Life Safety Code h... free essay sample

Life Safety Code has provisions for existing as well as new high-rise buildings. NFPA 101 ®, Life Safety Code, 2012 edition, section 11.8 contains requirements potentially applicable to a high-rise building. The chapter for a specific occupancy decides whether all or a few of the section 11. 8 requirements are required for occupancy and decides if the requirements are for new or existing constructed dwellings. Amid section 11.8 needs are an approved supervised automatic sprinkler system; a Class I standpipe system; a fire alarm system alongside an accepted emergency voice/alarm communication system; two-way telephone service for fire department use; emergency lighting; standby power; and an emergency command center. Existing high-rise hotels should be protected throughout by an approved directed automatic sprinkler system. Existing high-rise health care occupancies must be Type I (442 or 332) or Type II (222) construction (as must existing health care occupancies 4-6 floors in height). As per NFPA ,construction of buildings can be categorized into various types. We will write a custom essay sample on Life Safety Code h or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This corresponds to the fire resistive construction type category previously used in NFIRS as well as a subpart of the protected noncombustible category. A provision added to the code in 2009 and modified in the 2012 edition requires existing high-rise hospitals should be guarded with automatic sprinklers within a nine-year period. Since 2006, the code requires all nursing homes, disregarding of height, to be protected with automatic sprinklers. The defined construction types can be briefly summarized by these major characteristics: †¢ Fire resistive – Concrete or fire-resistant-covered steel construction rated for 2 hours; †¢ Heavy timber – Construction where any exposed wood load-bearing members has no dimension less than 2 inches; †¢ Protected non-combustible – Concrete or fire-resistant-covered steel construction rated for 1 hours; †¢ Unprotected non-combustible – Exposed steel construction without fire-resistant covering; †¢ Protected ordinary – Masonry load-bearing walls with columns, wood floors, and roof decks all protected by fire-resistive coating rated for 1 hour; †¢Unprotected ordinary – Masonry load-bearing walls with exposed columns, wood floors, and roof decks without fire-resistive coating; †¢ Protected wood frame – Wood frame construction with wall and ceiling surfaces protected by fire-resistive covering, such as gypsum board; and †¢ Unprotected wood frame – Wood frame construction without fire-resistive covering. High-Rise Building Fires, 9/13 18 NFPA Fire Analysis Research, Quincy, MA Existing high-rise apartment buildings should have an approved directed automatic sprinkler system, installed throughout, with two exceptions. One is if every living unit has exterior exit access in accordance with section 7.5.3; and the another one is whether the building has an approved, engineered life safety system in accordance with section 31. 3.5.11.4. The latter exception for an engineered life safety system is also the only barring to the requirement for a complete, approved, supervised automatic sprinkler system in existing high-rise office buildings. NFPA 1 ®, Fire Code, requires sprinkler retrofitting in all high-rise buildings. Since 1999, NFIRS (the national fire incident data base) has included an option to report fires as confined fires, in which case very little detail is required. This change encourages the reporting of very small fires, but introduces a high degree of uncertainty in the analysis of detailed characteristics of those fires