fire retardants, such as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), to contain fires. Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to AFFF has been found to cause a buildup in fire departments, leading to illnesses such as cancer.
If you are experiencing symptoms of cancer as a result of AFFF exposure, you may want to speak with an AFFF exposure attorney for help obtaining compensation for your injuries.
Make sure your building has reliable fire protection.
Things Engineers Should Know
1) Fire Prevention Compartmentation
Simply put, compartmentalization is building a house in order to achieve effective risk management. It may not be possible to have all rooms compartmentalized. However, it is possible to achieve compartmentalization in specific sections of the building.
For example, you may want to keep rooms or sections of a building where the potential for fire accidents is high in a specific area away from areas that contain highly flammable items.
To achieve effective compartmentation, you may consider using fire-resistant materials in sections that are highly likely to catch fire, to ensure that the fire remains confined to that specific area in the event of an accident.
Additionally, consider installing cavity barriers around spaces to ensure fire and smoke do not spread to other parts of the building. While compartmentation does not always help to completely contain a fire, it can stop it to allow evacuation and firefighters to arrive on scene.
2) Adequate exits for evacuation and access to the building
The speed at which a building's occupants can evacuate in the event of a fire is critical. When passages are very narrow, moving many people at once can be a challenge.
Therefore, in addition to following NFPA and OSHA guidelines for windows and doors in the building, you will want to ensure that you leave adequate spaces based on the number of people expected to be in the building at any given time.
But you may also want to go further and create other exterior doors and windows that can be broken in an emergency to allow people to evacuate as quickly as possible. Furthermore, corridors must not have fixed objects that could obstruct evacuation or fire response operations.
3) Include well-marked fire exit signs and alarms
Creating fire exits is great for emergencies. But they can only help if everyone in the building can easily locate them. NFPA standards require that emergency exits be illuminated at all times, including during power outages.
Therefore, before handing over a project to the customer, make sure that the output boards are properly installed and that the batteries are working.
In addition to exit signs, it is important to ensure that fire alarms are placed in strategic and easily accessible locations. If you're unsure about a building's design relative to fire safety best practices, your local fire department can help.
